World Wide Telescope
Let me begin this post with two definitions
Galaxy - A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system consisting of stars, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and dark matter.
Light Year is the distance traveled by light in one year which is 5,878,625,373,183.61 miles
With the above two definitions in mind just read the below statement carefully and take few minutes to imagine what you read
The size of our galaxy is estimated to be 100,000 light-years across and 10,000 light-years thick. If our entire solar system were reduced to the size of a quarter, then the galaxy would be width of the United States.
This is as per nasa.
THERE ARE BILLIONS OF GALAXIES IN THE UNIVERSE.
Are you amazed by these facts and would like to explore more about our space then here is something for you.
World Wide Telescope Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.
The best part of this project byMicrosoft is that the images that shown are from observations associated with real instrument, like the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). These are the few advanced telescopes that mankind has sent in to space.
There are different views available to look at the same celestial body. One can see the x-ray view of the sky and zoom into bright radiation clouds, and then cross fade into the visible light view and discover the cloud remnants of a supernova explosion from a thousand years ago. There is the Hydrogen Alpha view to see the distribution and illumination of massive primordial hydrogen cloud structures lit up by the high energy radiation coming from nearby stars in the Milky Way.
You will not get bored and lost by just zooming IN and OUT in the dark sky. The Software allows you to download guided tours by various authors on different planets, galaxies etc. The images are worth downloading if you have any interest in astronomy.
You can download the software from its website Download
