# Google Earth now includes the sky **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-now-includes-the-sky/416542 "2007-08-22T19:41:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-now-includes-the-sky/416542/1 "2007-08-22T19:41:22Z")
Can’t wait to get home and try this. [Google Earth](http://earth.google.com/) has now been updated to a new version that includes what amounts to Google Sky. Now you can turn your eyes away from the virtual globe and explore the universe with high resolution imagery from various telescopes and agencies. You can enter constellation names, galaxy/nebula names, Messier/NGC numbers, whatever you want. Oddly, they seem to have omitted the driving directions… This is gonna be fun. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-now-includes-the-sky/416542/2 "2007-08-22T20:13:39Z")
It’s pretty sweet. Did you see the thing that vaguely resembles the Death Star near Lyra? I wonder if they’ll have real time “this is what you can see in the sky” charts? Once I started looking around, I had no concept of what would be visible in my part of the world at that time. I’m definitely going to play around with it some more. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-now-includes-the-sky/416542/3 "2007-08-22T20:58:37Z")
Cool. I’d heard it was coming, but didn’t realize it was available now. I’m downloading as I type. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-now-includes-the-sky/416542/4 "2007-08-22T21:01:40Z")
[QUOTE=Mindfield] Oddly, they seem to have omitted the driving directions… [/QUOTE] First star to the left and on 'til morning. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-now-includes-the-sky/416542/5 "2007-08-22T21:09:41Z")
It would be extra cool if you could pick a place on the earth and a time, then see what is visible from there. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-now-includes-the-sky/416542/6 "2007-08-23T00:17:49Z")
Okay, it’s neat. Worth the download and all. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-now-includes-the-sky/416542/7 "2007-08-23T01:05:12Z")
[QUOTE=dnooman] It’s pretty sweet. Did you see the thing that vaguely resembles the Death Star near Lyra? [/QUOTE] There are a number of those. Another (blue) one appears between M41 and M50. They look like satellite dishes or possibly telescope reflectors. There are interesting streaks of blue and yellow light beside this one, too. So I’ve been playing with it, and it’s pretty cool. Buggy, and a patchwork of imagery (which is understandable) but cool. It _would_ be nice to be able to pick a point on Earth and see what’s in the night sky above you though. ---
**Author:** ![tbdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@tbdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbdi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-now-includes-the-sky/416542/8 "2007-08-23T01:07:01Z")
Fascinating stuff but I’m seeing something a bit odd; search for “ursa major” and pan out until you can see the asterism lines and the “points of interest”. On mine I also see labels for “Hamburg, Germany”, “Eiffel Tower, France” and many others. Looks like some map is getting overlaid incorrectly. [partial screen shot](http://members.cox.net/tbdipics/gsky.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-now-includes-the-sky/416542/9 "2007-08-23T01:21:19Z")
[QUOTE=tbdi] Fascinating stuff but I’m seeing something a bit odd; search for “ursa major” and pan out until you can see the asterism lines and the “points of interest”. On mine I also see labels for “Hamburg, Germany”, “Eiffel Tower, France” and many others. Looks like some map is getting overlaid incorrectly. [partial screen shot](http://members.cox.net/tbdipics/gsky.jpg) [/QUOTE] Yeah, I’m getting my pushpins showing up in space. It _still_ won’t give me driving directions. 🙂 Speaking of Ursa, check out the tip of Ursa Minor. Some weirdness going on there, almost like a long exposure head-on shot of the Perseids through a funhouse mirror.