on to SP1 -> here's to the Improved WWT!

its been a month... and i hav seen from the sidelines the slow & steady progress of wwt.

it's amazing how far these people (the devs working on it) r willin to take it...

here's a glimpse of something really interesting that is taking shape as we speak...
in the olden days, we would hav a multitude of s/w for communicating with astronomical devices n none catered specifically so 4 these devices alone...

all that's already begun to change...


For the love of God, YOU MUST CHECK OUT THIS WEBSITE if u own a motor driven telescope....or one that is in anyway electronically interfaceable in any which way...
http://www.ascom-standards.org/

Here's the broad architecture:




jus found this article from one of the most reputed magazine in Astronomical circles' website stating how the astronomical community itself (in particular High Profile Astro Pppl at S&T themselves) gave inputs leading to what is currently the WWT product... thus it is one of the rare products of this kind made FOR ASTRONOMERS BY ASTRONOMERS' requirements.
(refer: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/18859539.html )

also, it is due to this only that all the well known astronomy publications hav started forming their own WWT communities... S&T has gone as far as making it's entire photo archive available on WWT...(WHICH IS A VERY VERY BIG THING!) (for details... read the article link i posted jus before this.)



(src= http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/help/SupportHelp.aspx?SuppS=Communities)

Also, the s/w itself is amazing and one can play with it for decades before even exhausting the readymade footage...
N after that one can browse the imagery for millenia probably if one wishes to wander aimlessly in space... or even on earth 4 that matter....


(src: again, on my screen...this time the WWT is seen running here)


here's to the dawn of a new astronomical millenia where we might now be able to hav (theoretically at least) telescopic vision [of unthinkable magnitudes] bionically fed into our eyes...

n for the even more visionary...here's to realtime stars in ur dreams!
wishing u starry nights... (in ur dreams that is...)
n great imagery!

Surjodeb Basu
(7/22/2008)