Google Earth And Google Sky!

Google's free Google Earth program (get it as part of the free Google Pack) has been amazing users for a while now.

With an easy drag-the-world interface, you can move the display anywhere on the world with your mouse. Want to zoom in, use the mouse's scroll button. Zoom out to view from space — or anywhere in between? Scroll button, too.

One really cool feature is the "Fly to" text box. From your current location in Google Earth, just type an address — or a location like "DEN airport" or "Eiffel Tower" in the text box and press the Enter key. Google Earth will zoom out to a global view, rotate the globe to center your new location, and then zoom in to see it. Use your mouse to move around (press the left mouse button and drag) or zoom with the scroll button to see amazing details.

This week, Google added a new feature to Google Earth — Google Sky! You can switch back and forth from Earth to Sky by using the toggle button on the menu bar or by using the menu item on the View menu.

I've always been fascinated by astronomy programs. The new Google Sky functions in the Google Earth program also incorporate web links, Messier object catalog entries, NASA links, Hubble picture links and a lot more.

If you already have Google Earth, just use the "Check for Updates" item on the Help menu to get the latest version.

Copyright © 2007 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.