r/spaceporn • u/joosth3 • Oct 07 '22

The tallest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons on Mars. It has a height of 25 km, Mount Everest is 'only' 8.8 km tall.

Post image
40.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

View all comments

Show parent comments

10

u/worldsayshi Oct 07 '22

I assume it's unlikely but could there have been an ocean consisting of some other liquid?

9

u/PlankWithANailIn2 Oct 08 '22

Hydrogen and Oxygen are the second and third most common elements in the universe and therefore water is an extremely common compound, its the most common multi element compound in the universe. Water is always a good go to when evidence of the presence of a liquid is found.

3

u/inko75 Oct 08 '22

hydrogen is the most common by a ridiculously long shot (more than 3/4 of all matter by mass is hydrogen). oxygen is 3rd at abojt 1%

2

u/Crakla Oct 08 '22

Hydrogen is the most common, Helium second and Oxygen third

2

u/Siphyre Oct 07 '22

Yeah, could Mars have been cold enough to have a nitrogen ocean?

3

u/juklwrochnowy Oct 08 '22

Not with such low atmospheric pressure

2

u/AidanGe Oct 07 '22

Definitely not. The conditions required for something like that would require too high of pressures to be reasonable on a body with as little mass as Mars.

2

u/jlp120145 Oct 07 '22

Ky jelly?