Microsoft Indonesia and the Ministry of Research and Technology handed over the package of star-gazing software and hardware called Worldwide Telescope to the Boscha Observatorium in Bandung on Thursday.
Worldwide Telescope, developed by Microsoft, allows users to "pan" across outer space and zoom as far into any one area as allowed by data taken from the Hubble Space Telescope and 10 earth-bound telescopes.
The software given to Boscha was accompanied by hardware including a 40-inch monitor and a computer powered by a powerful processor and a graphic card able to process terra-byte sized files.
Toni Seno Hartono, Microsoft Indonesia's national technology officer, said the software, which was demonstrated to an Indonesian audience by Microsoft's cofounder Bill Gates during his visit to Jakarta in May, was part of the company's social responsibility initiative.
"Our aim is to bring astronomy to the general public. This is related to education, something that concerns us and which Gates focused on during his visit here," Toni said as quoted by kompas.com.
Boscha head Taufik Hidayat welcomed the software saying it could present data informatively and was very user friendly. The software, he said, would help astronomers, especially for educational purposes.
The software will also be installed at the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah amusement park and the Taman Ismail Marzuki planetarium.
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