Dunes on Pluto

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aao2975
• Publication Date: 2018-06-04T12:38:26Z
• Authors: Matt W. Telfer; Eric J. R. Parteli; Jani Radebaugh; Ross A. Beyer; Tanguy Bertrand; François Forget; Francis Nimmo; Will M. Grundy; Jeffrey M. Moore; S. Alan Stern; John Spencer; Tod R. Lauer; Alissa M. Earle; Richard P. Binzel; Hal A. Weaver; Cathy B. Olkin; Leslie A. Young; Kimberly Ennico; Kirby Runyon; ; Marc Buie; Bonnie Buratti; Andy Cheng; J.J. Kavelaars; Ivan Linscott; William B. McKinnon; Harold Reitsema; Dennis Reuter; Paul Schenk; Mark Showalter; Len Tyler
• Keywords: [SDU] Sciences of the Universe [physics]; 550; GEOCHEM PHYS; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; 13. Climate action; PLANET SCI; 551; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

Methane ice dunes on Pluto

Wind-blown sand or ice dunes are known on Earth, Mars, Venus, Titan, and comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Telfer et al. used images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft to identify dunes in the Sputnik Planitia region on Pluto (see the Perspective by Hayes). Modeling shows that these dunes could be formed by sand-sized grains of solid methane ice transported in typical Pluto winds. The methane grains could have been lofted into the atmosphere by the melting of surrounding nitrogen ice or blown down from nearby mountains. Understanding how dunes form under Pluto conditions will help with interpreting similar features found elsewhere in the solar system.

Science , this issue p. 992 ; see also p. 960