A view of Mars as seen through Microsoft's Worldwide Telescope software.
Microsoft has made a number of improvements to its Worldwide Telescope project, including partnering with NASA to offer much better imagery of the planet Mars. The addition of Mars imagery is one of several changes to the telescope that Microsoft is showing off Monday at its annual Faculty Summit meeting with outside researchers.
2 of 7 Courtesy of Microsoft/NASA
Peaks and Valles
View of Valles Marineris, using wide-angle imagery from NASA's Viking orbiters and the Mars Orbiter Camera.
3 of 7 Courtesy of Microsoft/NASA
Swiss cheese
Surface details of Mars showing the planet's Swiss cheese-like circular depressions.
4 of 7 Courtesy of Microsoft/NASA
Tracks of the Mars rover Opportunity are visible just north of the red planet's Victoria Crater.
5 of 7 Courtesy of Microsoft/NASA
Telescope improvements
This image shows the full sky view in the old version (left) and improved version (right).
6 of 7 Courtesy of Microsoft/NASA
The old version
A close-up of the old version of the Worldwide Telescope image clearly shows the seams between images.
7 of 7 Courtesy of Microsoft/NASA
The new version
Here, in the new version, seams between images are much less visible.
