Q. What is the WorldWide Telescope?

Microsoft Research has released the WorldWide Telescope, which you can see at http://www.worldwidetelescope.com .It consists of a downloadable program that gives access to many different sources of astronomy pictures and information, allowing your computer to browse the universe. You can even connect it to a USB telescope to perform your own local viewing. Below are some screen shots of the tool in action. You can browse constellations, planets, and even Earth and the tool shows you the source of the imagery that is being used. In many cases, you can select alternate image sources.