Microsoft Worldwide Telescope

This looks interesting. Still not confirmed though. Would love to see how it stacks up against the other free stellariums.

It's going to be based on Photosynth which they have been showcasing on their research site for a year - looks like a great technology, so I'll definitely be downloading this one.

More news here

www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/18/microsoft-...scope-on-january-27/

Trev

It's finally out in beta form and I must say I much prefer it to Stellarium. The Photosynth integration works really well. Zoom in on many locations and everything looks fuzzy for a few seconds but then you are treated to a fantastic view in a fraction of the time that Starry Night updates it's high res images.
It has quite an odd GUI though.

One handy thing is that you can right click on an object and then go to research to get details from SEDS, SIMBAD, etc.

Won't be giving up starry night pro though but this is handy for a quick browse of the sky.

www.worldwidetelescope.org

Hummm... I seen an article on the BBC website about this and downloaded it.

First impressions were that I liked the interface, lots of extras (tours etc.), I liked the way that when I click on an item and get additional extra related links.

Unless you have a fast PC (Windows XP or Vista) and a really good broadband connection you simply will not get a good experience from the software. I got annoyed when it took so long to refresh images.

As a beta product it has great potential but I'll be sticking with Stellarium for the time being.

Don't know if this has been posted elsewhere on the forum but as per thread title, Microsofts Worldwide Telescope is now available for download. Just had a quick play. Pretty Cool!

Available at www.worldwidetelescope.org

[albertw: merged]

Doh! Sorry Albert. And btw were you a quick on the draw gun slinger in a past life? Ya moved my thread within about a minute of me posting it!

'Fastest mod in the west'