Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 31

IN DIFFERENT
LIGHT WWT
enables users to
explore images in
multiple wavelengths. This
view shows our
galaxy's center
imaged in 90-cm
radio waves
overlaid on a
visible-light view
from the Digitized
Sky Survey.

thousands of images from the Digitized Sky Survey, an
all-sky photographic atlas. Users can zoom in from a
60-degree field of view to a high-resolution close-up of the
wisps in the Veil Nebula. Users can also look at the same
image in two wavelengths, comparing, for example, the
Horsehead Nebula in visible-light and infrared images.
Start playing with the controls of the WWT desktop
application and a range of options opens up. Simulate
eclipses as viewed from Earth or space, or fly to the Moon
to view the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's high-resolution
images and elevation maps. Travel to Mars and fly through
Valles Marineris, or see the distribution of more than
500,000 asteroids tracked by the Minor Planet Center.
Then zoom out from the solar system and fly through
the roughly 118,000 neighborhood stars drawn from the
Hipparcos catalog. Keep zooming out and you'll pass
through nearly 1 million SDSS galaxies and glimpse the
universe's large-scale structure. Right-clicking on any
star, planet, or galaxy will reveal deeper information on
that object from multiple online sources.
But WWT isn't meant just for solo use. Users of the
Windows desktop application can also create and share
guided sky tours, saving their path through the program
as if a virtual camera were recording the experience.
These tours look like videos and can include musical
scores, narration, additional imagery, and hyperlinks. But
unlike with videos, users can interact with the tour as
they experience it, exploring a particular topic in detail
before picking up right where they left off.
Astronomers and educators have already created dozens of sky tours spanning topics from the very general,
such as Astronomy for Everyone, to educational tributes
highlighting the work of important astronomers, including John Huchra's Universe and Galileo's New Order.

The latter tour debuted on the 400th anniversary of
Galileo's observations of Jupiter and uses the desktop
application's 3D solar system environment to recreate
the astronomer's revolutionary observations. The tour
juxtaposes the movement of Jupiter's moons, which move
back and forth in almost a straight line over time, against
Galileo's drawings from Sidereus nuncius. To illustrate
Galileo's realization that these observations confi rmed the
Copernican model of a heliocentric solar system, the sky
tour shows the moons as viewed in the plane of the sky, as
well as in three dimensions using modern images from
NASA orbiters.
Full functionality, especially of WWT's 3D environments, requires the Windows desktop application, but the
browser-based version performs most of the program's
basic functions. Some of the interactive tours that rely on
the 3D environments are also only accessible to users of
the desktop application, though they are available in video
form on the WWT Ambassadors website and on YouTube.

Multiplatform, Multidevice, Multiscreen
While WWT was initially created as a Windows desktop
application, Microsoft Research soon made the software
available in a limited, browser-based version accessible
from nearly any operating system and device. And as
technologies continue to develop, WWT has become available on more than just computer screens.
Find WWT on the big screen at planetariums such
as the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and the California
Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Or bring WWT to
your backyard, using the software to slew your telescope
to celestial targets as you view multiwavelength data on
your screen. If you would rather stay inside, plug in an
Xbox controller and immerse yourself in "on-world" experiSk yandTelescope.com April 2015

31


http://www.SkyandTelescope.com

Sky and Telescope - April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - April 2015

Contents
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - Cover1
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - Cover2
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 3
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - Contents
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 5
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - A
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - B
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 6
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 7
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 8
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 9
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 10
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 11
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 12
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 13
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 14
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 15
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 16
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 17
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 18
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 19
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 20
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 21
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 22
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 23
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 24
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 25
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 26
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 27
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 28
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 29
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 30
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 31
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 32
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 33
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 34
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 35
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 36
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 37
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 38
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 39
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 40
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 41
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 42
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 43
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 44
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 45
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 46
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 47
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 48
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 49
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 50
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 51
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 52
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 53
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 54
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 55
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 56
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 57
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 58
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 59
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 60
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 61
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 62
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 63
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Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 65
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 66
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 67
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 68
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Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 73
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Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 86
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - Cover3
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - Cover4
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