Fact Sheet
Volcanic Giants
Several volcanoes highlight this recent image of Mars from the orbiting Global Surveyor spacecraft. The largest, Olympus Mons, is to the upper left of center. It looks like a gray circle surrounded by white. Three other volcanoes, which form a diagonal line near the center of the image, sit atop Tharsis Ridge, one of the highest regions on Mars. Olympus Mons is big enough to cover the state of Missouri, while each of the other three is bigger than Arkansas. The white patches around them are high-altitude clouds in the Martian atmosphere. [Credit: NASA/MSSS]
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