List of Solar System extremes

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	[1]
Tallest mountain	22 km (13.6 mi)	Rheasilvia central peak, Vesta	[2][3]
Tallest volcano	25 km (15.5 mi)	Olympus Mons, Mars	[4]
Tallest cliff	20 km (12.4 mi)	Verona Rupes, Miranda, Uranus	[5]
Largest impact crater	2,700 km (1,700 mi)	North Polar Basin, Mars	[6]

By class

Type	Average density		Average temperature		Average surface gravity
	Lowest	Highest	Lowest	Highest	Lowest	Highest
Star	1.4 g/cm^3 Sun[7][8]		5778 K Sun[9][10]		274 m/s^2 Sun[11]
Major planet	0.7 g/cm^3Saturn[12][13]	5.51 g/cm^3 Earth [14][15]	73 K Neptune[16][17][18]	733 K Venus[19]	3.70 m/s^2 Mercury [18]	23.1 m/s^2 Jupiter [18]
Dwarf planet	1.4 ±0.2 g/cm^3 Orcus[20][NB 1]	2.52 ±0.05 g/cm^3 Eris[21]	30 K Makemake	167 K Ceres	≈0.2 m/s^2 Orcus	0.8 m/s^2Eris
Major moon of major or dwarf planet [NB 2]	0.98 g/cm^3 Tethys	3.53 g/cm^3 Io [22][23]	38 K Triton [24]	250 K Moon [25]	0.064 m/s^2Mimas	1.796 m/s^2Io

Type	Escape velocity		Mass		Volume (radius)
	Lowest	Highest	Lowest	Highest	Lowest	Highest
Star	617.7 km/s Sun [11]		332,830 MEarth Sun [26][27]		695,000 km Sun [27]
Major planet	4.3 km/s Mercury [18]	59.5 km/s Jupiter [18]	0.055 MEarth Mercury [28]	318 MEarth Jupiter [26]	2500 km Mercury [29]	69911 km Jupiter [28]
Dwarf planet	≈0.43 km/s Orcus	1.3 km/s Eris	0.0000916 MEarth Orcus[20][NB 3]	0.0028 MEarth Eris	487.3 km Ceres	1187 km Pluto
Major moon of major or dwarf planet [NB 2]	0.16 km/s Mimas	2.74 km/s Ganymede	0.000006 MEarth Mimas	0.0250 MEarth Ganymede [30]	198 km Mimas	2634 km Ganymede [22][30]

Extreme characteristic	Major planet	Dwarf planet	Major moon (of a major or dwarf planet) [NB 2]
Densest atmosphere	Venus[NB 4] [31][32]	Pluto	Titan[31]

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 [33]	1240 K In a sunspot [34]
Mercury			3 kilometres (1.9 mi) Caloris Montes, northwest Caloris Basin rim mountains [35][36]		723 K Dayside of Mercury [37]	89 K Permanently shaded polar craters [38]
Venus	11 kilometres (6.8 mi) Maxwell Montes, Ishtar Terra [39][40][41][42]	3 kilometres (1.9 mi) Diana Chasma, Aphrodite Terra [42][43]			755 K lowlands of Venus [38]	644 K Maxwell Montes, Ishtar Terra [38]
Earth	8,848 metres (29,029 ft) Mount Everest, Nepal - Tibet, China [44]	10,971 metres (35,994 ft) Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean [45]	10,200 metres (33,500 ft) Mauna Kea, Hawaii, United States of America [44]	7 kilometres (4.3 mi) Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean [46]	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[44]	6 kilometres (3.7 mi) Hellas Planitia [47]	24 kilometres (15 mi) Olympus Mons, Tharsis[48]	9 kilometres (5.6 mi) Melas Chasma, Valles Marineris [49]	293 K Martian equator in midsummer day [50]	120 K Martian poles in the depths of winter night [50]
Jupiter	N/A				152 K [51]	110 K [51]
Saturn	N/A				143 K [52]	82 K [52]
Uranus	N/A				68 K [53]	59 K [53]
Neptune	N/A				53 K [54]	50 K [54]
Moon	10,786 metres (35,387 ft) 5.4125°, 201.3665° [55][56]	9.06 kilometres (5.63 mi) Antoniadi Crater (-172.58°E, 70.38°S)			400 K midday on the equator [57]	26 K Permanently shadowed southwestern edge of the northern polar zone Hermite Crater in winter solstice [57]
Io			17.3 kilometres (10.7 mi) Boosaule Montes [58][59]
Europa			2 kilometres (1.2 mi) conical mountain (34.5N, 169.5W) [60]		132 K Subsolar temperature [61]
Ganymede					156 K Subsolar temperature [61]	80 K Nighttime temperature [62]
Callisto					168 K Subsolar temperature [61]	80 K Predawn nighttime temperature [63]
Titan	2 km (1.2 mi) Mithrim Montes, Xanadu[64]
Mimas
Enceladus					110 K Tiger Stripes [65]
Tethys
Dione
Rhea
Iapetus			20 kilometres (12 mi)Voyager Mountains, equatorial ridge and bulge [66][67][68]
Ariel
Umbriel
Titania
Oberon
Miranda			20 kilometers (12 mi) Verona Rupes[5]
Triton
Nereid
Proteus
Charon
Ceres			4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) Ahuna Mons [69][70]		235 K [71]
Pluto	3.4 km (2.1 mi) Norgay Montes, Tombaugh Regio[72]				45 K [73]	35 K [73]
Eris					41 K [74]	30 K [74]
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

• List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun

See also

• Solar System
• Lists of geological features of the Solar System
• List of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System

Notes

1. Though astronomers generally accept Orcus as a dwarf planet, some doubt remains
2. A major moon is a moon that is hydrostatically round.
3. Mass calculated using Vanth's estimated mass
4. As the transition from atmosphere to other is unclear for the giant planets, they are not included in this

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External links

• Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, 07.03.03: "Voyage to the Planets" by Nicholas R. Perrone, 2007 (accessed November 2010)
• Journey Through the Galaxy: "Planets of the Solar System" by Stuart Robbins and David McDonald, 2006 (accessed November 2010)
• The Nine Planets, "Appendix 2: Solar System Extrema" by Bill Arnett, 2007 (accessed November 2010)
• EnchantedLearning.com, "Solar System Extremes", 2010 (accessed November 2010)

See also

• Extremes on Earth