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Microsoft Launches WorldWide Telescope

Posted by kdawson on from the godspeed-jim-gray dept.

esocid writes "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. Windows users (only) can browse through the galaxy on their own or take guided tours of different outer-space destinations developed by astronomers and academics. The application allows viewing from different wavelengths such as X-ray, visible light, and hydrogen-alpha radiation. Business Week has a review and some background on the project, which has been in development for years. Google Sky beat them to the punch but Business Week opines that WWT's interface is superior."

2 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Satelites! by blhack · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Telescopes!?
    Imagine if you had a Beowulf cluster of..

    oh...

    yeah, I'll show myself out.

    --
    NewslilySocial News. No lolcats allowed.
  2. A bold new security direction... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Why, you ask, would MS research be building a worldwide telescope? Well, they realized that hunting viruses one by one is a futile way to secure an operating system. Once the WWT finds the metavirus, they'll be able to patch that and live happily every after(assuming The Raft comes ashore well south of Redmond).