I’ve just watched a video from TED.org of the presentation given by Harvard Center for Astrophysics Researcher Roy Gould and Curtis Wong, manager of Microsoft’s Next Media Research, unveiling Microsoft’s new WorldWide Telescope a few weeks ago.

According to Gould produces a “holistic approach” by weaving together the best images and information from satellites and telescopes all over the world and will have “as profound an impact on they way we view the universe as Galileo did 4 centuries ago.” Big claims but apparently it made Robert Scoble, MD of Fast Company.TV and, according to Wikipedia an “American blogger, technical evangelist, and author” cry, as he openly admits on his blog: “This is the thing that made me tear up when I saw it because it’s the most impressive thing I’ve seen Microsoft do in years.” and on the company website when they did a feature: “It had a huge emotional impact on me, as I realized the way my son will see the Universe will forever change, thanks to the work of two guys in Microsoft Research (Curtis Wong and Jonathan Fay).”

Curtis Wong discribes the project as a labour of love for his team and they hope it will inspire “kids to explore and learn about the universe”.

Gould ends his part of the talk by saying “When I ask people ‘How does the night sky make you feel?’ they often say ‘oh, tiny – I feel tiny and insignificant!” Well, our gaze fills the universe and thanks to the creators of the WorldWide Telescope we c an now start to have a dialogue with the universe. I think the WorldWide Telescope will convince you that we maybe tiny but we are truly, wonderfully significant.”

There are some amazing images on display in this talk and the technology is fascinating, I recommend watching the video. You can also get more information on the official Microsoft mini-site.

WorldWide Telescope will be available as a free download later this Spring and I for one can’t wait to play around with it!