微软近日正式推出了WorldWide Telescope桌面天文望远镜软件的下载，Windows用户可以利用它浏览夜空并可以对太空中不同的区域进行缩放观看，在用户界面上它比Google Earth Sky还要漂亮。

据称该软件的数据来自哈勃望远镜、Chandra X-Ray天文观测中心、斯隆数字巡天探测中心(Sloan Digital Sky Survey)，由微软研究院研发。

该软件对一个区域能进行不同模式的观看，例如红外和其他非可见光模式，而且在不同区域的浏览切换速度很快，即使图像数据达到了TB级别。

下载地址：http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/experienceIt/ExperienceIt.aspx

运行需要.NET Framework 2.0，支持XP和Vista系统，1G内存，推荐配置为2GHz酷睿处理器，显卡至少128M显存，1G硬盘空间，网速至少56kbps。

WorldWide Telescope minimum system requirements

For PC:

    * Microsoft® XP SP2 (minimum), Windows® Vista® (recommended)
    * PC with Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2 gigahertz (GHz) or faster, recommended
    * 1 gigabyte (GB) of RAM; 2 GB RAM recommended
    * 3D accelerated card with 128 megabytes (MB) RAM; discrete graphics card with dedicated 256-MB VRAM recommended for higher performance
    * 1 GB of available hard disk space; 10 GB recommended for off-line features and higher performance browsing
    * XGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution monitor
    * Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing and scrolling device
    * Microsoft® DirectX® version 9.0c and .NET Framework 2.0
    * Required for some features; Internet connection at 56 Kbps or higher through either an Internet service provider (ISP) or a network. Internet access might require a separate fee to an ISP; local or long-distance telephone charges might also apply


Estimated download time 1 hour (56Kb), 10 minutes (DSL 512Kb)

刚刚装好了，我的机器是IBM T41P，用起来还是可以的，没啥问题