List of Solar System extremes explained

This article describes extreme locations of the Solar System. Entries listed in bold are Solar System-wide extremes.

By feature

Record Data Feature Ref.
4000 km long, 200 km wideValles Marineris, Mars[1]
Tallest mountain22 km (13.6 mi)Rheasilvia central peak, Vesta[2] [3]
Tallest volcano25 km (15.5 mi)Olympus Mons, Mars[4]
Tallest cliff20 km (12.4 mi)Verona Rupes, Miranda, Uranus
Largest impact crater2700km (1,700miles)North Polar Basin, Mars[5]

By class

TypeAverage temperature
Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest
Star1.4 g/cm3Sun[6] [7] 5778 KSun[8] [9] 274 m/s2Sun[10]
Major planet0.7 g/cm3Saturn[11] [12] 5.51 g/cm3
Earth[13] [14] 		73 KNeptune[15] [16] [17] 733 KVenus[18] 3.70 m/s2
Mercury		23.1 m/s2
Jupiter
Dwarf planet1.4 ±0.2 g/cm3 Orcus[19] [20] 2.52 ±0.05 g/cm3 Eris[21] 30 KMakemake167 KCeres≈0.2 m/s2 Orcus0.8 m/s2Eris
Major moon of major or dwarf planet [22] 3.53 g/cm3
Io
[23] 		38 K
Triton
[24] 		250 K
Moon
[25]
TypeEscape velocityMassVolume
(radius)
Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest
Star617.7 km/s
Sun		332,830 MEarth
Sun[26] [27] 		695,000 km
Sun
Major planet4.3 km/s
Mercury
59.5 km/s
Jupiter
0.055 MEarth
Mercury
[28] 		318 MEarth
Jupiter
2500 km
Mercury
[29] 		69911 km
Jupiter
Dwarf planet≈0.43 km/s
Orcus		1.3 km/s
Eris		0.0000916 MEarth
Orcus[30]
Major moon of major or dwarf planet 2.74 km/s
Ganymede		0.0250 MEarth
Ganymede
[31] 		198 km
Mimas		2634 km
Ganymede
[32]

By object

Astronomical bodyElevation
(height above/below datum)		Elevation
(height above/below base)
HighestLowestHighestLowestHighestLowest
SunN/A5,000,000 K
In a solar flare[36] 		1240 K
In a sunspot[37]
Mercury3km (02miles)
Caloris Montes, northwest Caloris Basin rim mountains[38] [39] 		723 K
Dayside of Mercury[40] 		89 K
Permanently shaded polar craters
Venus11km (07miles)
Maxwell Montes, Ishtar Terra[41] [42] [43] [44] 		3km (02miles)
Diana Chasma, Aphrodite Terra[45] 		755 K
lowlands of Venus		644 K
Maxwell Montes, Ishtar Terra[46]
Earth8848m (29,029feet)
Mount Everest, Nepal - Tibet, China[47] 		10971m (35,994feet)
Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean[48] 		10200m (33,500feet)
Mauna Kea, Hawaii, United States of America		7km (04miles)
Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean[49] 		330 K
Furnace Creek Ranch,
Death Valley, United States
(more info)		184 K
Vostok Station, Antarctica
(more info)
Mars27km (17miles)
Olympus Mons, Tharsis		6km (04miles)
Hellas Planitia[50] 		24km (15miles)
Olympus Mons, Tharsis[51] 		9km (06miles)
Melas Chasma, Valles Marineris[52] 		293 K
Martian equator in midsummer day		120 K
Martian poles in the depths of winter night[53]
JupiterN/A 152 K110 K[54]
SaturnN/A 143 K82 K[55]
UranusN/A 68 K59 K[56]
NeptuneN/A 53 K
50 K
[57]
10786m (35,387feet)
5.4125°, 201.3665°
[58] [59] 		9.06km (05.63miles)
Antoniadi Crater (-172.58°E, 70.38°S) 		400 K
midday on the equator
26 K
Permanently shadowed southwestern edge of the northern polar zone Hermite Crater in winter solstice
[60]
Io17.3km (10.7miles)
Boosaule Montes
[61] [62]
Europa2km (01miles)
conical mountain (34.5N, 169.5W)
[63] 		132 K
Subsolar temperature
Ganymede156 K
Subsolar temperature
80 K
Nighttime temperature
[64]
Callisto168 K
Subsolar temperature
[65] 		80 K
Predawn nighttime temperature
[66]
Titan2km (01miles)
Mithrim Montes, Xanadu[67]
Mimas
Enceladus110 K
Tiger Stripes
[68]
Tethys
Dione
Rhea
Iapetus20km (10miles)Voyager Mountains, equatorial ridge and bulge[69] [70] [71]
Ariel
Umbriel
Titania
Oberon
Miranda20 kilometers (12 mi)Verona Rupes[72]
Triton
Nereid
Proteus
Charon
Ceres4.5km (02.8miles)
Ahuna Mons[73] [74] 		235 K[75]
Pluto3.4km (02.1miles)
Norgay Montes, Tombaugh Regio[76] 		45 K[77] 35 K

