Microsoft star gazing

SFGate ^ | May 13, 2008 | Deborah Gage

[period end of story]

Computer users now can fly through the universe, viewing stars, planets and celestial bodies as an astronomer would, with Tuesday's introduction of the Worldwide Telescope by Microsoft.

The virtual service combines images and databases from every major telescope and astronomical organization in the world.

Microsoft says it is providing the resource for free in memory of Jim Gray, the Microsoft researcher who disappeared last year while sailing his boat to the Farallon Islands on a trip to scatter his mother's ashes. The project is an extension of Gray's work.

"I never imagined (the telescope) would be so beautiful," said Alexander Szalay, an astronomy professor at Johns Hopkins University who worked with Gray on astronomy projects for more than a decade.

Gray was an expert in databases, and he came to be accepted as "a card-carrying member" of the astronomical community for his work in bringing astronomical data online, Szalay said.

Point your cursor at a constellation, and the telescope will load all the objects near it and display them across the bottom of the screen. Pick one, and you'll be taken to it. Zoom in and out, view it through filters of different wavelengths - an infrared view, say, or x-ray - and right-click to pull up its name and more detail. Track the object's location in the sky - its ascension and declension - at the bottom right corner of your screen.

[martin_fierro]

Cool (Free!) Astronomy-related Software: Please FReepmail other suggestions

Celestia: (GET THIS ONE! -- m_f) A real-time space simulation that lets you experience our universe in three dimensions. Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. All travel in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A 'point-and-goto' interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit. Sky Screen Saver: Shows the sky above any location on Earth, including stars (from the Yale Bright Star Catalogue of more than 9000 stars to the 7th magnitude), the Moon in its correct phase and position in the sky, and the position of the Sun and all the planets in the sky. Outlines, boundaries, and names of constellations can be displayed, as well as names and Bayer/Flamsteed designations of stars brighter than a given threshold. A database of more than 500 deep-sky objects, including all the Messier objects and bright NGC objects can be plotted to a given magnitude. The ecliptic and celestial equator can be plotted, complete with co-ordinates. Home Planet: A comprehensive astronomy / space / satellite-tracking package for Microsoft Windows 95/98/Me and Windows NT 4.0/2000/XP and above. Selected features: An earth map, showing day and night regions, location of the Moon and current phase, and position of a selected earth satellite. Earth maps can be customised and extended.Hposition and phase data for the Sun and Moon. Panel showing positions of planets and a selected asteroid or comet, both geocentric and from the observer's location. A sky map, based on either the Yale Bright Star Catalogue or the 256,000 star SAO catalogue, including rendering of spectral types, planets, earth satellites, asteroids and comets. Databases of the orbital elements of 5632 asteroids and principal periodic comets are included, allowing selection of any for tracking. A telescope window which can be aimed by clicking in the sky map or telescope itself, by entering coordinates, or by selecting an object in the Object Catalogue. A horizon window which shows the view toward the horizon at any given azimuth. Object Catalogue allows archiving images, sounds, and tabular data about celestial objects. Orrery allows viewing the solar system, including a selected asteroid or comet, from any vantage point in space, in a variety of projections. Satellite tracking panel. Select an Earth satellite from a database of two-line elements, and see its current position and altitude. View Earth From panel allows you to view a texture-mapped image of the Earth as seen from the Sun, Moon, a selected Earth satellite, above the observing location, or the antisolar point. Satellite database selection allows maintenance of multiple lists of satellites, for example TV broadcast, ham radio, low orbit, etc. Cartes du Ciel Sky Charts: Enables you to draw sky charts, making use of the data in 16 catalogs of stars and nebulae. In addition the position of planets, asteroids and comets are shown. SETI@Home: A scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.

[PrivateIdaho]

bookmark

[Spouting Horn]

The quality of Microsoft products is inversely proportional to Bill Gate’s wealth.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks martin for the ping. Dunno about this, but the ad in this month's Sky and Telescope was prittie. http://www.bisque.com/.

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[aft_lizard]

Then dont be a bedwetter>>

And don’t be an asshole. Anyways you know it is true that the vast majority of free programs ask during installation for some form of information, denying that in and of itself is stupid.

[JoJo Gunn]

And don’t be an asshole. Anyways you know it is true that the vast majority of free programs ask during installation for some form of information, denying that in and of itself is stupid.

Did I stutter the first time?  

You're not only a Redmond shill, but a bald faced liar too.

[aft_lizard]

Bold faced liar? LOL, prove me wrong then. Show me where a program, any program doesnt ask for, whether its optional or not, for your email addy, name, address or any mixture of personal info. You know I am not wrong, calling me a liar, bedwetter or what have you will not change that point. Go on and retort with some other nasty name dickhead, it will not prove your point.

[JoJo Gunn]

Show me where a program, any program doesnt ask for, whether its optional or not, for your email addy, name, address or any mixture of personal info.

Uh, would you like to begin with a list of Linux distros? 

 

*snicker* 

[JoJo Gunn]

Martin, this is kinda-sorta along the lines of astronomy: have you ever heard of Orbitron? It’s very slick, and can track the Space Station, Hubble, probably every known satellite. Good for star gazers and hams who work the hamsats, etc. You can get the orbital data updated automatically or manually.

http://www.stoff.pl/

[aft_lizard]

Good start now let me list a couple of free programs,free programs that ask for some sort of personal info:

AVG
iTunes
Quicktime
realmedia
DivX
Cucusoft
Yahoo Messenger
ICQ

Interestingly enough they are all different things, not the same thing with different nuances repackaged under a dozen different names.

[JoJo Gunn]

Jeez almighty, why didn't you tell us in the first place that you focus on programs that are dubious and mostly favored by tweens?

For one thing, nobody who's remotely computer savvy uses Real Player. They were busted as spyware years ago. But I suppose it fits your criteria.

And as for iTunes, let me hear a rousing DUH! A frickin' pay service has to ask for personal info.

Really, son, get with the program. 

[zeugma]

This was already available, to a degree, with a program called Celestia.

http://shatters.net/celestia/

 

 Worth repeating. Celestia rocks.

 Works on Linux, OSX, and MS-Windows

 

[zeugma]

And don’t be an asshole. Anyways you know it is true that the vast majority of free programs ask during installation for some form of information, denying that in and of itself is stupid.

Really? I have several thousand free programs on my computer, none of which asked for anything at all.

[aft_lizard]

Hey didnt say I used them just say they ask for that info, and beyond that your little outs arent outs at all. You can still use those programs without needing to subscribe to any service.

[aft_lizard]

Doubt it.

[LonePalm]

Self Ping for later.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[FourtySeven]

Cool, something for home.

[JoJo Gunn]

Do you actually think someone is going to take the time to type up the names of thousands of programs just to placate a Redmond drone?

[aft_lizard]

ANd do you think for one second the man actually has thousands of programs on his computer? While bucking every trend in the computing univerese with none of them asking for any info? You my friend are the anti-intelligence if you believe that.

[JoJo Gunn]

ANd do you think for one second the man actually has thousands of programs on his computer? While bucking every trend in the computing univerese with none of them asking for any info? You my friend are the anti-intelligence if you believe that.

Are you calling the man a liar?

I know nothing about him, but I do know that the internet's been around for several years, and thousands of programs have come (and gone), and even if you only get one download a day, or one a week or month, then in a decades time you amass more than you can count.  

So how old are you? Have you been computing before 2003, your signup year? Some of these guys around here have hammered at a keyboard since before the Internet was thoughts on paper. How do you dare to presume to know anything about them?