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A view of sand dunes in Rub' al Khali, a vast desert encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The image, acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) aboard NASA's Terra satellite, shows dunes as brown with gray regions being the underlying gravel plains. The distance between parallel dunes, which can reach 330 metres (1,080 ft) tall, is roughly 1.5 to 2.5 km (0.9 to 1.6 mi). The area is neither inhabited nor traversed by humans, although plants, arachnids, and rodents call the region home.Photo: NASA