Star dunes, which occur on Mars and Titan and are also evident in Earth’s stratigraphic record, are widespread in the world’s drylands and 25 provinces have been identified and characterised based on an analysis of Google Earth images. They occur in East Asia, Western Asia, the Americas, southern Africa and northern Africa. Star dunes are absent in inland Australian, Kalahari and Indian sand seas and in the southern Sahara. Morphometric measurements across a wide range of sites reveal star dune densities of 7 to 81 per 100 km² (mean 30 per km²), dune widths of 125–3071 m (mean 895 m) and heights of 4–291 m (mean 75 m). Star dunes have a great diversity of forms, which include simple pyramids, complex features, checkerboard patterns, symmetrical and asymmetrical forms, stars along linear dunes and stars along transverse dunes. In some areas star dunes show an association with mega-domes. In this paper they are classified into 10 types, though it is clear that some dunes may show characteristics of more than one type. Star dunes develop in areas with low rainfall, variable wind directions and in association with topographic barriers. They are a more widespread and varied phenomenon than has previously been recognised.

星际沙丘出现在火星和土卫六上，并且在地球的地层记录中也很明显，在世界干旱地区非常普遍，根据对Google Earth图像的分析，已经确定并鉴定了25个省。它们发生在东亚，西亚，美洲，南部非洲和北部非洲。澳大利亚内陆，卡拉哈里和印度沙海以及撒哈拉以南地区都没有星丘。各种地点的形态测量结果显示，沙丘密度为每100 km ² 7到81 （平均每km ² 30）），沙丘宽度为125–3071 m（平均895 m），高度为4–291 m（平均75 m）。沙丘的形式多样，包括简单的金字塔，复杂的特征，棋盘图案，对称和不对称形式，线性沙丘上的星星和横向沙丘上的星星。在某些地区，星丘显示出与大型穹顶的联系。在本文中，它们被分为10种类型，尽管很明显有些沙丘可能显示出不止一种类型的特征。沙丘生长在降雨少，风向不定以及地形障碍的地区。它们是比以前公认的更为广泛和多样的现象。