See 14 Mind-Blowing Places in Our Solar System

Olympus Mons on Mars

Computer-generated depiction of Olympus Mons. Image: NASA/MOLA Science Team/ O. de Goursac, Adrian Lark

Mars’s Olympus Mons, one of the largest volcanoes in the solar system, is all sorts of ridiculous. It measures 374 miles (600 km) in diameter, which is roughly the same size as Arizona. Its summit caldera rises some 15 miles (24 km) above the surrounding Martian plains. Olympus Mons is the product of excessive lava flows, likely the result of lower surface gravity and frequent eruption rates.

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An illustration of a row of mirror satellites in Earth orbit.

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