The final frontier got a bit closer as Microsoft Corp officially launched the public beta of its WorldWide Telescope . WorldWide Telescope is a rich Web application that brings together imagery from the best ground- and space-based observatories across the world to allow people to easily explore the night sky through their computers. WorldWide Telescope has been eagerly anticipated by the astronomical and educational communities as a compelling astronomical resource for students and lifelong learners, and as a way to make science fun for children.
The service goes well beyond the simple browsing of images. Users can choose which telescope they want to look through, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the Spitzer Space Telescope or others. 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. Taken as a whole, the application provides a top-to-bottom view of the science of astronomy.
The application itself is a blend of software and Web 2.0 services created with the Microsoft high-performance Visual Experience Engine, which allows seamless panning and zooming around the heavens with rich image environments. WorldWide Telescope stitches together terabytes of high-resolution images of celestial bodies and displays them in a way that relates to their actual position in the sky. People can freely browse through the solar system, galaxy and beyond, or take advantage of a growing number of guided tours of the sky hosted by astronomers and educators at major universities and planetariums.Source:MS press.
You might think this is similiar to GoogleEarth than your wrong WorldwideTelescope helps to browse through various Galaxies present in th universe .It has a slick selection look and drag and drop options which really helps you to move around and play with it as you like .you need to download the software and get it installed in your computer .You can able to download the software here.
You can have an overview of the new Microsoft worldwideTelescope video here Thanks pcmech.
Microsoft WorldWideTelescope Just Rocks!!!
