I’ve been traveling through space on my desktop computer again. Not with the usual desktop planetarium (of which my two current favorites remain Cartes du Ciel and The Sky,) but with a very cool 3D space exploration program from the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium called “Digital Universe.”

Although the program may look daunting at first, the imagery and 3D exploratory ability it delivers to your desktop is worth learning to use the interface. It took me maybe an hour to figure it all out, and the documentation walked me through the process nicely. It also delivers a lot of background science to help you understand what you’re seeing and exploring.

So, sometimes I’m flying along exploring the Hyades or the galaxy’s open clusters, or I’m out there beyond our galaxy, exploring the large-scale structure of the universe. And, then it hits me — I’m checking out state-of-the-art astronomy databases on my two-year-old Dell desktop! How cool is that?

The software explores a bunch of databases, including the 2DF Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, in addition to the usual star, cluster, and nebula databases.

It’s great fun to explore, and the AMNH folks have included some helpful material for educators interested in turning their students on to the Digital Universe. Check it out!