Microsoft star gazing

[Tesha]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/13/MNC510K233.DTL

Microsoft star gazing

Deborah Gage, Chronicle Staff Writer

(05-12) 19:37 PDT -- Computer users now can fly through the universe,
viewing stars, planets and celestial bodies as an astronomer would,
with Tuesday's introduction of the Worldwide Telescope by Microsoft.

The virtual service combines images and databases from every major
telescope and astronomical organization in the world.

Microsoft says it is providing the resource for free in memory of
Jim Gray, the Microsoft researcher who disappeared last year while
sailing his boat to the Farallon Islands on a trip to scatter his
mother's ashes. The project is an extension of Gray's work.

"I never imagined (the telescope) would be so beautiful," said
Alexander Szalay, an astronomy professor at Johns Hopkins
University who worked with Gray on astronomy projects for more
than a decade.

Gray was an expert in databases, and he came to be accepted as
"a card-carrying member" of the astronomical community for his
work in bringing astronomical data online, Szalay said.

Point your cursor at a constellation, and the telescope will
load all the objects near it and display them across the bottom
of the screen. Pick one, and you'll be taken to it. Zoom in and
out, view it through filters of different wavelengths - an infrared
view, say, or x-ray - and right-click to pull up its name and more
detail. Track the object's location in the sky - its ascension and
declension - at the bottom right corner of your screen.

<more>

Link to the telescope:

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org

[WillParkinson]

1. lol...I clicked "Experience it" and got...

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Good ol' Microsoft.

[enki23]

2. yeah, i did too

they never seem to disappoint (so long as you expect them to disappoint).

[Tesha]

3. Apparently, this needs the Microsoft .Net framework V2.0 .

This feature is included in Vista (which is probably Microsoft's
motive here) but can be downloaded as updates to at least WinXP
and probably Win2K. But we tend to be a Mac shop so I guess the
only way I run this is via the Parallels desktop gizmo.

Tesha

[Dead_Parrot]

4. 'Interesting' review here...

MS whips lens cap off WorldWide Telescope
To reveal? The inexorable blackness of space...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/13/microsoft_worldwide_telescope/page2.html



I don't see any immediate threat to Celestia or Stellarium... :)

[RoyGBiv]

5. New particle ...

From the review...

"Quite what the problem is, therefore, we know not - possibly a conflict between DirectX and some hitherto unknown Web 2.0 subatomic particle (the Gates Bozo?)."

:rofl:

I love The Register.

[Occulus]

6. I have it running now

It obviously still needs some work- some of the tiles didn't load during the guided tour I took. It seems they're using Seadragon to power the visuals- which acquisition they also used in Photosynth. Also, it seems that their servers are getting hit hard at the moment, as it's taking forever to download the guided tours.

Still, this is an interesting tool. It's pretty obviously inspired at least by the open-source Celestia, but cool nonetheless.

You'll want a fast internet connection though, at least for now.

edit: here's a screenie of the WorldWide Telescope displaying the Trifid Nebula:



Edit #2: As I play with this, I'm discovering a couple real useful features. Right-clicking on a point in the sky returns detailed information about the object under the mouse, and a 'Research' button in that popup window gives other data from other sources for the object in question. However, if you have a telescope with a USB cable, you can download the ASCOM platform (you may need to use this mirror or this other mirror instead; I've a feeling ASCOM's site is getting hammered) to connect your telescope to your PC using the WWT and the ASCOM platform together. If I'm reading this correctly, you can apparently use the WorldWide Telescope to point your real telescope directly at what's being displayed onsceen, or vice-versa.

Very cool stuff in any case.