Five facts you might not know about the solar system's volcanoes

Which active volcano is Earth’s largest?

A. Mt. Everest

B. Mt. Pinatubo

C. Mt. Fuji

D. Mauna Loa

D. Hawaii’s Mauna Loa is Earth’s largest active volcano, rising 2.5 miles above sea level and measuring 60 miles wide.

Which volcano is the largest in the Solar System?

A. Hawaii’s Mauna Loa

B. Mars’s Olympus Mons

C. Venus’s Sif Mons

D. Io’s Tvashtar

B. Olympus Mons on Mars is the solar system’s largest volcano, rising 16 miles high and measuring nearly 400 miles in diameter.

True or False: Cryovolcanoes are volcanoes made of ice.

A. True

B. False

C. It’s complicated

A. True. On cold worlds like the dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto, liquids and vapors “erupt” out of volcanoes made of ice.

What world is the most volcanically active in the Solar System?

A. Mars

B. Saturn’s moon Titan

C. Jupiter’s moon Io

D. Earth

C. Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanically active world in the solar system, hosting more than 100 active volcanoes.

True or False: Venus has the most volcanoes of any world in the Solar System.

A. True

B. False

C. It’s complicated

A. True. Although Jupiter’s moon Io is the most geologically active world, Venus actually hosts the most volcanoes — although we’re not sure whether these are active or not.