The competition between Microsoft and Google over dominance of the Internet has taken a new twist with the introduction of the Redmond giant's virtual WorldWide telescope.
Star forming pillars in the Eagle Nebula, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, Jeff Hester, and Paul Scowen (Arizona State University)
Available now for download at the application's site, it brings together the best ground and space-based images from observatories around the world.
“The WorldWide Telescope is a powerful tool for science and education that makes it possible for everyone to explore the universe,” said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft in a company statement.
“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,” he said.
The application is similar to Google Sky, which the company added to its Google Earth tool in August. The Google Sky project makes use of images through an agreement with Space Telescope Scientist Institute and the Hubble Space Telescope.
The WorldWide project also utilises images taken from the orbiting Hubble telescope.
The Microsoft project not only offers remarkable images, but also gives users the choice of which telescope they wish to view through. Apart from the Hubble telescope, choices include the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the Spitzer Space Telescope or others situated around the world. People also are able to view the locations of planets in the night sky — in the past, present or future.
“Users can see the X-ray view of the sky, zoom into bright radiation clouds, and then cross-fade into the visible light view and discover the cloud remnants of a supernova explosion from a thousand years ago,” said Roy Gould, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “I believe this new creation from Microsoft will have a profound impact on the way we view the universe.”
Roy Williams, senior scientist from the California Institute of Technology described the telescope as a remarkable tool for amateur and professional alike saying it was, "...a beautiful platform for explaining and getting people excited about astronomy, and I think the professional astronomers will come to use it as well."
Download of the application is free here at Microsoft's WorldWide site.
View blog reactions
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)
Advertising
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)