Microsoft Launched WorldWide Telescope

Microsoft WorldWide Telescope app mixes software and Web 2.0 services created with the company`s Visual Experience Engine, due to which users are enabled to pan and zoom around the heavens with rich image environments provided with a real-like experience.

 

Supplied with terabytes of high-resolution images of celestial bodies from a wide range of powerful observatories this new app displays them in a way that relates to their actual position in the sky. Users can freely browse through the Earth, the Moon, the whole solar system, the constellations, etc. They can choose which telescope they want to look through. They can view the locations of planets in the night sky — in the past, present or future. They can view the universe through different wavelengths of light to reveal hidden structures in other parts of the galaxy. Also, users can participate in many guided tours of the sky hosted by astronomers and educators at major universities and planetariums.

 

“The WorldWide Telescope is a powerful tool for science and education that makes it possible for everyone to explore the universe,” said Bill Gates. “By combining terabytes of incredible imagery and data with easy-to-use software for viewing and moving through all that information, the WorldWide Telescope opens the door to new ways to see and experience the wonders of space. Our hope is that it will inspire young people to explore astronomy and science, and help researchers in their quest to better understand the universe.”

 

Microsoft WorldWide Telescope is available free of charge as a tribute to Jim Gray, a Microsoft researcher who disappeared off the California coast while sailing last year.

 

For more information check WorldWide Telescope Press Release.

 

Download WorldWide Telescope.