A new feature that allows you to see the sky as viewed from planet Earth has been added to Google Earth.
By choosing Switch to Sky from the View drop-down menu in Google Earth, you can access the Sky feature, which allows you to view and navigate through 100 million individual stars and 200 million individual galaxies.
"We're excited to provide users with rich astronomical imagery and enhanced content that enables them to both learn about what they're seeing above and tell their own stories," said Lior Ron, product manager at Google.
"By working with some of the industry's leading experts, we've been able to transform Google Earth into a virtual telescope," said Ron.
One of the industry experts involved in the project was Sally Ride, a former astronaut and chief executive of Sally Ride Science.
"Sky is a very cool new feature for anyone who has ever looked up at the sky and wanted to know more," said Ride.
Sky consists of seven different layers of information that illustrate celestial bodies and events, including Constellations, Hubble Space Telescope Imagery, Planets and Life of a Star.
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) was closely involved in the project.
"Never before has a roadmap of the entire sky been made so readily available. Anyone interested in exploring the wonders of our universe can quickly see where the stunning objects photographed by Hubble actually dwell in the heavens," said Dr Carol Christian of STScI.
You will need the latest version of Google Earth to run the Sky feature.
http://earth.google.com
Topic: Google Earth looks to the Sky (Read 504 times)