Citation:
Abstract:
The WorldWide Telescope computer program, released to researchers
and the public as a free resource in 2008 by Microsoft Research, has changed the way
the ever-growing Universe of online astronomical data is viewed and understood. The
WWT program can be thought of as a scriptable, interactive, richly visual browser of
the multi-wavelength Sky as we see it from Earth, and of the Universe as we would
travel within it. In its web API format, WWT is being used as a service to display professional
research data. In its desktop format, WWT works in concert (thanks to SAMP
and other IVOA standards) with more traditional research applications such as ds9, Aladin
and TOPCAT. The WWT Ambassadors Program (founded in 2009) recruits and
trains astrophysically-literate volunteers (including retirees) who use WWT as a teaching
tool in online, classroom, and informal educational settings. Early quantitative
studies of WWTA indicate that student experiences with WWT enhance science learning
dramatically. Thanks to the wealth of data it can access, and the growing number
of services to which it connects, WWT is now a key linking technology in the Seamless
Astronomy environment we seek to oer researchers, teachers, and students alike.