Redmond, WA (AHN) - Software giant Microsoft Corp. launched its version of a free online space telescope Tuesday that will compete against Google's virtual stargazer.

The WorldWide Telescope allows Internet users to see Microsoft's collection of celestial images and listen to or view the related information in audios or videos. Its website allows users to view the universe through various types of telescopes used by NASA astronomers, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Informationweek.com quoted Microsoft chairman Bill Gates as saying, "The WorldWide telescope is a powerful tool for science and education that makes it possible for everyone to explore the universe."

Like Google Sky, the WorldWide Telescope also uses data from the Hubble space telescope. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is a partner in the new Microsoft service.