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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Chit Chat _ Imagery as Backdrop

Posted by: JRehling Feb 15 2021, 11:29 PM

I've seen a lot of people use space imagery as their background images, in posters, etc.

This weekend, I put a big panorama of Gale Crater behind my young pet bearded dragon's glass tank, where blank cardboard had been for his first two months. Mars looks quite a bit like the deserts of his species's native Australia. He was immediately mesmerized by it, and stares at it now, looking into the "distance," perhaps searching for food, perhaps looking out for predators.

On the one hand, I find it amusing that his persistent staring may make this little reptile in some sense a serious expert on the appearance of Mars. On the other, I find it poignant. In some ways, the scale of the solar system to his little glass tank is no bigger than to that of the universe to our lives. And perhaps we, looking out into space, are just as far from really comprehending it as this little reptile is from Mars. And still he stares, transfixed. And you can tell that he wishes, if he could somehow get through the glass, that he could roam around and explore it.

Posted by: nprev Feb 16 2021, 12:20 AM

Your lizard is now the Official UMSF Spirit Animal.

Posted by: Art Martin Feb 16 2021, 10:52 PM

How is he at breathing rarefied CO2?

Posted by: volcanopele Feb 16 2021, 11:25 PM

I don't do that anymore, but with my old leopard gecko, I had a Titan SAR swath as her background.

Posted by: JRehling Feb 17 2021, 02:00 AM

Jason blows me away on distance, but I'm laughing that we had a similar idea.

We'll see one day how my dragon likes Venus.