A view from space of sand dunes in Rub' al Khali; 鈥榯he Empty Quarter' in Arabic; a vast and arid 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) in height; is roughly 1.5 to 2.5 km (0.9 to 1.6 miles). The area is neither inhabited nor traversed by humans; although some plants; arachnids; and rodents survive amid the harsh terrain.