So a mere five days after I wrote a post about WorldWide Telescope the team at Microsoft Research released a preview of the application. While I am in Europe. And can't (easily) download the application. But download it I did... and all my dreams about what the application would be like came true!

How to Get It
It's pretty easy. Visit the WorldWide Telescope site's Experience page and follow the download instructions. It's a relatively hefty application, about 20MB download, though it does require the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 before it can install. You will want download that first if you don't have it. There's a pretty decent set of installation instructions on the download page, and the application installer prompts you along.

What Is It?
Like I said in my first post, it's like having access to a multi-billion dollar telescope array from your desktop. Once the installation is complete, the application -- a network aware program that defaults to using live data on the servers and only uses the local cache when you're not connected -- displays an interface that is reminiscent of the Encarta experience (at least to my untrained UX eyes) and loads a full-blown sky survey. From there, you can follow one of several guided tours, search for images from Hubble or Spitzer, search constellations, or explore any of a dozen other resources. The application flies around the screen, zooms on whatever image you're interested in, and points out relative data with a quick right-click on the object in question. It's really fun, not to mention educational.

There's a lot more information on the What is WWT? page. That page links to contributors, additional details, and other resources. They also describe what WWT is:

The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope—bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.

They also explain what a "Web 2.0 visualization software environment" is:

Web 2.0 is the next generation of the World Wide Web wherein technologies and social practices use metadata or tags to enable communication and resource sharing in a variety of forms (text, audio, video, links, etc.) through the Web without a centralized authority's intervention or approval.

Rich visualization software provides a graphical visualization of large structured data sets. The software's interactive graphical user interface provides users with a more data-rich presentation of the data and enables them to explore, filter, analyze, and interact with the data, resulting in a better understanding of that data.

No, What Is It Really Like?
It really is like having access to your own telescope array. You start with a simple user interface with a digital representation of a sky survey of what you would see from the surface of the earth. You will also see wire-frame overlays of constellations and other aspects of the night sky. Here's a screenshot of the application after starting it up:

You will then have the ability to navigate using the collections listed at the top of the application screen, take a tour, or simply pan around the sky survey with your mouse. You can use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out and right-click elements in the night sky, such as a star or nebulae, to learn more about those elements or to zoom in on them for a close look.

It's a really engaging experience. I suspect my children will also enjoy it, so please head over to WorldWide Telescope and download it today.