• Change what you look at
• Change your Imagery
• Connect your telescope to WWT
• Create a slide-based tour

There are several categories of view subjects that you can explore: Sky, Earth, Planet, and Panoramas. You can also change the date, time, and observing location that you want to view and whether you want to see the horizon or not.

• Below the Field of View, click the Look At arrow to display the list, and then click a view subject, for example, Sky.
• Click the Imagery arrow to display the Imagery list, and then select the imagery that you want, for example, Sloan Digital Sky Survey (Color).

WWT provides an interface to servers with different sources of Imagery, such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (Color). These sources provide images and coordinates that comprise the data that appears in the Field of View. Some of these data sources also provide links to publications. When you focus on an object in the Finder Scope, click Research, and then click Information to find publications relating to that object.

• In the Navigation pane below the Field of View, click the Imagery arrow to display the list, and then click the Imagery that you want.
  
  Below is a sample of different Imagery sets included in WWT and a brief description of them.

You can view the Earth's geography from 80,000 feet, with or without major streets and highways, or with streets, highways, and cities superimposed on the physical geography. You can view the Earth from a bird's eye or 3D perspective, and you can control the rotation and tilting of the 3D view.

• Turn the Earth by clicking and dragging on it.
• The Earth remains centered in the Field of View unless you tilt your view by pressing and holding ALT while clicking and dragging your mouse.
• After you zoom into the Earth, tilt it to get a 3D topographic view and compare the heights of mountains.

See a bird's eye view of the Moon's seas (maria) and highlands. You can also look at Jupiter or Mars from deep space. Or look at a Mandelbrot planet and explore its infinite fractals.

• Turn a planet by clicking and dragging on it.
• Planets remain centered in the Field of View unless you tilt your view of the planet by pressing and holding ALT while clicking and dragging your mouse.

The cost of viewing through a telescope is fairly prohibitive, for example, the European Southern Observatory's 8 meter telescope in Chile is billed out at approximately $1M/second. Instead of looking through telescopes, modern deep-space astronomers and astrophysicists use imaging equipment, such as satellites, with charge-coupled devices (CCDs) to capture images for research. Astronomers then study and compare the images to determine the composition of stars and galaxies. The digital images generated by sky surveys are compiled into data sets ("Imagery").

Each Imagery set provides different information about objects in the sky because the images were taken at different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum and at different times. When you're looking at different wavelengths, you see different energy regimes, different stellar processes, and different effects. Each wavelength is equally valuable because of the different information gleaned. For example, with observations made in the low-energy spectrum (radio and microwave), you're looking at cold processes: molecules forming or moving about, or giant clouds of gas and dust. When you get to optical band, (from infrared to ultra violet) you can see the gas escaping from black holes, volcanoes on the moons of Jupiter, or heat escaping from stellar dust. With x-rays, you're seeing violent explosions on stars, neutron stars, comets, supernova remnants, or energy beams emanating from matter falling into black holes. With gamma-rays, you can see even more violent events, such as the destruction of atoms, stars spiraling into black holes, supernovas, and pulsars.

Since WWT aggregates Imagery from multiple astronomical instruments operating at different spectrums, an astronomer can integrate data from a broad observational spectrum. Try selecting a specific object or an area of the sky and then changing Imagery to compare the object's properties. For example, by using the hydrogen alpha wavelength to track stellar redshift, over 250 planets have been discovered. By comparing images of the same object in different Imagery sets, you could also discover a new comet or planet!

Below is a sample of different Imagery sets included in WWT and a brief description of them.

Note: Specific objects are not always visible in every Imagery set. For example, specific stars identifiable in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are not always visible to the unaided eye in the Hydrogen Alpha imagery.

Panoramas are a series of images taken by a special camera and stitched together into a single image. Depending on the type of camera used to create the panorama images, there may be black circles at the top and bottom of the image.

Take WWT with your telescope when you go stargazing to control your telescope and track your observing list. But first, you must install the ASCOM Platform software, connect your telescope to your computer, and enter your telescope's settings into WWT.

If you get new components for your telescope, you can change the configuration in WWT.

Important: These steps must be completed before you connect your telescope to WWT.

