diff --git a/src/pulsaranimationwidget.cpp b/src/pulsaranimationwidget.cpp
index 653b82a2dea1874a4c82f5e4205b1cd15ad62e9c..8fd30332df971ba4bd27ff8a1abea87e75682d9d 100644
--- a/src/pulsaranimationwidget.cpp
+++ b/src/pulsaranimationwidget.cpp
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ PulsarAnimationWidget::PulsarAnimationWidget(QWidget *parent) :
 	m_quadricPulsarCone1 = NULL;
 	m_quadricPulsarCone2 = NULL;
 
+	m_pulsarTexture = NULL;
+	m_backgroundTexture = NULL;
+
 	m_framesPerSecond = 25;
 
 	resetParameters();
@@ -64,6 +67,9 @@ PulsarAnimationWidget::~PulsarAnimationWidget()
 	if(m_quadricPulsar) gluDeleteQuadric(m_quadricPulsar);
 	if(m_quadricPulsarCone1) gluDeleteQuadric(m_quadricPulsarCone1);
 	if(m_quadricPulsarCone2) gluDeleteQuadric(m_quadricPulsarCone2);
+
+	if(m_pulsarTexture) deleteTexture(m_pulsarTexture);
+	if(m_backgroundTexture) deleteTexture(m_backgroundTexture);
 }
 
 void PulsarAnimationWidget::initializeGL()
@@ -106,10 +112,11 @@ void PulsarAnimationWidget::initializeGL()
     gluQuadricNormals(m_quadricPulsarCone1, GLU_SMOOTH);
     gluQuadricNormals(m_quadricPulsarCone2, GLU_SMOOTH);
 
-    // load pulsar texture
+    // load textures
     m_pulsarTexture = bindTexture(QImage(":/textures/resources/texture_pulsar.png"), GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_RGBA);
+    m_backgroundTexture = bindTexture(QImage(":/textures/resources/texture_background.png"), GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_RGBA);
 
-    // use mipmap filter
+    // use mipmapped textures
     glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
     glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST);
 
diff --git a/src/pulsaranimationwidget.h b/src/pulsaranimationwidget.h
index 737af75d46ea17c5132b55e6749fb41abf52b0c2..91e1e92b8eb44762e0c7d07b383aa49cd04a17f6 100644
--- a/src/pulsaranimationwidget.h
+++ b/src/pulsaranimationwidget.h
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ protected:
 	GLUquadricObj *m_quadricPulsarCone2;
 
 	GLuint m_pulsarTexture;
+	GLuint m_backgroundTexture;
 
 	int m_framesPerSecond;
 
diff --git a/src/pulsatingscience.qrc b/src/pulsatingscience.qrc
index 6911ea50ffadefc288ce0e32f094cd6e8fe93b9e..13d531d7d825e7b089cc4724540752aa84d3f25c 100644
--- a/src/pulsatingscience.qrc
+++ b/src/pulsatingscience.qrc
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     <file>resources/aei-icon48.png</file>
   </qresource>
   <qresource prefix="textures" >
+    <file>resources/texture_background.png</file>
     <file>resources/texture_pulsar.png</file>
   </qresource>
 </RCC>
diff --git a/src/resources/texture_background.png b/src/resources/texture_background.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0c5f07f0dfc6f0e9a81060db793b912fdb6147a1
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/resources/texture_background.png differ