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AsteriaStar
Feature type

Mountain Range (Montes)

A chain or massif of mountains, whether uplifted by tectonics, thrown up around an impact basin, or built by volcanism — from Venus's Maxwell Montes to the water-ice mountains of Pluto.

In brief

A chain or massif of mountains.

Examples of this feature

  • Maxwell MontesSurface feature
    Venus · ≈ 11 km high

    The highest mountains on Venus, rising about 11 km above the mean surface in the northern highlands of Ishtar Terra — higher than Everest above sea level.

  • Tenzing MontesSurface feature
    Pluto · up to ~6 km high

    Jagged mountains of water ice rising several kilometres along the edge of Sputnik Planitia on Pluto — water ice is rigid enough at Pluto's temperatures to hold up mountains.

Knowledge connections

Sources

The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.

  • NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration

    Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.

    Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.