Collaborations
Astronomical Research and Education Enabled by the WorldWide Telescope
- WorldWide Telescope in Latin America
Professors Guillermo Bosch and Roberto Venero, Universidad Nacional de la Plata - WorldWide Telescope in China
Chenzhou Cui, National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Science - Seamless Astronomy
Alyssa Goodman, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Initiative in Innovative Computing - The WorldWide Telescope as a Novel Research and Publication Platform
George Djorgovski, California Institute of Technology - Integrating WWT and Astronomy New Media
Pamela Gay, Southern Illinois University
WorldWide Telescope in Latin America
Professors Guillermo Bosch and Roberto Venero, Universidad Nacional de la Plata, Argentina
Microsoft Research, along with Professors Guillermo Bosch and Roberto Venero from Argentina's Universidad Nacional de la Plata, worked for three months to develop and validate the Spanish-language user interface that individuals can now access from
Microsoft Research WorldWide Telescope. In addition, Microsoft released a tool to enable people using the WorldWide Telescope to download the WorldWide Telescope Academic Development Kit on their local computers and localize other languages common to the region. Like the collaboration with the Universidad Nacional de la Plata to support the Spanish user interface, this tool provides the opportunity for Microsoft Research to work with local astronomers toward a future rollout of additional language support.
WorldWide Telescope in China
Chenzhou Cui, National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Science, China
Through a partnership between the National Astronomical Observatory of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) and Microsoft Research, the Microsoft Research WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is now accessible to Chinese audiences. Dr. Chenzhou Cui of NAOC introduced the first localized version of the WWT virtual observatory during the Microsoft Research Asia Faculty Summit in November 2008.
During his demonstration of the WorldWide Telescope at the Faculty Summit, Dr. Cui highlighted the NAOC data that is incorporated into the WWT as well as the Chinese (Simplified) user interface (UI). Dr. Cui also introduced the Chinese Valentine Tour (WTT file, 6,192 KB), which is based on the Chinese folk story about the stars Vega and Altair—lovers who are separated by the Milky Way galaxy. The WWT demo was well received at the Faculty Summit and Dr. Cui was presented the Best Demo Award by Tony Hey, corporate vice president of Microsoft External Research.
Building upon the localized UI of the WorldWide Telescope, the NAOC team is developing Chinese-enable search for the WWT. In the short term, NAOC plans to generate additional WWT tours to introduce ancient eastern astronomy history to worldwide astronomers. NAOC and Microsoft Research plan to continue to collaborate in astronomical research and education projects.
Seamless Astronomy
Alyssa Goodman, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Initiative in Innovative Computing, United States
In collaberation with Alyssa Goodman, our full objective is to tether together literature and data search and retrieval resources, using semantic technologies and new Web-based data visualization tools. We will link together new and existing tools that will allow astronomers to use the literature as the perfect semantic query tool for the data that underlie it. Many of the tools to be linked were created by our team members, and some are (also) part of International Virtual Observatory efforts. We will take a fundamentally modular approach, which will let users customize the kind of seamless environment they desire.
We believe that modern tools for interlinking software modules (for example, resource-sharing and plug-in approaches) will allow us to create a seamless customizable “mashup” environment for the astronomy community.
The WorldWide Telescope as a Novel Research and Publication Platform
George Djorgovski, Center for Advanced Computing Research, California Institute of Technology, United States
In partnership with George Djorgovski of the California Institute of Technology, the Microsoft Research WorldWide Telescope team is working to provide tangible examples of how a visual display environment like WWT can be used as as a platform for scientific research and publishing, first in the field of astronomy/astrophysics, then extending and transferring the visualization environment to other domains of science and scholarship.
Integrating WWT and Astronomy New Media
Pamela Gay, Southern Illinois University, United States
Collaborating to develop tools that allow easy integration of audio podcasts and the WorldWide Telescope. Develop an interface that will dynamically generate a way for these users to explore in the WorldWide Telescope objects they have studied while doing astronomy-based citizen science projects.
Worldwide Telescope Topics
- Home
- Collaborations
- Downloads and Resources
- Academic Advisors
- FAQ
Conferences and Workshops
- WWT for IYA2009 and Beyond @ AAS213
January 5–7, 2009 - WWT @ the Microsoft Research Latin American Faculty Summit
May 13-15, 2009
Related Links
Contact Us
For questions, feedback, and collaboration and funding opportunities,
contact us at wwt-ap@microsoft.com.
