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Microsoft launches WorldWide Telescope into private alpha

It made Scoble cry, and soon it can make you cry too. The website for the latest Microsoft Research project, WorldWide Telescope, is now up at http://wwtelescope.com/. Here's how Robert describes it:

"So, back to the World Wide Telescope. You drag around the sky. There’s Mars. There’s the big dipper. There’s Betelguese. Etc. It’s just like the star party you probably attended in college.

But it has one difference between any telescope you’ve ever looked at.

You can zoom. Zoom. Zoom. Zoom.

We picked a point of light inside the big dipper. Zoom. Zoom. Zoom. Zoom. Holy ***, it’s two galaxies colliding. It looked like a star. Zoom. Zoom. Zoom."

No sign of the download yet, with Scoble saying its in private alpha right now. If you're interested in finding out more, Sunshine posted a bunch of info on it last week. We'll let you know when its open to all.

Update: Thanks to Scoble's Twitter, here's the embed of the TED talk featuring WorldWide Telescope:

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/224

Update2: Thanks to the pointer in the comments, there's also a small screenshot now up on the WorldWide Telescope website.

Comments

 

pikablu0530 said:

Want a sneak preview? Go to cas.sdss.org/.../navi.asp

It's a website called "SDSS SkyServer DR6" which is powered by Microsoft Research also.

February 28, 2008 1:36 AM
 

pikablu0530 said:

Oh yeah, and btw, the official website also features a tiny screenshot of the WWT program. The UI reminds me of Windows Media Player....at least the top menu bar does =)

wwtelescope.com/.../t5.jpg

February 28, 2008 1:43 AM
 

quikboy said:

I wish they would at least post a real screenshot of it. Or at least had it ready for the public to look through when they announced it.

It's kind of annoying to be kept on your toes with as little visuals as possible.

And a bunch of videos about people saying how it's neat, isn't as neat as seeing the thing for yourself.

February 28, 2008 7:09 AM
 

BV2312 said:

You would think they would use silverlight instead of flash.....

February 28, 2008 9:33 AM
 

mdsharpe said:

It looks like Celestia

February 28, 2008 11:00 AM
 

tophtucker said:

BV2312--indeed...

Freezing the high-res version of the TED talk offers a slightly better look at the interface:

img141.imageshack.us/.../worldwidetelescopeea3.png

Looks like the top menu says Explore, Guided Tours, Search, Community, ???, View, Settings, Trip or Map or something.

February 29, 2008 1:26 AM

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