Olympus Mons orbit around Mars in 1971 during a global dust-storm. The first objects to become visible as the dust began to settle, the tops of the Tharsis volcanoes, demonstrated that the altitude of these features greatly exceeded that of any mountain found on Earth, as astronomers expected. Observations of the planet from Mariner 9 confirmed that Nix Olympica was a volcano. Ultimately, astronomers adopted the name "Olympus Mons" for the albedo feature known as Nix Olympica. Olympus Mons is located between the northwestern edge of the Tharsis region and the eastern edge of Amazonis Planitia. It stands about from the other
Minor planet more are discovered each month. The Minor Planet Center has documented over 188 million observations and 757,626 minor planets, of which 516,386 have orbits known well enough to be assigned permanent official numbers. Of these, 21,264 have official names. , the lowest-numbered unnamed minor planet is , and the highest-numbered named minor planet is 495759 Jandesselberger. There are various broad minor-planet populations: All astronomical bodies in the Solar System need a distinct designation. The naming of minor planets runs through a three-step process. First, a provisional designation is given upon discovery—because the object still may turn out to be a