After weeks of speculation sparked by Robert Scoble's tears, Microsoft today unveiled the WorldWide Telescope, a downloadable software that brings the universe to the desktop with unprecedented clarity.

And let me just say this: I'm quite certain that if I saw this thing as a 6-year old, I'd probably be donning a white coat at NASA today instead of reporting on hedge funds and investment banks. When we have a glut of astronomers and space explorers in twenty years, we'll have Microsoft to thank.

According to Microsoft researcher Curtis Wong, the software will be available this spring at www.worldwidetelescope.org.

The astrophysicist Roy Gould introduced the software, and his enthusiasm over it was palpable. It will have as profound an effect on the way we view the universe as Galileo had four centuries ago, he said. "We can now start to have a dialogue with the universe," he said.

Microsoft has pulled data from the "best images from the greatest telescopes" around the globe. It's woven them together seamlessly, to create a "holistic" view of the universe.

Stargazers will be able to explore the universe on their own, zooming in for more information on galaxies and black holes. They can take a tour by a professional astronomer, or they can create their own tours and share them with their friends.

by Megan Barnett