Day 18 – Microsoft’s Worldwide Telescope Brings the Universe to Your Fingertips with the Surface Pro

Teaching and Learning with a Windows 8 Tablet
3/29/2013 
 
Welcome to Day 18 of working with a Microsoft Surface Pro Windows 8 tablet for educators. Today I would like to let serendipity take its course and introduce you to the Worldwide Telescope Project from Microsoft Research.

I happened to come upon a link from my Twitter feed this morning about the Worldwide Telescope that made me curious about what updates Microsoft have completed since I last reviewed the project over a year ago.

Here is a link to the article from my Twitter feed: 

Microsoft’s Worldwide Telescope Brings the Universe to Your Fingertips

http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/28/microsofts-worldwide-telescope-maps-the-universe-with-nasas-data/

Please take a moment to read the article if you would like a quick overview of the project.

After reading the article, I downloaded the Worldwide Telescope application onto the Surface Pro. Since the Surface Pro is a “real PC” I used the Desktop IE 10 browser to download the program. In less than 10 minutes I had the Universe in my hands.

You may have noticed that the title of this blog post is similar to the article mentioned, but I added “with the Surface Pro” to the title as it more aptly describes the experience you will have with the Worldwide Telescope application in combination with the Surface Pro.

With this free application the Universe is available to explore with your fingertips and with “real” data from NASA.

My initial experience was another “WOW” moment. I was using my fingers to pinch, zoom in and out, and swipe my way across the massive NASA data collection Microsoft Research has cataloged. I could see in real-time how my finger manipulations interacted with the data as I bent the laws of the Universe to my command. WOW!

As a former science teacher and astronomy buff, it does not get much better than this resource for studying Astronomy. It is amazing, absolutely amazing! Who needs a textbook when there is a treasure trove of real data and images? Let your students’ imaginations soar as they discover for themselves the mysteries and vastness of the Universe.

It is also important to get students outside in a safe environment to experience the wonder of the night sky. I used to have “Star Nights” at school many years ago when I was teaching Earth Science. Seeing the wonder and curiosity in your students’ eyes is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a teacher. Screen-time is great but let us not forget the “real world” that we are seeking to understand.  

There are tutorials and tours that will get teachers and students off to a great start exploring the Universe with the Worldwide Telescope Project.

I would advise not to structure your lessons too much as we should encourage students to experience the sense of curiosity and inquire on their own. As teachers we want to let students mentally roam from time-to-time and exploring the Worldwide Telescope application is one of those times.

I suspect I will be roaming quite a bit myself this weekend as I explore the wonders of the Universe on the Surface Pro.

Until next time...
Keep on Learning,

 

Tom Grissom, PhD

 

Follow me on Twitter @tomgrissom

 

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