Dunes of methane ice dot Pluto’s cold surface

Pluto is an oddball. 

The dwarf planet plays host to mountains made of ice that could rival the Rockies alongside a heart-shaped plain of ice that looks like the world’s dominant feature when seen from high above. 

But that’s not all. 

According to a new study in the journal Science this week that makes use of images taken during the New Horizons flyby of Pluto in July 2015, the tiny world also has dunes of methane ice at the border of part of the heart-shaped region known as Sputnik Planitia.

“When we first saw the New Horizons images, we thought instantly that these were dunes, but it was really surprising because we know there is not much of an atmosphere,” study co-author Jani Radebaugh said in a statement.  Read more…

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