The name itself evokes a land largely untouched and unexplored, like something from another planet (turns out Star Wars was filmed here, and the landscape inspired Frank Herbert’s Dune). Rub' al Khali, as it is also known, transverses the Arabian Peninsula from the UAE to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen, with this particular image located on the border of Oman and Saudi Arabia and spanning over 70km from top to bottom. This desert is over 2.5 times the size of the United Kingdom, with its characteristic feldspar dunes separated by colored gypsum depressions. These depressions are thought to have once been lakes, with hippopotamus fossils, among others, found here. Today, the Empty Quarter contains the largest expanse of sand dunes in the world.

To see what it was like exploring this vast expanse, check out some photographs from Wilfred Thesiger’s expedition here.

Satellite data from ESA’s Copernicus program. CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.