To Infinity and Beyond

Want to tour outer space? Now you can – virtually. Two new programs have been launched that allow anyone with a computer to explore the solar system with the click of a mouse. Today, Microsoft introduced WorldWide Telescope, a project that allows you to create your own 3-D tour of the universe. After downloading the free software at WorldWideTelescope.org you can navigate detailed, digital images of planets, stars, black holes, constellations, solar systems, and much more. WorldWide Telescope even offers narrated tours by astronomy experts. The only hitch is that the program requires you to download large software, and it only runs on Microsoft Windows.

For Mac users, you can still access Google’s Web-based version of space exploration launched a few months ago, Google Sky. To read more about these two programs and the on-going competition between Microsoft and Google, click here.