Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope blasts off

AP ^ | May 13

[Aristotelian]

SEATTLE (AP) — Microsoft Corp. launched its WorldWide Telescope late Monday, bringing the free Web-based program for zooming around the universe to a broad audience.

WorldWide Telescope, developed by Microsoft's research arm, knits together images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and others.

Computer users can browse through the galaxy on their own or take guided tours of different outer-space destinations developed by astronomers and academics.

The site lets users choose from a number of different telescopes and switch between different light wavelengths.

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org

[Aristotelian]

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org

[rlmorel]

PING!

[CholeraJoe]

Those aren’t real pictures. They’re computer generated images. You know, like the moon landings were.

[BlazingArizona]

BUT: you can only use it to look at Microsoft-licensed constellations.

[DBrow]

Has Hubble been fitted out with a DRM chip?

[LIConFem]

[gridlock]

So, can we see the base of the moon landers now?

[agere_contra]

Frag! I just corrupted the Andromeda galaxy!

Fortunately no-one will notice for 2.5 million years.

[TexGuy]

Where the hell is the “ANY KEY?”... *snicker*

[starlifter]

What happens if we getter the universal blue screen of death?

[reagan_fanatic]

[Domandred]

Ah geez well my day just became highly non-productive

[rlmorel]

ROTFLMAO! (I was trying to be nice...:)

[rlmorel]

[manapua]

LOL. This looks like a good app.

But Stellarium is better.

[messierhunter]

Stellarium's great, especially if you want to see when objects will set behind your own personal obstructions (your house, trees, etc).

If you've got a good telescope and you want to hunt for obscure galaxies and nebulae, and especially if you want to control your telescope from your computer, I think Cartes du Ciel is the best free software out there. It's not flashy, but it's powerful and very customizable.
http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/

[The KG9 Kid]

Bookmarked.

[manapua]

I wasn't familiar with Cartes du Ciel. It looks very much like a shareware program I had used back in 98/99 and eventually lost. I will add this to my astronomy arsenal - I really appreciate light-weight apps.

Thanks for the tip and link!

[RinaseaofDs]

Since no one else will say it:

Thank you to Microsoft.

I have kids, and they are going to love this.

[festus]

Does it run on Linux ?