Eris41 K[78] 30 K
Makemake
Haumea
The bodies included in this table are: (1) planemos; (2) major planets, dwarf planets, or moons of major or dwarf planets, or stars; (3) hydrostatically round so as to be able to provide a geodetic datum line.

By distance

See also

External links

See also

Notes and References

  1. NASA, "Ius Chasma" (accessed 2010-11-15)
  2. Web site: Vega . P. . New View of Vesta Mountain From NASA's Dawn Mission . Jet Propulsion Lab's Dawn mission website . . 11 October 2011 . 29 March 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111022092700/http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/feature_stories/new_view_vesta_mountain.asp . 22 October 2011 .
  3. Book: Schenk, P. . Marchi, S. . O'Brien, D.P. . Buczkowski, D. . Jaumann, R. . Yingst, A. . McCord, T. . Gaskell, R. . Roatsch, T. . Keller, H. E. . Raymond, C.A. . Russell, C.T. . Mega-Impacts into Planetary Bodies: Global Effects of the Giant Rheasilvia Impact Basin on Vesta . 1659 . 2757 . 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference . 43rd Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference . contribution 1659, id.2757 . . 1 March 2012 . The Woodlands, Texas . 2012LPI....43.2757S .
  4. Universe Today, "The Largest Volcano in the Solar System", Fraser Cain, 16 July 2008 (accessed 2010-11-15)
  5. Web site: Solar System's biggest impact scar discovered . Massachusetts Institute of Technology . MIT News . June 25, 2008 . October 3, 2015 . Chandler, David.
  6. The Physics Factbook, "Density of the Sun", May Ko, 1999 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  7. Universe Today, "Density of the Sun", Fraser Cain, 24 September 2008 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  8. Universe Today, "Temperature of the Sun", Fraser Cain, 15 September 2008 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  9. The Physics Factbook, "Temperature on the Surface of the Sun", Glynise Finney, 1997 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  10. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, 07.03.03: "Voyage to the Planets", Nicholas R. Perrone, 2007 (accessed 2010-11-11)
  11. Universe Today, "Density of the Planets", Abbey Cessna, 9 August 2009 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  12. The Physics Factbook, "Density of Saturn", Meredith Garmisa, 1997 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  13. Universe Today, "Density of the Earth", Fraser Cain, 10 March 2009 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  14. The Physics Factbook, "Density of the Earth", Katherine Malfucci, 2000 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  15. Universe Today, "What is the Coldest Planet of Our Solar System?", Fraser Cain, 28 May 2010 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  16. Universe Today, "Temperature of Neptune", Fraser Cain, 28 November 2008 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  17. Journey Through the Galaxy, "Planets of the Solar System", Stuart Robbins, David McDonald, 14 September 2006 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  18. Planet Facts, "Temperature on Venus – The Hottest Planet" (accessed 2010-11-06)
  19. Michael E. . Brown . Bryan . Butler . Masses and densities of dwarf planet satellites measured with ALMA . The Planetary Science Journal . July 2023 . 4 . 10 . 11 . free . 10.3847/PSJ/ace52a . 2307.04848 . 2023PSJ.....4..193B .
  20. Though astronomers generally accept Orcus as a dwarf planet, some doubt remains
