My laptop experienced a fatal error yesterday that required a complete mindwipe and restore. Luckily, we have more computers than creatures in our house (even counting the cats), so it didn’t affect my blogging. Twice lucky, I’d just done a backup, so it didn’t affect my sanity. As I sat watching a repeat of last week’s L Word and reinstalling everything, I surfed over to the NASA site to grab an image for my desktop wallpaper. This started me on a roll of looking for other science-related, non-commercial wallpaper, which I now present to you, dear readers, for yourselves or your offspring.
- Images from the Hubble Space Telescope showcase a shining array of star clusters, galaxies, nebulae, and planets. Images from the less well known Chandra X-Ray Observatory are equally spectacular. The Chandra team also made screensavers with them.
- The National Zoo offers photos of their famous pandas as well as other animals. The Birmingham and Denver Zoos (among others) also have great images, with Denver emphasizing baby animals.
- Several departments and programs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have their own wallpaper pages. Try the National Marine Sanctuaries, Stellwegen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and Ocean Explorer.
Many of the sites also have online games, downloadable coloring and activity sheets, and much more to educate and entertain. Good for poking around on a rainy day.
