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This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute.

If you’ve ever wanted to explore the universe, your dream is now as close as your keyboard. Because last week, Microsoft unveiled its online WorldWide Telescope. The program was developed in partnership¹ with NASA and research institutions such as the California Institute of Technology. The WorldWide Telescope uses the best high-resolution imagery that’s been generated both here on earth and in space. The images are joined together to put celestial² objects in the correct perspective and in their actual positions in the sky. From your computer, you can peer through telescopes such as the Hubble or the Chandra X-Ray Observatory³. You can roam on your own through the galaxies⁴, get up close and personal with the planets, or take tours guided by astronomers⁵ and professors. You can choose to look through different wavelengths⁶ of light to reveal hidden structures. And you can explore the heavens not only as they are today, but as they were in the past or will be in the future. The late Jim Gray, a Microsoft computer scientist, conceived of this effort as a way to make the universe accessible to everyone. The free program can be downloaded at worldwidetelescope.org.

Thanks for the minute, for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber.