In Viaggio Fra le Stelle: The making of the GSC II

We present here "IN VIAGGIO FRA LE STELLE" (Journey amongst the Stars), a project to develop an educational application for Microsoft Windows based on multimedia and interactive tools that will be distributed as a CD-ROM. The uniqueness of this project consists in using the making of an astrometric catalogue (GSC II) as its guiding theme in the explanation of many different branches of astronomy from the Solar System to Cosmology. The choice of such a specialized subject, apparently so ill-suited for popularisation at first sight, as the guiding theme, will highlight the process of research instead of focusing only on the final achievements, giving a clear idea of how science evolves in practice. Its modular structure will permit its use as a classical tool for the popularization of the many fields of astronomy and astrophysics.