After MapQuest and other similar services made computer based mapping second nature to millions of people, software developers decided to turn their attention to the skies, bringing “sky mapping” to the desktop. Microsoft WorldWide Telescope, Google Sky (part of Google Earth), and Stellarium offer three different takes on how to explore the galaxies from your computer. Best of all, all three are free, so the cost of entry for accessing all of this information is nonexistent. Read on to learn what differentiates each product and how good of an experience they deliver to the user.

Part 1: Google Earth with Google Sky

Part 2: Microsoft WorldWide Telescope

Part 3: Stellarium

Google Earth was the application to allow absolutely anyone to view high quality imagery of virtually any location on Earth. Since its debut in 2004, Google Earth has added feature upon feature, from GPS support to driving directions to Santa tracking, while maintaining its ease of use and refinement. One of the latest additions to Google Earth is an astronomical imagery tool dubbed Google Sky, also available through the web-based Google Maps service.

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After MapQuest and other similar services made computer based mapping second nature to millions of people, software developers decided to turn their attention to the skies, bringing “sky mapping” to the desktop. Microsoft WorldWide Telescope, Google Sky (part of Google Earth), and Stellarium offer three different takes on how to explore the galaxies from your computer. Best of all, all three are free, so the cost of entry for accessing all of this information is nonexistent. Read on to learn what differentiates each product and how good of an experience they deliver to the user.

Part 1: Google Earth with Google Sky

Part 2: Microsoft WorldWide Telescope

Part 3: Stellarium

WorldWide Telescope, a free product from Microsoft Research, offers both a Silverlight based Web application for Windows, OS X, and Linux, as well as a richer desktop application for Windows only.  Content is provided by the Hubble Telescope and other NASA sources, as well as numerous other astronomical image repositories.  The application offers excellent guided tours by leading astronomers, a very polished interface, and easy ways to learn more about a given topic and save images.

(continue reading…)

After MapQuest and other similar services made computer based mapping second nature to millions of people, software developers decided to turn their attention to the skies, bringing “sky mapping” to the desktop. Microsoft WorldWide Telescope, Google Sky (part of Google Earth), and Stellarium offer three different takes on how to explore the galaxies from your computer. Best of all, all three are free, so the cost of entry for accessing all of this information is nonexistent. Read on to learn what differentiates each product and how good of an experience they deliver to the user.

Part 1: Google Earth with Google Sky

Part 2: Microsoft WorldWide Telescope

Part 3: Stellarium

Unlike WorldWide Telescope and Google Earth, which are both free, Stellarium is both free and open source. It is licensed under the GPL (General Public License); as such, community members continually improve the software. Stellarium is available as a desktop application for Windows, OS X, and Linux, and can be downloaded from www.stellarium.org.

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Sadly, it looks like the recent budget cuts that President Obama announced during his State of the Union address have hit NASA where it hurts: the Ares spaceship program, set to replace the aging Space Shuttles in the next few years, appears to have been entirely cancelled.  In addition, planned future missions to the moon have been at least postponed if not entirely written off as well.  It is a shame that our nation, once at the forefront of space exploration, must once again take a backward step in the face of limited financial resources.

Few people will forget the major Mars Orbiter failure at NASA in 1999. Similarly few people will forget the massive server failure and data loss that has plagued T-Mobile and device maker/content provider Danger over the past several days.  Update: Microsoft has informed customers that most, if not all, data has been recovered.

Reports surfaced over the weekend that T-Mobile Sidekick users were unable to access data. The Sidekick is a media-centric, youth oriented phone developed by Danger, a company recently acquired by Microsoft. Danger was one of the first proponents of cloud based storage for contacts, text messages, and other files; as a result, this content is stored on Danger servers, and not directly on the device. Under normal circumstances, this solution works quite well: A failure on the phone or an interruption in network activity won’t cause data to be lost. However, this recent failure demonstrated a major flaw that other cloud based devices don’t have: the data was stored solely in the cloud, and not on the device! Having one copy of any data is never smart, and as both the cloud server’s data and backups were destroyed, it ended up being disastrous.

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