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Image Resources: Science

Yale University's Arts Library Digital Services guide to digital image resources.

Science Image Resources


Earth Science World

Search or browse for archaeological, geological, environmental, geophysical, and other kinds of images. Plants, animals, and weather or satellite images are also available.


U.S.G.S Maps, Imagery, & Publications

United States Geographical Survey's online portal for visual materials.


US Fish & Wildlife Service Digital Image Library System

A collection of still images provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, categorized by subject and region.


WorldWide Telescope (WWT)

Enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope—bringing together imagery from ground and space-based telescopes for a seamless exploration of the universe.


National Science Foundation (NSF) Multimedia Gallery

Limit your search by scientific dscipline and medium.

 

Encylopedia Smithsonian: Science and Technology

A webpage with descriptions and links to the Smithsonian's digital collections about science and technology, many of which contain images as well as supplemental information.


Apollo Image Atlas

A comprehensive online collection of Apollo-Saturn mission photography from the Lunar and Planetary Institute, including 25,000 lunar images, both from orbit and from the moon's surface, as well as photographs of the earth, astronauts and mission hardware.


Astronomy Digital Image Library

Online collection of astronomical, research-quality images available to the astronomical community and the general public; search by term or browse by star or galaxy name, position in the sky, frequency or waveband, and much more.


CalPhotos: Images of Plants & Animal

A collection of over 160,000 photos of plants, animals, fossils, people, and landscapes from around the world; Search by geographic location, common or scientific name, or browse by type of photo, including mammals, human culture, trees, and more.


Audubon's Birds of America

Audubon classic study (early 19th century) available online from the University of Pittsburgh.


Curtis Botanical Magazine

A project of the National Agricultural Library, this browseable online collection contains over 1,000 original plates of botanical illustrations from William Curtis' The Botanical Magazine, 1787-1807; browse botanical illustrations by flower or plant name.


Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)

Still under construction, when completed, the SDS will provide detailed optical images covering more than a quarter of the sky, and a 3-dimensional map of about a million galaxies and quasars.


Hubble Telescope Image Gallery

Online collection of Hubble Telescope images from the Space Telescope Science Institute; search for images by term of browse by categories including galaxies, solar system, nebulae, stars, the universe, and mor.


NASA Image eXchange 

NASA's searchable online multimedia collections include images of aeronautics, aircraft, projects, the solar system and beyond, space flights, and more. Searching by term or browse by category; searches returns thumbnail sized images, textual descriptions, links to higher resolution images, and links to the organization that stores each image.


National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Photo Library (NOAA)

Includes thousands of weather and space images, hundreds of images of the Earth's shores and coastal seas, and thousands of marine species images ranging from great whales to the most minute plankton. Also see additional collections from NOAA.


NYPL Digital Gallery: Nature and Science Images

Collection includes hundreds of images from the thirteenth through the early twentieth century, in the fields of astronomy, chemistry, geology, mathematics, medicine, and physics, as represented by manuscript illuminations, engravings, lithographs, and photographs from the New York Public Library.


Primate Images from the National Primate Resource Center Library

Audiovisual collection of the Wisconsin Primate Research Center contains natural history images of nonhuman primates; search by term or browse by genus or common name.


US Department of Agriculture Beltsville Electron Microscopy Unit

Browseable online collection of high resolution images from the Electron and Confocal Microscope Unit; using the scanning and transmission electron microscopes, the collection contains images of the surface of biological and physical materials unaltered by preparative procedures. Browse by categories including snow crystal, mites and ticks, and more.


US Department of Agriculture Forestry Images

Provided by the USDA Forest Service and the Bugwood Network, this is a searchable online collection for Forest Health, Natural Resources, and Silviculture Images.


University of Washington Libraries Freshwater & Marine Image Bank

Part of UW Libraries' Digital Collections, this collection contains images related to freshwater and marine topics, and is global in scope.


Simply Map

Recently purchased by Yale's Kline Science Library, a web-based mapping application that lets users quickly create professional-quality thematic maps and reports using powerful demographic, business, and marketing data.


Compiled by Ian McDermott, Assistant Librarian at the Yale Center for British Art.