Google Earth Reaches for the Stars!

You don't have to be a la Sunita Williams to hang around in space...

Google has reportedly released a beta version of Google Earth that includes a Google Sky feature allowing users get up close and personal with more than 100 million galaxies and 200 million stars.

Google Sky, like Google Earth, comprises photographs of the universe pieced together to create a seamless database that users can navigate through.

To use Google Sky, users need first download the latest version of Google Earth software. They can then go to the View drop down menu, and select 'Switch to Sky' to get started on their 'heavenly' journey.

Google claims Google Sky offers a planetarium-like experience on the PC, allowing voyeurs zoom in and out from inside an inverted sphere.

And like Google Earth, they can zoom in to see points of interest -- be it constellations, including Taurus, Scorpio or Sagittarius, or the black hole NGC 5128, et al.

Besides, clicking on anything of interest throws up pop-ups -- complete with photographs and information on that subject. The pop-up content comes mainly from third parties including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Digital Sky Survey Consortium, etc.

According to Google, for users to get the most out of Google Sky, they need to use Google Sky Layers (content created for Google Sky) that includes Backyard Astronomy, The Planets, The Moon, and Constellations, to name a few.