Microsoft's Worldwide Telescope Video
Microsoft's Worldwide Telescope Video Transcript
[ Music ] ^M00:00:02
>> Hey there, I'm Kara Tsuboi, CNET News.com. I'm here in Redmond, Washington at the newly opened Headquarters of Microsoft Research. Now the purpose of tonight's cocktail party is to kick-off TechFest 2008 and also for a live demonstration of Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope.
>> It's the universe that you yourself can voyage through.
>> It's magic carpet.
>> You zoom down through the light.
>> It was a true transformational experience for me.
>> TheWorldWide Telescope is an environment that brings together, sort of the best images from ground in space-based telescope and it's coupled with a simple authoring environment that allows anybody to create guided tours of the universe.
>> Picture an interactive mapping program of the heavens that puts you in the driver seat of your very own spaceship.
>> You don't have to have any background in astronomy. As a person who will be using it, you can -- you have the benefit of browsing the sky and have astronomers and educators take you through the things that you're seeing. That's the wonderful thing about this.
>> WorldWide Telescope pulls its images from various observatories, planetariums and telescopes.
>> The WorldWide Telescope takes the best images and has woven them seamlessly to produce a holistic view of the universe.
>> Combine this stunning graphics with the astronomical data from scientists and the developers say the program will provide the context for learning about stars and solar systems like never before.
>> A lot of what we see today, you see a beautiful image from the Hubble Space Telescope. You have no idea where it is, how big it is. I mean, the scale is a very important thing, and so having something like this where you can really get the sense of scale and context coupled with story, it's a very powerful way to learn.
>> And hopefully a fun way to learn.
>> We made the authoring process so simple that a six year old or an 80-year old can do it.
>> That means mapping your own route through the universe. Adding your own narration, music and then sharing it with others.
>> Hi, my name is Benjamin. I am six years old and I live here. The tour I want to take you on is at the [inaudible]. I think it's like a jewel in the sky.
>> WorldWide Telescope was built in partnership between Microsoft and Next Media Research and out of a long time dream of researcher Curtis Wong to make space exploration more accessible.
>> It's a life-long passion for me to create something that would make browsing the sky as transparently as possible and a way to get access, almost one-on-one access with some of these astronomers. They can in this environment talk about some of their latest work and you can see it. But see it in context.
>> WorldWide Telescope is expected to launch online this Spring of 2008, free to the public. Reporting in Redmond, Washington, Kara Tsuboi, CNET News.com. ^M00:02:47 [ Music ]
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