Microsoft WorldwideTelescope 3.0.76

The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope—bringing together imagery from the world’s best ground- and space-based telescopes for the exploration of the universe. WWT blends terabytes of images, information, and stories from multiple sources into a seamless, immersive, rich media experience delivered over the Internet. Students of all ages will feel empowered to explore and understand the cosmos using WWT’s simple and powerful user interface.

The mission of the WWT is twofold:

• To aggregate scientific data from major telescopes, observatories, and institutions and make temporal and multi-spectral studies available through a single, cohesive Internet–based portal
• To stimulate interest in science among younger generations, providing a compelling base for teaching astronomy, scientific discovery, and computational science

How do you start exploring with WTT? Upon first opening the Home screen, you’ll find a dialogue box that tells you how to navigate in the WorldWide Telescope. Follow these instructions, and then, after you’re familiar with the controls and features, click the Guided Tours tab. Now you can choose from a growing number of guided tours created by astronomers and educators from famous observatories and planetariums. For example, you can join Harvard astronomer Alyssa Goodman on a journey that shows how dust in the Milky Way Galaxy condenses into stars and planets. Or you can accompany University of Chicago cosmologist Mike Gladders two billion years into the past to view a gravitational lens bending the light from galaxies – a phenomenon that allows you to see billions more years into cosmic history. Feel free to pause a tour at any time and explore on your own – you can later re-enter the tour where you left off.