Entries tagged with world wide telescope - Channel 10

WorldWide Telescope: Equinox Release

sarahintampa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:21:00 GMT

WorldWide Telescope (WWT), the downloadable software from Microsoft Research which lets you explore the universe, has certainly lived up to its pre-launch hype. As of today, the WWT has 1.5 million active users – that’s not downloads, mind you, but people actively using the software on a regular basis. If you’re not one of those users yet, you’re definitely going to want to check out the WWT now. The latest release includes double the amount of data that the former version offered and has added a ton of new features like Universe View, a 3D Solar System, animated tours, and more.

This new version of WWT, dubbed the “Equinox Release,” was unveiled at PDC where it was demonstrated to the crowd. However, you can’t truly grasp the power and marvel of this software until you try it for yourself…especially now that it has gone 3D!

In the Equinox edition of WWT, you can explore our solar system in 3D. That means you can float through the rings of Saturn, spin around the moons of Jupiter, watch the shadows the moon casts on the Earth during an eclipse, and even see just how far we are from the center of the Milky Way.

You can record tours of this 3D Solar System, too, using WWT’s feature which lets you author guided looks at parts of the universe using voiceovers, slides, text, and images. The difference is that now, those tours can be animated. Text and inserted images can spin, expand, contract, fade, move, etc. within a slide. Want to see an example? Try this Apollo tour created by Dinoj Surendran, a Data Curator at WWT.

Also, thanks to the 2008 Phoenix Lander mission, there are more panoramas of Mars now. You’ll find those combined with the Cornell Pancams on the NASA/JPL Spirit and Opportunity Rovers and the Pathfinder missions. Some are also in 3D.

In addition to Mars, there is new data that includes hundreds of new images from the Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer space telescopes, as well as from renowned astrophotographer Jack Newton. There are also new surveys in the ultraviolet (GALEX) and gamma-ray (Fermi) domain, an updated set of sixteen surveys about the Cosmic Microwave Background from the WMAP Science Team, and panoramas stitched at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Ames Center from the original Apollo astronauts’ photographs. And if that’s not enough data for you, you can upload your own using some of the WWT’s provided utilities.

The update also includes some bug fixes and features for power users (like cone searching with NED (NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database) returning results as VOTables, textures on Saturnian and Uranian moons, Earth globes where you can see polar regions, panoramas of telescopes at Mauna Kea). But there are some features for casual users like myself, too. These include a full-screen mode that I can enter and leave using F11 and the ability to save the screen I’m viewing as Desktop Wallpaper (sweet!).

You can download the WWT from here.

Blogger Back Channel Event: World Wide Telescope - AM Session

Nic — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:06:00 GMT

Recorded LIVE

On Tuesday (June 17 2008) a small group of bloggers from across the globe were invited to participate in an online, interactive discussion with Curtis Wong and Jonathan Fay; the gentlemen behind World Wide Telescope.

Along with Ambika Singh from the Microsoft team here in Redmond, we placed Curtis and Jonathan in the Channel 10 studios and streamed them live to the web via Ustream with a web chat system powered by Windows Live Translator where they fielded questions about and provided demos of World Wide Telescope.

We recorded two sessions to accommodate for global time zones. Here is the AM session recording for bloggers from Western Europe and the America's.

PM session available here

Blogger Back Channel Event: World Wide Telescope

Nic — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:49:00 GMT

We recorded two sessions to accommodate for global time zones. Here is the PM session recording for bloggers from Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific.

AM session available here

WorldWide Telescope - virtuaalikaukoputki on nyt jokaiselle saatavissa.

jukkaw — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:21:00 GMT

Varmaankin kaikki meistä on surffaillut internetissä, mutta miltä kuulostaisi surffailla avaruudessa omalla koneella?

Nyt kaikilla on mahdollisuus tutustua avaruuden maailmaan aivan uudella kiehtovalla ja todella makeella tavalla!!

Tutustu oheiseen videoon ja kokeile itse.

WorldWide Telescope on sovellus, jonka avulla kuka tahansa voi tutkia avaruuden eri osia todella visuaalisella ja hienolla tavalla. Avaruudessa voidaan liikkua sekä sijainnin, että ajan suhteen ja eri avaruuden kappaleita voidaan tarkastella eri tekniikoilla otetuista kuvista. Sovelluksessa on ja siihen voidaan tehdä todella helposti virtuaalisia kiertoajeluita, jonka avulla universumi ei olekaan enää niin kaukana. :)

Microsoft Research julkisti aiemmin mainitsemani WorldWide Telescope sovelluksen kaikkien saataville ja on ladattavissa osoitteesta www.worldwidetelescope.org.

WorldWide Telescope on rikas Web 2.0 visualisointiympäristö, joka toimii virtuaalisena teleskooppina, tuoden hienosti yhteen niin maan päältä kuin avaruudessa otetut kuvat. Tarkasteltaessa avaruuden kiehtovaa maailmaa, nämä korkealaatuiset eri kuvat yhdistyy virtuaaliseksi yhdeksi kokemukseksi. Eri luotaimien ottamat tarkat ja eri valopituuksien kuvat tuodaan tässä saumattomasti yhteen ja saadaan aikaan yksi kokonainen universumikokemus. Sovellukseen voidaan luoda valmiiksi selostettuja esityksiä, joiden avulla käyttäjä voi tehdä vaikuttavia "kiertoajeluita" galaksien halki.

WorldWide Telescope tarjoaa hyvä alustan astronomian, eri tieteellisten tutkimusten tai laskennallisen tieteen tutkimiseen ja opetukseen.

Rikkaat mediakiertueet voivat sisältää puhetta, musiikkia, teksejä ja graafisia ominaisuuksia yhdistettynä korkealaatuisiin WWT:n tarjoamiin universumin mahtaviin asioihin.

Tämä on uskomattoman hieno sovellus tarjoaa kaikille avaruudesta kiinnostuneille todella hienon tavan päästä sinne, missä ihminen ei ole koskaan käynyt.

WorldWide Telescope hyödyntää hyvin suorituskykyistä Microsoft Visual Experience tekniikkaa, joka mahdollistaa saumattoman liikkumisen ja zoomauksen öisellä taivaalla, planeetoilla ja eri häkellyttävien näkymien ympäristöissä. Sovellus on ilmainen ja tarjoaa mm. astronomia- ja opiskeluyhteisöille hienoja mahdollisuuksia innostua ja tutkia universumia uudella, ennen kokemattomalla tavalla.

Tämä on todella makea sovellus ja sitä kannattaa ehdottomasti kokeilla!