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List of extraterrestrial dune fields
Summary
This is a list of dune fields not on Earth which have been given official names by the International Astronomical Union. Dune fields are named according to the IAU's rules of planetary nomenclature. The relevant descriptor term is undae. As of now, the only two Solar System planets, besides Earth, with named dune fields are Venus and Mars. Dune fields have also been discovered on Saturn's moon Titan, Pluto and comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
There are three officially named dune fields on Venus. They are named after desert goddesses, as per the IAU's rules. They are listed below.
Al-Uzza Undae 67.7N, 90.5E – named after Uzza, an Arabian desert goddess
Menat Undae 24.8S, 339.4E
Ningal Undae 9.0N, 60.7E – named after Ningal, the wife of the Sumerian desert god Sin
There are six officially named dune fields on Mars, which are named after nearby classical albedo features in accordance with the IAU's rules. Five of them lie between 75°N to 85°N, between Planum Boreum and Vastitas Borealis. These dune fields span over 200 degrees of longitude. The sixth, Ogygis Undae, lies on the southern hemisphere of Mars. They are listed below.
Abalos Undae
Aspledon Undae
Hyperboreae Undae
Ogygis Undae
Olympia Undae
Siton Undae
Bagnold dune field, Gale crater. This dune field was explored by Curiosity between initially between mission Sols ~1174–1248, where the rover investigated High dune, and Namib dune. Three orders of bedform were identified: wind ripple, large ripple (or wind drag ripple) and dune. Sand grains in this section of the dune field had a modal grain size of 120 μm
Namib dune, Gale crater. This is a prominent feature that looks like the giant dunes of Africa’s Namib Desert.
As part of the Mars Exploration Rover mission, a small dune field unofficially named El Dorado on the south side of Husband Hill in Gusev crater was investigated by the Spirit rover from sols 706 to 710. Analysis of El Dorado showed that it consists of black wind-blown sand which is "well-sorted, well-rounded and olivine rich.
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