  21. Holler . Bryan J. . Grundy . William M. . Buie . Marc W. . Noll . Keith S. . The Eris/Dysnomia system I: The orbit of Dysnomia . Icarus . February 2021 . 355 . 114130 . 114130 . 10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114130 . 2009.13733 . 2021Icar..35514130H . 221995416 . April 28, 2022 . February 13, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230213093739/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20210012932/downloads/21-49.pdf . live .
  22. A major moon is a moon that is hydrostatically round.
  23. Universe Today, "Density of the Moon", Fraser Cain, 3 November 2008 (accessed 2010-11-11)
  24. Praxis, "Distant Worlds", Peter Bond, 2007,,, pg.247
  25. ABC News (USA), "Moon Base Camp Would Offer 'Practice'", Amanda Onion, 12 January 2004 (accessed 2010-11-11)
  26. Cambridge University Press, "Planetary Sciences, Second Edition", Imke de Pater, Jack J. Lissauer, 2010,, pg.2
  27. Views of the Solar System, "Sun", Calvin J. Hamilton, 2009 (accessed 2010-11-15)
  28. Cambridge University Press, "Planetary Sciences, Second Edition", Imke de Pater, Jack J. Lissauer, 2010,, pg.6
  29. Cambridge University Press, "Planetary Sciences, Second Edition", Imke de Pater, Jack J. Lissauer, 2010,, pg.4
  30. Mass calculated using Vanth's estimated mass
  31. the neighborhood, "g alilean moons of jupiter", Raymond Harris, 2009 (accessed 2010-11-11)
  32. Cambridge University Press, "Planetary Sciences, Second Edition", Imke de Pater, Jack J. Lissauer, 2010,, pg.10
  33. As the transition from atmosphere to other is unclear for the giant planets, they are not included in this
  34. Johns Hopkins University Press, "Alien Volcanoes", Michael Carroll, Rosaly Lopes, Fall 2007 (accessed 2010-11-20)
  35. University of Massachusetts; Department of Astronomy, "The Terrestrial Planets - Quiz 8", T. Arny (accessed 2010-11-21)
  36. Goddard Space Flight Center, "What is a Solar Flare?", Gordon Holman, Sarah Benedict, 2007 (accessed 2010-11-11)
  37. Serbian Astronomical Journal, "On the Effective Temperature of Sunspot Umbrae using Beryllium Hydride Isotopomer Lines", Sangeetha, R.; Sriramachandran, P.; Bagare, S. P.; Rajamanickam, N.; Shanmugavel, R., vol. 179, pp. 95-99, December 2009,,
  38. Icarus, "The morphology of Mercury's Caloris basin as seen in MESSENGER stereo topographic models", Oberst, Jürgen; Preusker, Frank; Phillips, Roger J.; et al., Volume 209, Issue 1, p. 230-238, September 2010,,
  39. Lerner Publications, "Mercury", Gregory Vogt, 2010,, pp.31
  40. World Book at NASA, "Mercury", Maria T. Zuber, 2004, World Book Online Reference Center (accessed 2010-11-11)
  41. Astronomy Magazine, "Astronomy for Kids: Venus" (accessed 2010-11-06)
  42. NRAO, "Venusian Mountain Maxwell Montes" (accessed 2010-11-06)
  43. NOAA, "Venus Topography and Shaded Relief" (accessed 2010-11-06)
  44. National Academy Press, "Physics Through the 1990s: Scientific Interfaces and Technological Applications", National Research Council, 1986, pp.100,
  45. Internet Encyclopedia of Science, "Venus", David Darling (accessed 2010-11-06)
  46. Mohawk Valley Astronomical Society, "Planetary Personalities, Part 1 of 3: The Inner Planets", Perry Pezzolanella, February 2008 (accessed 2010-11-11)
  47. Universe Today, "Tallest Mountain", Abbey Cessna, 30 November 2009 (accessed 2010-11-05)
  48. Universe Today, "Deepest Point On Earth", John Carl Villanueva, 3 September 2009 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  49. Earlham College, Geosciences 211: Physical Geology (2003), "Marianas Trench", Ruairi K. Rhodes, 2003 (accessed 2010-11-06)
