The Big Island of Hawai’i has two dominant geologic features; the twin volcanic peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa rises over 6 miles from the ocean floor, making it the tallest mountain on Earth as measured from base to peak. Yes, even taller than Everest. I have been to the Big Island many times, and standing on the slopes of Mauna Loa makes you feel inconsequential yet paradoxically vast, because while the mountain itself dwarfs us, our minds can encompass it and understand its history, its story and its song.
But the solar system in which we reside is rife with wonders, some of which we are just beginning to discover. On Mars there is the great shield volcano Olympus Mons towering 13.7 miles over the martian plains of Tharsis Montes. Olympus Mons is not the tallest mountain in the solar system (we will get there next), but it is easily the most massive, with a diameter roughly equal to the state of Arizona. The slope incline of Olympus Mons is so gradual that an observer on the surface of Mars would not be able to see the summit because it is beyond the visible horizon.
Further out from Mars in the Asteroid Belt we find the asteroid Vesta, a chunk of rock orbiting the the minor planet Ceres. Millions of years ago Vesta suffered an impact which created a crater nearly half the size of Vesta itself, The rim of the resultant crater is called Rheasilvia Mons, and it holds the current record as the tallest mountain in the solar system at 14.2 miles. Rheasilvia Mons is not a shield volcano but still, 14.2 MILES.
The universe discloses its wonders to questioning minds. Imagine what other mountains are out there in our search for understanding the universe and our place in it.
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