Tharsis Montes Tharsis Montes The Tharsis Montes are three large shield volcanoes in the Tharsis region of the planet Mars. From north to south, the volcanoes are Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons. Mons (plural "montes") is the Latin word for mountain; it is a descriptor term used in astrogeology for mountainous features in the Solar System. The three Tharsis Montes volcanoes are enormous by terrestrial standards, ranging in diameter from (Pavonis Mons) to (Arsia Mons). Ascraeus Mons is the tallest with a summit elevation of over , or base-to-peak. For comparison, the largest volcano on Earth, Mauna Loa in Hawaii,
Sagan Planet Walk Sagan, Bill Nye, narrated a podcast tour of the Planet Walk in 2006 which can be accessed free by calling 703.637.6237 as you walk through the scale-model representation of the Solar System. The models of the Solar System, in order: The Sagan Planet Walk has inspired the creation of other scale-model Solar Systems in the United States. Sagan Planet Walk The Sciencenter's Sagan Planet Walk is a walkable scale model of the Solar System, located in Ithaca, New York. The model scales the entire Solar System—both planet size and distances between them—down to one five billionth of its actual size.