  50. The Physics Factbook, "Altitude of the Lowest Point on Mars", Allison Chin, 2003 (accessed 2010-11-05)
  51. Hawaiian Encyclopedia, "The Hawaiian-Emperor Chain", Daniel Harrington, Mutual Publishing (accessed 2010-11-06)
  52. Universe Today, "Melas Chasma: The Deepest Abyss on Mars", Nancy Atkinson, 8 October 2010 (accessed 2010-11-05)
  53. NASA Quest, "Mars Facts" (accessed 2010-11-11)
  54. Kid's Cosmos, "Explore Jupiter", 2009 (accessed 2010-11-15)
  55. Kid's Cosmos, "Explore Saturn", 2009 (accessed 2010-11-15)
  56. Kid's Cosmos, "Explore Uranus", 2009 (accessed 2010-11-15)
  57. Kid's Cosmos, "Explore Neptune", 2009 (accessed 2010-11-15)
  58. The Register, "Highest point on the Moon found: Higher than Mount Everest", Lewis Page, 29 October 2010 (accessed 2010-11-05)
  59. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, "Highest Point on the Moon!", Mark Robinson, 26 October 2010 (accessed 2010-11-05)
  60. BBC News, "'Coldest place' found on the Moon", Jonathan Amos, 16 December 2009 (accessed 2010-11-11)
  61. Springer-Praxis, "Io After Galileo", Rosaly M. C. Lopes, John Robert Spencer, 2007,, pp.110
  62. Cambridge University Press, 'Planetary Tectonics', "Tectonics of the outer planet satellites", Paul M. Schenk et al., 2009, `ed. Thomas R. Watters, Richard A. Schultz`,, pp.289
  63. Icarus, "Europa: Initial Galileo Geological Observations", Greeley, Ronald; Sullivan, Robert; Klemaszewski, James;, Volume 135, pp. 4-24, September 1998,,
  64. OuterSpaceSite.com, "Jupiter's Moon Ganymede" (accessed 2010-11-22)
  65. Astrophysical Journal, "Callisto: New Insights from Galileo Disk-resolved UV Measurements", Hendrix, Amanda R.; Johnson, Robert E., Volume 687, Issue 1, pp. 706-713, November 2008,,
  66. http://lasp.colorado.edu/~espoclass/homework/5830_2008_homework/Ch17.pdf "17 Callisto"
  67. Mitri . G. . Bland, M. T. . Showman, A. P. . Radebaugh, J. . Stiles, B. . Lopes, R. M. C. . Lunine, Jonathan I. . Pappalardo, R. T. . Mountains on Titan: Modeling and observations . . 115 . E10002 . E10002 . 2010 . 10.1029/2010JE003592 . 2010JGRE..11510002M . free .
  68. Views of the Solar System, "Saturn II - Enceladus", Calvin J. Hamilton, 2009 (accessed 2010-11-28)
  69. Solar System Exploration, "The Mountains of Saturn's Mysterious Moon Iapetus", NASA, 16 October 2008 (accessed 2010-11-11)
  70. JPL, Cassini Solstice Mission, "Iapetus", NASA (accessed 2010-11-11)
  71. itWire, "Ridge on Saturn moon Iapetus was hard nut to crack", William Atkins, 23 July 2007 (accessed 2010-11-11)
  72. Astronomy Picture of the Day, "2007 July 23", NASA, 23 July 2007 (accessed 2010-11-10)
  73. Web site: Ceres: The tiny world where volcanoes erupt ice . Robert Burnham . 1 September 2016 . Arizona State University .
  74. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference . 2279 . March 2016 . 47 . Ahuna Mons: A Geologically-Young Extrusive Dome on Ceres . O. Ruesch . etal. 2279 . 2016LPI....47.2279R .
  75. Views of the Solar System, "Dwarf Planet Ceres", Calvin J. Hamilton, 2009 (accessed 2010-11-27)
  76. Web site: The Icy Mountains of Pluto . NASA . July 15, 2015 . October 3, 2015 . Talbert, Tricia.
  77. Enchanted Learning Software, "Pluto", 2010 (accessed 2010-11-27)
  78. Memphis Archaeological and Geological Society, "Eris: dwarf planet larger than Pluto", Mike Baldwin, 11 November 2006 (accessed 2010-11-27)

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