Google Earth gazes toward the sky

Author: Phil Cogar
Published: 23rd August 2007
Comments (16) Stumble
A view of the sky as it can be seen right above my house.

A view of the sky as it can be seen right above my house.

Many people like to just sit outside at night and gaze up into the heavens. Picking out the constellations or just wondering about what else is out there, it's something that most of us have done. Well now, thanks to an update to Google Earth, you don't even have to leave your room to check out the sky.

"Today, I'm excited to announce we are launching Sky in Google Earth," said Google Earth Product Manager, Lior Ron. "You can now explore the universe from the comfort of your chair. Zoom in to distant galaxies hundreds of millions of light years away, explore the constellations, see the planets in motion, witness a supernova explosion; it's like having a giant, virtual telescope at your command -- your own personal planetarium!"

A Sky button on the toolbar will enable you to switch from Earth to Sky mode where you can view 100 million stars and 200 million galaxies. If you begin your Google Earth session with the your current coordinates, you'll be able to see the sky just as it is right above you.

If you'd like to get a good idea of just what kinds of cool things you can find, there are plenty of of examples over at the Google Earth Gallery.

What kinds of things have you discovered while browsing the known galaxies? Show us what you've found over in the forums.
Quote Bionic-Blob 23rd August 2007, 14:24
i found this

lat -13.432°
long -80.1361°

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/8708/testde5.jpg

o_O
Quote mclean007 23rd August 2007, 14:37
Obviously as the earth rotates the view above any location changes - does the software take this into account and give a real-time view? If so, can you still look at the virtual night sky even when it is daylight in the real world?

Does it or will it plot moving objects such as planets, comets, moons etc.? That would be pretty awesome!
Quote <A88> 23rd August 2007, 14:48
Quote:
Originally Posted by A certain article written by a certain forum member
All in all, Google Mars and Google Moon are a great continuation of the successful Google Maps application, and it shouldn’t be too long before Google has an interplanetary route planner up and running (I’m thinking ‘Google Redshift’?)

<A88>
Quote Stuey 23rd August 2007, 15:33
cool!
Quote The_Beast 23rd August 2007, 17:41
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuey
cool!

x2
Quote completemadness 23rd August 2007, 19:02
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bionic-Blob
i found this

lat -13.432°
long -80.1361°

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/8708/testde5.jpg
what on earth (or not) is that ???
It sort of looks like some satellite or something ?

Perhaps the US government is hiding their satellites with laz0rs in ?
Quote Rebourne 23rd August 2007, 20:08
Quote:
Originally Posted by completemadness
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bionic-Blob
i found this

lat -13.432�
long -80.1361�

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/8708/testde5.jpg
what on earth (or not) is that ???
It sort of looks like some satellite or something ?

Perhaps the US government is hiding their satellites with laz0rs in ?

Probably, everyone knows the US isn't run by earthlings anymore, well at least since the Roswell landings.
Quote RTT 23rd August 2007, 20:24
Quote:
Originally Posted by <A88>
<A88>

I don't remember writing that? :? ;)

I installed Google Earth+Sky last night - it's very slick :)
Quote bilbothebaggins 24th August 2007, 10:49
Quote:
Originally Posted by completemadness
what on earth (or not) is that ???
It sort of looks like some satellite or something ?

Perhaps the US government is hiding their satellites with laz0rs in ?

Lens flare?
Quote mclean007 24th August 2007, 14:05
Quote:
Originally Posted by bilbothebaggins
Lens flare?

Maybe not flare, but it is clearly some sort of optical artifact caused, I would guess, by internal reflection within the lens. You can see what appears to be the support structure (struts and cables?) for part of a dish assembly.

That said, maybe it is the first image of a black helicopter taken from below? Run for the hills! Can anyone lend me a tinfoil hat?
Quote Flibblebot 24th August 2007, 14:56
It looks like the image was taken with a Newtonian telescope or something similar. The image shows the internal spider struts that hold the mirror assembly.
Quote dizzyboy 24th August 2007, 15:47
its quite cool really...
Quote cpemma 26th August 2007, 12:33
Quote:
Originally Posted by RTT
I installed Google Earth+Sky last night - it's very slick :)
I managed to break it within minutes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mclean007
Obviously as the earth rotates the view above any location changes - does the software take this into account and give a real-time view? If so, can you still look at the virtual night sky even when it is daylight in the real world?

Does it or will it plot moving objects such as planets, comets, moons etc.?
According to a possible developer,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan Scranton
The orientation of the sky is set up so that it's showing the current sky above where you were last viewing the Earth (or at least what it would look like if there were no Sun out). After that initial orientation, you can go ahead and navigate to any point on the celestial sphere.

The time slider is just for the Moon and Planet layers (or any other time-based kml layer that you've got active). For those two layers, the positions of those icons are set according to the time displayed on the time slider. If you press "Play" or move the slider, you can see how the positions of the Moon and planets change over time.
Quote DougEdey 26th August 2007, 13:06
cpemma: the BBS is down for me, just doesn't load or timeout.
Quote cpemma 26th August 2007, 13:09
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougEdey
cpemma: the BBS is down for me, just doesn't load or timeout.
I just went there to get the link and broke that too.

I can broke the internets.
Quote DougEdey 26th August 2007, 13:18
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpemma
I just went there to get the link and broke that too.

I can broke the internets.

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/ohhiifixedurblinds-kittydemedici.jpg
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