Mount Vaughan is a prominent peak

Summit (topography)

In topography, a summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a local maximum in elevation...

, 3,140 m, standing 4 miles (6 km) south-southwest of Mount Griffith

Mount Griffith

Mount Griffith is a massive mountain, 3,095 m, standing 4 nautical miles north-northeast of Mount Vaughan in the Hays Mountains of the Queen Maud Mountains. First observed and roughly mapped in December 1929 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological party under Laurence Gould...

 on the ridge at the head of Vaughan Glacier

Vaughan Glacier

Vaughan Glacier is a tributary glacier, 10 nautical miles long, draining eastward from Mount Vaughan to enter Scott Glacier just south of Taylor Ridge, in the Hays Mountains of the Queen Maud Mountains. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from surveys and U.S...

, in the Hays Mountains

Hays Mountains

Hays Mountains is a large group of mountains of the Queen Maud Mountains, surmounting the divide between the lower portions of Amundsen and Scott Glaciers and extending from the vicinity of Mount Thorne on the northwest to Mount Dietz on the southeast. Discovered by R...

 of the Queen Maud Mountains

Queen Maud Mountains

The Queen Maud Mountains are a major group of mountains, ranges and subordinate features of the Transantarctic Mountains, lying between the Beardmore and Reedy Glaciers and including the area from the head of the Ross Ice Shelf to the polar plateau in Antarctica...

. Named for Norman D. Vaughan

Norman D. Vaughan

Colonel Norman Dane Vaughan was an American dogsled driver and explorer whose first claim to fame was participating in Admiral Byrd's first expedition to the South Pole...

, dog driver with the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological party under Laurence M. Gould which explored the mountains in this vicinity in December 1929. The map resulting from the Byrd Antarctic Expedition, 1928–30, applied the name Mount Vaughan to the southern portion of Mount Goodale

Mount Goodale

Mount Goodale is a mountain with double summits, 2,420 m and 2,570 m, standing 6 nautical miles southeast of Mount Thorne in the Hays Mountains of the Queen Maud Mountains. Discovered in December 1929 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological party under Laurence Gould, and named by Byrd after...

, but the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending names for features in Antarctica...

(US-ACAN) has modified the original naming to apply to this larger peak which lies 15 miles (24 km) southeastward.

Vaughan made the first step on the mountain in 1994 December 16, three days before his 89th birthday.