Microsoft Research WorldWide Telescope

WorldWide Telescope (WWT) Layerscape application enables the seamless viewing of the earth, the solar system, and outer space. WWT 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 earth and universe.

• WWT in combination with the Excel Add-in makes it easy for you to bring your data into a powerful visualization engine
• Helps transform your data into information by combining freedom of perspective with spatial/temporal rendering and playback
• 3D environment with transparency control supports data whether it be on, below, or above the Earth’s surface
• Time-series data support allows ephemeral data to appear and disappear as time elapses for upwards of 500,000 data points
• Supports point, vector and raster data including map overlays, well known text, shape files, Excel spreadsheets, CSV and more
• Story-authoring tools allow you to create rich interactive 3-D visualizations and narratives

How do you start exploring with WWT? Upon first opening the Home screen, you’ll find a dialogue box that tells you how to navigate within WorldWide Telescope. Follow these instructions, and after you’re familiar with the controls and features, click the Guided Tours tab to choose tours created by astronomers and educators from famous observatories and planetariums. You can view the growing Earth-based tours from here or use the Community menu to browse Layerscape content directly from the WWT Client. 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. With a little effort, you can build your own tours to view and share. Best of all, it is a free download available from Microsoft Research Connections.

Install WorldWide Telescope

WorldWide Telescope minimum system requirements (For PC):

• Microsoft® XP SP2 (minimum), Windows® Vista®, or Windows® 7 (recommended)
• PC with Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2 gigahertz (GHz) or faster, recommended
• 1 gigabyte (GB) of RAM; 2 GB RAM recommended
• 3D accelerated card with 128 megabytes (MB) RAM; discrete graphics card with dedicated 256-MB VRAM recommended for higher performance
• 1 GB of available hard disk space; 10 GB recommended for off-line features and higher performance browsing
• XGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution monitor
• Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing and scrolling device
• Microsoft® DirectX® version 9.0c and .NET Framework 3.5
• Required for some features; Internet connection at 56 Kbps or higher through either an Internet service provider (ISP) or a network. Internet access might require a separate fee to an ISP; local or long-distance telephone charges might also apply