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Google Earth Gets Star-Gazing Add On

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the lots-of-dots dept.

Tom F writes to mention BBC News is reporting that Google has released a new add on for Google Earth that will allow users to search a 3D rendition of over 1 million stars and 200 million galaxies called Google Sky. "Optional layers allow users to explore images from the Hubble Space Telescope as well as animations of lunar cycles. [...] Users can overlay the night sky with other information such as galaxies, constellations and detailed images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Imagery for the system came from six research institutions including the Digital Sky Survey Consortium, the Palomar Observatory in California and the United Kingdom Astronomy Technology Centre. "

4 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. sounds... by cosmocain · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...a bit like this? except for open source. hu. now, what should motivate me using the google-tool?

  2. Stellarium is generated. by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to these guys, google sky is (like google earth) stitched together actual photographs.

    Could be more accurate than a generated model.

    --
    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
  3. Re:Another suggestion by CraftyJack · · Score: 5, Informative

    You're thinking of JTrack:
    science.nasa.gov/realtime/jtrack/3d/JTrack3D.html

  4. Check out Celestia by voislav98 · · Score: 5, Informative

    You should check out Celestia, which runs both on Windows and Linux (and Mac I think). http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ Nice thing about it is that it has a huge library of add-ons that people make from NASA images. IMHO with a little work it's far superior to commercial astronomy programs (such as Starry Night), although my Celestia folder is at about 2 GB right now.