The ASCOM Download Library Web page may contain beta software. Do not download beta software unless you are a developer and are comfortable running beta software.

Note: After the software is installed, you will be prompted to restart your computer.

1. In WWT, click the top of the Telescope tab. In the right corner, click the ASCOM logo to open a browser with the ASCOM Web site.
2. On the ASCOM page, click the text link to the downloads page.
3. On the ASCOM Download Library page, click the text link for the latest ASCOM Platform software, and then click Run when the File Download and WorldWide Telescope Explorer dialog boxes display. After you click the ASCOM Platform software download link, you may need to close the browser with the ASCOM Web site and click the WWT button on the taskbar to see the File Download dialog box.
4. In the ASCOM Platform Setup dialog box, click OK to confirm that you have installed the latest Critical Update or Service Pack.
5. In the ASCOM Platform Setup dialog box, follow the steps to finish installing the ASCOM Platform software.

1. In WWT, click the top of the Telescope tab.
2. In the right corner, click the ASCOM logo to open a browser with the ASCOM Web site.
3. On the ASCOM page, click the text link to the downloads page.
4. On the ASCOM Download Library page, click the text link for any driver(s), plug-in(s), or component(s) that you need, and then follow th installation instructions for the specific software that you download. e

Note: After you click the ASCOM Platform software download link, you may need to close the browser with the ASCOM Web site and click the WWT button on the taskbar to see the File Download dialog box.

1. Connect your telescope to your computer with a USB cable.
2. In WWT, click the top of the Telescope tab.
3. In the right corner, click Choose, click the down arrow, and then select the type of telescope that you have.
4. In the ASCOM Telescope Chooser dialog box, click Properties, and then configure the ASCOM software to match your telescope configuration.
5. When you close WWT, a message box asking if you want to save your settings changes will display, click Yes.

Creating a slide-based tour is similar to a creating a PowerPoint® slide show.

1. Click the top of the Explore tab, point to New, and then click Slide-Based Tour.
2. In the Tour Properties dialog box, enter the information needed, select an author image that measures 70 x 94 pixels, click Classification, select the scope and classification of the tour, and then click Save.
3. In the slide pane, click Add a Slide, and then start creating a guided tour. The Field of View is the area where you create the slide. When you are finished with your tour, click Save next to the Tour Properties button.
4. In the Save As dialog box, type a file name for your tour (it doesn't need to be the same name you used in the Tour Properties dialog box, and then
5. click Save. The default location is C:\My Documents, but you can save your tour anywhere on your computer.
6. Click the X on the tour title bar to close the tour, and then click Yes to confirm that you want to close your tour.

• If you cannot add content to the Field of View when you start creating a slide, check to make sure that you have clicked Add a Slide. If the Add a Slide button is the first item next to the Play button, then you have not clicked the Add a Slide button.
• A tour's title bar will display up to 35 characters. If your tour's name is longer than that, WWT will automatically resize your font to a smaller size in order to display the entire name. If the name is too long to be displayed with the smaller font, the name will be abbreviated with an ellipsis.
• If you add more slides than can fit on a single pane given your display resolution, you will need to use the slider above the slides to see the next slides.

Click the slide below the thumbnail, type a short (less than 15 characters) title for the slide, and then click Save.

Tip: Limit your titles to 15 characters, including spaces, so they display properly.

1. Click the Text button on the slide pane.
2. In the Text Editor, select the font options that you want, type the text that you want, and then click Save in the Text Editor dialog box. After you click Save, the text will display in the Field of View centered on the reticle.
3. Drag the text to where you want it.

• Create text line breaks by pressing ENTER in the Text Editor where you want the line break.
• Move the text by clicking and dragging the text.
• Resize text by dragging the handles around the text.
• Change text color or opacity by right-clicking the text on the slide and selecting Color/Opacity.
• Change the background color in the Text Editor by clicking the palette icon and then selecting a color in the color picker. This is useful if you are adding text to a white shape.

1. Drag and zoom into and out of the Field of View to set the starting camera position.
2. Right-click the slide and then select Set Start Camera Position.
3. Move the Field of View to the ending camera position.
4. Right-click the slide and then select Set End Camera Position.

