Google Sky?
I’m a big fan of Google Earth. I think it’s a great tool to get kids interested in geography and history. It’s also cool for adults, allowing you to virtually tour the world (so to speak).
So this bit of news caught my eye:
Google Earth to launch Sky for stargazers
Popular mapping service Google Earth will launch a new feature called Sky, a “virtual telescope” that the search engine hopes will turn millions of Internet users into stargazers.
“Sky in Google Earth will foster and initiate new understanding of the universe by bringing it to everyone’s home computer.”
Like Google Earth, Sky will enable users to float and zoom in on over 100 million individual stars and 200 million galaxies. Users will view the sky as seen from Earth.
I think in general, this is a great idea – basically bringing astronomy to the masses. Not everyone can afford a telescope to go skygazing (although I don’t really agree with that statement – there are plenty of decent, cheap telescopes out there. You can also simply use binoculars and discover the world(s) above your head).
So I had to laugh when I saw this statement:
“Never before has a roadmap of the entire sky been made so readily available,” said Dr. Carol Christian of the Space Telescope Science Institute, who co-led the institute’s Sky team.
So are they saying that Google Earth (with Sky) is more readily available than… the real thing?
