GIANT ASTEROID MOUNTAIN, TALLER THAN MOUNT EVEREST

A giant mountain on the asteroid Vesta takes center stage in this image calculated from a shape model using data from NASA's Dawn probe. The image shows a tilted view of the topography of the south polar region, where the tall mountain (at center) rises 13 miles above its surroundings.

CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI 

    A new photo from a NASA's spacecraft has shone a light on a massive mountain taller than anything on Earth rising up from the south pole of the huge asteroid Vesta.

  The new image, released last Monday October 10, it shows the peak of Vesta's tallest mountain rising up nearly 13 miles (22 kilometers) above the rough surrounding terrain. The image was recorded by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, which is currently orbiting Vesta.

   The Vesta mountain is approximately three times as high as Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth above sea level, and is more than twice the height of the tallest volcano on our planet, Mauna Loa in Hawaii, which rises 6 miles (9 km) high with some of its structure submerged underwater.