Tip: If you want to change what you’re looking at or imagery sources during a slide-based tour, you must create a new slide for each different view source or Imagery set.

Tour thumbnails give viewers an idea of what is on each slide. The thumbnail for the first slide becomes the thumbnail that represents your entire tour on the WWT Tour Search page and in the Guided Tour pane. Thumbnails for the first tour slide should illustrate what your tour is about and entice the viewer to watch it.

1. Drag and zoom into and out of the Field of View so that it shows a representative view of what the slide (or for the first slide, your tour) is demonstrating.
2. Right-click the slide and then select Capture New Thumbnail.

Tip: You can use the first slide as an overview to your tour and then on the second slide, you can start your tour. That way, the thumbnail for the first slide won't interrupt the flow of your tour while still giving viewers an idea what your tour shows.

1. After you have created a new slide, click the top of the View tab.
2. In the View pane, clear the check boxes for the constellation lines that you do not want to appear when your tour plays.
3. In the Slide pane, click Save.

You can control the date, time, and location that a slide shows when it is viewed. This is useful when creating a slide that shows the passage of time, such as with a solar eclipse.

1. After you have created a new slide, click the top of the View tab, and then click the arrow next to the current date and time.
2. In the Date/Time Selection pane, use the arrows to change the date and time, and then click Apply.
3. Click the tour title bar, select the slide that you want to add the date/time selection to, right-click the slide, and then click Track Date/Time/Location.
4. Right-click the slide, and then click Set Start Camera Position.
5. In the Date/Time Selection pane, use the arrows to change the date and time, and then click Apply.
6. To close the Date/Time Selection pane, click OK.

Tip: You can undock the Date/Time Selection pane by clicking the push pin icon at the top right corner.

1. After you have created a new slide, click the top of the View tab, and then click the arrow next to the current date and time.
2. Click the top of the Explore tab, click an object in one of the Collections, for example, Solar System/Sun.

• If you cannot see the Sun, be sure that you have the Show Solar System Objects check box selected. Click the top of the Settings tab, and then select Show Solar System Objects in the Solar System Options pane.
• To stop tracking an object, move the Field of View so that the reticle moves in a constellation other than the one that the selected object is currently in. Zooming out and then panning to a different constellation may be a fast way to change constellations.

1. In the Slide pane, click Shape, and then click a shape, for example, Ring.
2. Drag the shape where you want it to be on the slide.

• Resize or rotate the shape after you add it to the slide by clicking the shape to displays its handles and then dragging the handles to resize or rotate the shape.
• Change shape, color or opacity by right-clicking the shape on the slide, selecting Color/Opacity, and then clicking a color or entering an opacity percentage.

1. In the Slide pane, click Picture, and then browse to the picture that you want.
2. Click the picture and then click Open.
3. Drag the picture where you want it on the slide.

• You can only use JPG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, FITS, and FIT file formats.
• Resize the picture by dragging the handles.
• Change the picture color or opacity by right-clicking the picture on the slide and then selecting Color/Opacity.

As you add each shape, text, and picture to your slide, right-click the object, and then select Send to Front, Send to Back, Send Forward, or Send Backward.

Tip: Change shape, text, and picture color and opacity by right-clicking the object, selecting Color/Opacity, and then clicking a color or entering an opacity percentage.

You can upload your own music or select common licensed music available from WWT. Or if you have a microphone attached to your computer, you can create your own voiceover.

• In the Slide pane, click Music or Voiceovers, and then browse to the music that you want.

To create a voiceover, you need a microphone attached to your computer and simple sound recording and editing software, such as Sound Recorder in the Accessories folder. Or you can use an MP3 recorder and record a voiceover. These instructions are based on using Sound Recorder.

1. Click the Start button, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to Entertainment, and then click Sound Recorder.
2. In the Sound Recorder dialog box, click Start Recording, record your voice, and then click Stop Recording.
3. In the Save As dialog box, type a name for the recording, select Windows Media Audio, and then save the file.

• Write down what you're going to say before you start recording. This helps you sound more professional.
• Adjust the time that each slide displays to match your recording.