This is a list of

dune field A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s not on Earth which have been given official names by the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

. Dune fields are named according to the IAU's rules of

planetary nomenclature Planetary nomenclature, like terrestrial nomenclature, is a system of uniquely identifying features on the surface of a planet or natural satellite so that the features can be easily located, described, and discussed. Since the invention of the tel ...

. The relevant descriptor term is undae. As of now, the only two

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

planets, besides Earth, with named dune fields are

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

and

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...

. Dune fields have also been discovered on

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; ...

's moon

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fiction ...

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest k ...

and comet

67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (abbreviated as 67P or 67P/C–G) is a Jupiter-family comet, originally from the Kuiper belt, with a current orbital period of 6.45 years, a rotation period of approximately 12.4 hours and a maximum velocity of . Ch ...

Venus

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 ''Uzza'' is a monotypic genus of seed bugs in the tribe Drymini, erected by William Lucas Distant William Lucas Distant (12 November 1845 Rotherhithe – 4 February 1922 Wanstead) was an English entomologist. Biography Early years Distan ...

, an Arabian desert goddess *

Menat Undae In ancient Egyptian religion, a menat ( egy, mnj.t, ar, منات) was a type of artefact closely associated with the goddess Hathor. Operation The menat was held in the hand by its counterpoise and used as a rattle by Hathor's priestesses. It ...

24.8S, 339.4E *

Ningal Undae Ningal ( Sumerian: "Great Queen"), also known as Nikkal in Akkadian, was a Mesopotamian goddess of Sumerian origin regarded as the wife of the moon god, Nanna/Sin. She was particularly closely associated with his main cult centers, Ur and Harran, ...

9.0N, 60.7E – named after Ningal, the wife of the Sumerian desert god

Sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, ...

Mars

There are six officially named dune fields on Mars, which are named after nearby

classical albedo features The classical albedo features of Mars are the light and dark features that can be seen on the planet Mars through an Earth-based telescope. Before the age of space probes, several astronomers created maps of Mars on which they gave names to the fe ...

in accordance with the IAU's rules. Five of them lie between 75°N to 85°N, between

Planum Boreum Planum Boreum (Latin: "the northern plain") is the northern polar plain on Mars. It extends northward from roughly 80°N and is centered at . Surrounding the high polar plain is a flat and featureless lowland plain called Vastitas Borealis which e ...

and

Vastitas Borealis (Latin 'northern waste') is the largest lowland region of Mars. It is in the northerly latitudes of the planet and encircles the northern polar region. Vastitas Borealis is often simply referred to as the northern plains, northern lowlands or ...

. 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 Abalos Undae (Latin for "Abalos Waves") is a dune field on Mars in the periphery of Planum Boreum, the Martian North pole. It is one of the officially named northern circumpolar dune fields, along with Olympia, Hyperboreae, and Siton Undae, ...

Aspledon Undae Aspledon Undae is one of the named northern circumpolar dune fields in the vicinity of Planum Boreum, the Martian North pole. It is named after one of the classical albedo features on Mars. Its name was officially approved by the International A ...

Hyperboreae Undae Hyperboreae Undae (Latin: "Far Northern Waves/Dunes") is one of the largest and densest dune fields of Planum Boreum, the Martian North Pole. It is named after one of the classical albedo features on Mars. Its name was officially approved by IAU ...

Ogygis Undae Ogygis Undae is the only named southern hemisphere dune field on Mars. It is named after one of the classical albedo features on Mars, ''Ogygis Regio''. Its name, which refers to Ogyges, a primeval mythological ruler in ancient Greece, was offici ...

Olympia Undae Olympia Undae is a vast dune field in the north polar region of the planet Mars. It consists of a broad "sand sea" or erg that partly rings the north polar plateau ( Planum Boreum) from about 120° to 240°E longitude and 78° to 83°N latitud ...

Siton Undae Siton Undae is one of the largest and densest dune fields in the vicinity of Planum Boreum, the Martian northern polar ice-cap. It is named after one of the classical albedo features on Mars. Its name was officially approved by IAU on 20 March 20 ...

Unofficial field names

PIA20281-MarsCuriosityRover-NamibSandDune-DownwindSide-20151217

* 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 NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, '' Spirit'' and '' Opportunity'', exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rovers to explore the Martian surface ...

mission, a small dune field unofficially named El Dorado on the south side of

Husband Hill Husband Hill is one of the Columbia Hills in Gusev crater, Mars, which are close to the landing site of NASA's ''Spirit'' rover. It was named in honor of Rick Husband, the commander of the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' when it disintegrated upon ...

Gusev crater Gusev is a crater on the planet Mars and is located at and is in the Aeolis quadrangle. The crater is about 166 kilometers in diameter and formed approximately three to four billion years ago. It was named after Russian astronomer Matvey Gusev ...

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 The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle, it is a common mineral in Earth's subsurface, but weathers qui ...

rich.

* The

Hagal dune field Hagal is the informal name of a dune field on Mars located below the north pole of Mars. Its name derives from the sand dunes in Frank Herbert's novel ''Dune'' and the fictional planet Hagal. It is located at coordinates 78.0° N latitude, 84.0 ...

is named after

Frank Herbert Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science fiction author best known for the 1965 novel ''Dune'' and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked a ...

's novel ''

Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

'' and the fictional planet Hagal. The field is also known as the "Martian Morse Code" due to the similarity of the Dune shapes to

Morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one ...

dots and dashes. *

Nili Patera dune field Nili Patera is a dune field on Mars. It is located on top of a lava bed, at the site of an ancient volcano, the Nili Patera caldera of Syrtis Major, near the Martian equator, and it is one of the most active dune fields of Mars. Its location ...

Titan

There are five officially named dune fields on Titan, which are named after Greek gods, goddesses or personifications of wind. They are listed below: *

Aura Undae Aura most commonly refers to: * Aura (paranormal), a field of luminous multicolored radiation around a person or object * Aura (symptom), a symptom experienced before a migraine or seizure Aura may also refer to: Places Extraterrestrial * 1488 ...

Boreas Undae Boreas may refer to: * Boreas (god), Greek god of the north wind * ''Boreas'' (film), 2006 Turkish short drama film * ''Boreas'' (journal), academic journal that covers all branches of Quaternary research * Boreas (restaurant), Dutch Michelin st ...

* Eurus Undae *

Notus Undae In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, the Anemoi (Greek language, Greek: , 'Winds') were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction from which their respective winds came (see Classical compass winds), and were each as ...

Zephyrus Undae #REDIRECT Anemoi#Zephyrus%20(Favonius) {{wikidata redirect Greek gods Greek legendary creatures Wind deities Characters in Greek mythology LGBT themes in Greek mythology ...

Literature also uses names of dark albedo features when referring to Titan's dune fields: * Aztlan * Belet * Fensal * Senkyo *

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...

Pluto

Analysis of high resolution photos from

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with a t ...

taken on 14 July 2015 of Pluto's Sputnik Planum region in 2018 has confirmed the presence of

transverse dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s (perpendicular to the wind streaks) within the cellular nitrogen plains, spaced about 0.4 to 1 km apart, that are thought to be composed of 200-300 μm diameter particles of methane ice believed to be derived from the nearby

Al-Idrisi Montes This is a list of named geological features on Pluto, identified by scientists working with data from the ''New Horizons'' spacecraft. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially approved the first 14 names on 8 August 2017 (announced ...

. These features are yet to be formally named.

References

A large portion of this article was sourced from th
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
the official IAU database of planetary names. * {{Venus Surface features of Mars Surface features of Venus Dune fields