Filed under: Software, Education
WorldWide Telescope: Works great on a Mac (if you have Windows)
You might have heard that Microsoft Research has released WorldWide Telescope (WWT), it's software to
The BBC mentioned that you can run WWT on your Mac ... so long as you have Windows on your Mac. Sigh. VMWare helpfully gave the system a try, though, and found it worked great (and even posted a video about it.)
I fired up the ol' Boot Camp and saw it wasn't bad. It boasts high-resolution photography of many parts of the sky, and is reasonably easy to use (for a Microsoft product). There were some weird, annoying flicker problems, but I'll chalk that up to the fact that it's beta software on a MacBook with a pokey graphics card.
As an amateur astronomer with his own 10-inch Dob (that's right, ladies), I tend to use astronomy software less as a casual browsing tool, but more to find interesting things in the sky on a particular night. And for that, WWT ain't great. You won't find any satellites (like Iridium flares) in WWT. Worst of all -- there's no horizon I could easily find. (Found it, thanks to commenter dh!) So good luck trying to find that fuzzy thing next to the blue thing when it's under your feet.
The Mac, however, is blessed with a great variety of native astronomy tools, most of which are free. Stellarium is excellent, free planetarium software. It's worth noting that Google Earth has a spiffy sky tool built-in, too. Last but not least, Starry Night Pro is the king of all astronomy software (and my favorite), but is a little spendy at $150.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Pauldy said 5:30PM on 5-19-2008
I think you missed the requirements page too, before they changed it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pauldy/2489990967/sizes/o/
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dh said 5:30PM on 5-19-2008
To see a horizon click on the View tab, then choose a location and check the 'View from this location' checkbox.
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Robert Palmer said 5:42PM on 5-19-2008
Here I was looking for something marked "horizon." Silly me.
Good catch, though, seriously! Thanks!
Ed said 5:50PM on 5-19-2008
It requires windows AND an HFS+ Volume?
And I didn't know you could run Boot Camp on Jaguar...
Ed said 5:53PM on 5-19-2008
Oops, that comment was meant for Pauldy.
Ray said 5:54PM on 5-19-2008
In other news, you can run Gears of War on a Mac....if you have Windows.
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Fritz Laurel said 6:54PM on 5-19-2008
Bill Gates on Mars ... nice. ;)
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Andrew said 7:06PM on 5-19-2008
Classic TUAW post!
1) Horribly obvious (boot camp lets you run Windows programs? really?)
2) Needless snide comments about the Microsoft and their products.
3) Incorrect statements.
4) Ends with assertions that the Mac has stuff just as good.
One for the hall of fame.
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Robert Palmer said 7:11PM on 5-19-2008
You're absolutely right, I shouldn't make needless snide comments about "the Microsoft."
You also forgot:
5) Entirely unsuitable penis joke
Jules Stoop said 8:50PM on 5-19-2008
Don't forget the great, free, open source (and cross platform) Celestia!
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/
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Andrew said 11:45PM on 5-19-2008
I can also recommend Voyager 4, which has a free demo version at http://carinasoft.com/voyager4/demo/index.html. Voyager debuted on the Mac more than 15 years ago, and has very good telescope control if you have a backyard scope with a motorized mount.
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The Drifter said 2:49PM on 5-20-2008
I have been using Voyager for nearly 20 years since the days of system 6 and multifinder... I used Starry Night Pro but I keep coming back to Voyager. I really like being able to choose the projection when displaying a full sky map
Marco said 8:00AM on 5-20-2008
Don't forget Equinox by Microprojects, if you're serious about astronomy software. Highly underrated, but excellent software.
http://www.microprojects.ca/equinox6.html
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Maxwell Ash said 10:37AM on 5-20-2008
Stellarium seems good too. Not that I'm any kind of Astronomer, but it seems to work well.
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alyosha said 1:13PM on 5-20-2008
Also check out MPJ's Equinox program. Does everything including a gorgeous night vision mode, and can even interface directly with the telescope.
But Stellarium wins for the art. "Daddy, how do those stars make a picture of a pair of twins?"
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