This is some seriously cool stuff...

Yes, I Admit I am a Geek
I am a space buff. I love SciFi books, shows, and movies. Battlestar Galactica (the new one) is wonderfully engaging (who is the final Cylon?!?), and I am a fan of Star* (you know, -Wars, -Trek and -gate). I enjoy historical documentaries like From Earth to the Moon and movies like Apollo 13. I watch programs on NASA and space travel on Discovery Channel and History Channel. I've even watched a shuttle launch or four. When I read about the WorldWide Telescope I realized someone just granted me access to my very own multi-billion dollar telescope array from the comfort of my own home.

I've always been fascinated by astronomy and telescopes and pictures of the stars. Sure, I can look at pictures on the Internet and browse catalogs in books. But being able to interact with those images? I'd need access to a telescope and some seriously expensive equipment.

Your Own Personal Telescope
Now imagine being able to gain access to images like this one of the Orion Nebula on your computer, seamlessly stitched together with hundreds of other photos from a variety of sources from Hubble to the Spitzer Space Telescope. That's my take on the idea behind the WorldWide Telescope.

As I watched the videos and read through the FAQ, I began to envision an application capable of bringing together images and data from a variety of sources into an engaging user experience that essentially behaves like a telescope you control with your mouse on your computer. The site says you'll be able to pan and zoom across the night sky, perhaps even finding the Orion Nebula where it sits in the night sky. How wonderful would it be to sit behind the controls of the Hubble telescope, controlling where the lens points, seeking out the mysteries of space? To me, it would be incredible fun.

WorldWide Telescope at your Fingertips
So, what is the WorldWide Telescope? I can't say it any better than the FAQ...

The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a rich visualization environment that functions as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground- and space telescopes to enable seamless, guided explorations of the universe. WorldWide Telescope, created with Microsoft's high-performance Visual Experience Engine, enables seamless panning and zooming across the night sky blending terabytes of images, data, and stories from multiple sources over the Internet into a media-rich, immersive experience.

According to the web site, the WorldWide Telescope will be "Coming in Spring 2008". And I can't wait.

Footnote
The Chicago Manual of Style continues to prove a really helpful resource for would-be authors and journalists. Check it out.