'Riot of processes': dunes of frozen methane detected on Pluto's surface

Dwarf planet's methane dunes, located near a glacier of nitrogen, come as a surprise to scientists

Scientists have detected a large field of dunes on the surface of the distant, frigid dwarf planet Pluto apparently composed of windswept, sand-sized grains of frozen methane.

The dunes, spotted on images taken by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft during its 2015 flyby, sit at the boundary between a heart-shaped nitrogen glacier about the size of France called Sputnik Planitia and the Al Idrisi Montes mountain range made of frozen water, scientists said on Thursday.