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SCIENCE

The Claim

Olympus Mons on Mars is the largest volcano in the Solar System.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

Current scientific references support this claim. Multiple authoritative NASA and JPL sources explicitly identify Olympus Mons as the largest volcano in the Solar System, and no credible evidence in the record disputes that conclusion. Minor qualifiers such as “largest known” reflect normal scientific caution, not a real challenge to the claim.

Caveats

  • Some scientific sources say “largest known,” which acknowledges that future discoveries could theoretically revise the superlative.
  • “Largest” can depend on the metric used—such as height, area, or volume—but Olympus Mons is still commonly treated as the Solar System’s largest volcanic edifice.
  • Lower-authority secondary sources add little here; the conclusion rests primarily on consistent institutional planetary science sources.

The Receipts

  1. Viking 1 Orbiter Image Olympus Mons

    NASA Science

  2. Olympus Mons: Largest Volcano in the Solar System

    APOD (NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day)

  3. Earth-Mars Volcano Comparisons: Elevation Color-Mapped Mars

    NASA SVS

  4. Mars In Depth

    NASA Solar System Exploration

  5. Olympus Mons

    NASA Mars Exploration Program

  6. Olympus Mons

    NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

  7. Olympus Mons: The largest volcano in the solar system

    Space.com

  8. Olympus Mons, largest volcano in the Solar System

    BBC Sky at Night Magazine

  9. Olympus Mons on Mars

    NASA Solar System Exploration

  10. The 'hotly' debated history of the largest volcano in the solar system

    Rice University

+ 2 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

MarsOlympus MonsSolar System

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