Open Source on a Universal Scale | Alyssa Goodman | Talks at Google
19Astronomy data has no economic value, which makes it tremendously valuable in testing models of information sharing. Astronomy data is also intrinsically beautiful, mystifying, and important, which inspires us to want to learn more about our Universe.
The WorldWide Telescope is an immersive visualization environment that allows users access to the world’s store of online astronomical data. It can be used to answer questions about the Universe ranging from “where is Pluto and why isn’t a ‘planet’ anymore?” to “what is the true nature of the structure of the Milky Way?” to “does the Illustris simulation output resemble observed large-scale structure in the distribution of luminous galaxies?”
In 2015, Microsoft Research open-sourced WorldWide Telescope onto GitHub after investing roughly $10M in its development over the previous 8 years. WWT code already runs on desktops, on the web, and in planetariums, and the user-base is in the tens of millions. Dr. Goodman will describe how WWT came to be, what the roles of researchers, educators and academics have been in creating it, and how anyone with an interest in the Universe can now contribute to the WWT effort.