List of Solar System extremes
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This article describes extreme locations of the Solar System. Entries listed in bold are Solar System-wide extremes.
By feature
| Record | Data | Feature | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Largest canyon | 4000 km long, 200 km wide | Valles Marineris, Mars | |
| Tallest mountain | 21.9–26 km (13.6–16.2 mi) 25 km (16 mi) | Olympus Mons, Mars Unnamed mountain, Máni | |
| Tallest volcano | 25 km (15.5 mi) | Olympus Mons, Mars | |
| Tallest cliff | 20 km (12.4 mi) | Verona Rupes, Miranda, Uranus | |
| Largest impact crater | 2,700 km (1,700 mi) | North Polar Basin, Mars |
By class
| Type | Average density | Average temperature | Average surface gravity | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest | Highest | Lowest | Highest | Lowest | Highest | |
| Star | 1.4 g/cm3 Sun | 5778 K Sun | 274 m/s2 Sun | |||
| Major planet | 0.7 g/cm3Saturn | 5.51 g/cm3 Earth | 73 K Neptune | 733 K Venus | 3.70 m/s2 Mercury | 23.1 m/s2 Jupiter |
| Dwarf planet | 1.4 ±0.2 g/cm3 Orcus | 2.52 ±0.05 g/cm3 Eris | 30 K Makemake | 167 K Ceres | ≈0.2 m/s2 Orcus | 0.8 m/s2Eris |
| Major moon of major or dwarf planet | 0.98 g/cm3 Tethys | 3.53 g/cm3 Io | 38 K Triton | 250 K Moon | 0.064 m/s2Mimas | 1.796 m/s2Io |
| Type | Escape velocity | Mass | Volume (radius) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest | Highest | Lowest | Highest | Lowest | Highest | |
| Star | 617.7 km/s Sun | 332,830 MEarth Sun | 695,000 km Sun | |||
| Major planet | 4.3 km/s Mercury | 59.5 km/s Jupiter | 0.055 MEarth Mercury | 318 MEarth Jupiter | 2500 km Mercury | 69911 km Jupiter |
| Dwarf planet | ≈0.43 km/s Orcus | 1.3 km/s Eris | 0.0000916 MEarth Orcus | 0.0028 MEarth Eris | 487.3 km Ceres | 1187 km Pluto |
| Major moon of major or dwarf planet | 0.16 km/s Mimas | 2.74 km/s Ganymede | 0.000006 MEarth Mimas | 0.0250 MEarth Ganymede | 198 km Mimas | 2634 km Ganymede |
| Extreme characteristic | Major planet | Dwarf planet | Major moon (of a major or dwarf planet) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Densest atmosphere | Venus | Pluto | Titan |
By object
| Astronomical body | Elevation (height above/below datum) | Elevation (height above/below base) | Surface temperature | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highest | Lowest | Highest | Lowest | Highest | Lowest | |
| Sun | N/A | 5,000,000 K In a solar flare | 1240 K In a sunspot | |||
| Mercury | 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) Caloris Montes, northwest Caloris Basin rim mountains | 723 K Dayside of Mercury | 89 K Permanently shaded polar craters | |||
| Venus | 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) Maxwell Montes, Ishtar Terra | 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) Diana Chasma, Aphrodite Terra | 755 K lowlands of Venus | 644 K Maxwell Montes, Ishtar Terra | ||
| Earth | 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) Mount Everest, Nepal - Tibet, China | 10,971 metres (35,994 ft) Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean | 10,200 metres (33,500 ft) Mauna Kea, Hawaii, United States of America | 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean | 330 K Furnace Creek Ranch, Death Valley, United States (more info) | 184 K Vostok Station, Antarctica (more info) |
| Mars | 27 kilometres (17 mi) Olympus Mons, Tharsis | 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) Hellas Planitia | 24 kilometres (15 mi) Olympus Mons, Tharsis | 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) Melas Chasma, Valles Marineris | 293 K Martian equator in midsummer day | 120 K Martian poles in the depths of winter night |
| Jupiter | N/A | 152 K | 110 K | |||
| Saturn | N/A | 143 K | 82 K | |||
| Uranus | N/A | 68 K | 59 K | |||
| Neptune | N/A | 53 K | 50 K | |||
| Moon | 10,786 metres (35,387 ft) 5.4125°, 201.3665° | 9.06 kilometres (5.63 mi) 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 | ||
| Io | 17.3 kilometres (10.7 mi) Boosaule Montes | |||||
| Europa | 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) conical mountain (34.5N, 169.5W) | 132 K Subsolar temperature | ||||
| Ganymede | 156 K Subsolar temperature | 80 K Nighttime temperature | ||||
| Callisto | 168 K Subsolar temperature | 80 K Predawn nighttime temperature | ||||
| Titan | 2 km (1.2 mi) Mithrim Montes, Xanadu | |||||
| Mimas | ||||||
| Enceladus | 110 K Tiger Stripes | |||||
| Tethys | ||||||
| Dione | ||||||
| Rhea | ||||||
| Iapetus | 20 kilometres (12 mi)Voyager Mountains, equatorial ridge and bulge | |||||
| Ariel | ||||||
| Umbriel | ||||||
| Titania | ||||||
| Oberon | ||||||
| Miranda | 20 kilometers (12 mi) Verona Rupes | |||||
| Triton | ||||||
| Nereid | ||||||
| Proteus | ||||||
| Charon | ||||||
| Ceres | 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) Ahuna Mons | 235 K | ||||
| Pluto | 3.4 km (2.1 mi) Norgay Montes, Tombaugh Regio | 45 K | 35 K | |||
| Eris | 41 K | 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
- Solar System
- Lists of geological features of the Solar System
- List of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System
Notes
External links
- Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, 07.03.03: by Nicholas R. Perrone, 2007 (accessed November 2010)
- Journey Through the Galaxy: by Stuart Robbins and David McDonald, 2006 (accessed November 2010)
- The Nine Planets, by Bill Arnett, 2007 (accessed November 2010)
- EnchantedLearning.com, , 2010 (accessed November 2010)