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Google Earth Heads For The Stars!

techcrunch.com — Google has launched Sky for Google Earth, new functionality that adds imagery of the stars to Google Earth’s already extensive imagery of our planet.

Who dugg this? Made popular Aug 22, 2007

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  • TheAngryMob, on 10/10/2007, -2/+36Meanwhile millions of New Yorkers stare blankly at their screens: "What are these 'stars' that you speak of?"
  • sickswaystop, on 10/10/2007, -3/+25I just feel bad for Rand McNally. They never really got off the ground.
  • azntiger1000, on 10/10/2007, -1/+22Is google going to have a space shuttle now with a camera attached?
  • griz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+15That's assuming you live in one of the few places you can see more than 30 of them.
  • mikelr, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14Neat but Celestia is so much better

    http://www.shatters.net/celestia/
  • socomoddjob, on 10/10/2007, -4/+15Ill just go outside and look at the stars......
  • Gir9000, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13Google Space!
  • WebDrops, on 10/10/2007, -8/+17this is wonderful... Google every time comes up with something rocking... so whats next Google...
  • SPThom, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8The Final Frontier?
  • jakeny, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8I hope they have directions!!!
  • EntropyMan, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7That's why we have the planetarium.
  • EntropyMan, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Try tilting your view. It's 2D vs. 3D.
  • griz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Hey!! I found Patrick Norton!!
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4no.

    Google > All
  • thexray, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5my God! —it's full of stars! ...
  • Lionhart, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Hasn't the Wii's weather channel been doing this for a while?
    But damn.. not quite that detailed.
  • luvkit, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5I don't want to be a Google fanboy, but, dear God, they come up with applications from pure genius. I thought programmers were supposed to be nerds unable to capture the imagination of the lay person. Besides being stupid, that's one reason I didn't go into computer programming.

    Yes, I'm being self-deprecating.
  • louiedog, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3They already mapped the moon and Mars. Eventually it will be renamed Google Solar System. I'm sure my grandkids will have Google Galaxy. Of course all kids will at the Google Worldwide Mandatory Education Centers.
  • gordonf238, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Finding Obi Wan is gonna be so much easier now!
  • MrTankJump, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4The space view is amazing, I love how they integrated the hi-res images of the Hubble Telescope with the rest of the images.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3http://www.amazon.com/Gourmet-Double-Dark-Chocolate-Marshmallows/dp/B000GBVFWK

    You're welcome.
  • wrenchone, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4That trick doesn't work if you live in LA
  • UnstableMind, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3They still got the oceans to do, it's not really explored as of yet...
  • socomoddjob, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2No i dont, thank goodness....
  • sportbikepilot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2find the Borg Cube. search for "HD 32820", zoom out a little, pan south... big green cube
  • kazamx, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Well what about Google Mars and Google moon?

    the ESA orbiter is in orbit right now around mars mapping the surface. The chinese also have plans to send an orbiter to the moon soon to map it all in great detail. It would be cool to be able to zoon further out from the Earth to solar system level and then be able to zoon in on different planets.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Google FTW!
  • kelpdip, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Really though, you can't compare these 2 programs. GE's sky uses probably terabytes of digital imagery, and requires you to download it over an internet connection. Celestia is a great thumb-drive capable program that has a well-thought out overall smoothness and uses algorithms instead of actual imagery to plot the stars. You can't look at high-res pics of nebulae on Celestia, and it would be pointless to bring Google Earth out to a dark field with a telescope and a laptop.
  • DeadlyBrad42, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Dugg up because Celestia is amazing
  • lexbaby, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Celestia is beautiful eye candy, especially of the Solar System. Stellarium has accurate info for locating celestial objects from a given location and time. Honestly, this feature for Google Earth brings astronomy to the masses.

    I would hope Celestia and Stellarium get MORE use from people that have their interest piqued by GE.
  • Lightspeed2, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2more bs from google that will be forgotten tomorrow by all the google fanboys and never used. just another pr stunt
  • EntropyMan, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4It's an incorrect assumption, with an even Dumber comment!
  • Jordan117, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Celestia's great for the Solar System, but once you start moving on to other stars or galaxies it gets kind of lame. Everything looks pretty much the same, unlike Google Sky which includes stunning, colorful photographs with detailed annotations.

    Probably the only area that Celestia has Google beat is in the sense of scale it imparts; Google's system is like zooming in on a fractal, and never lets you really "reach" what you're looking at. Celestia, OTOH, gives a great feeling of arcing through parsecs of space in seconds. Definitely some great stuff.
  • cyberwiz01, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Actually it seems more like Celestia.
  • iticu, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Few?
    When did this happen?
  • Ratatosk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1This is amazing:) You have to try it just to get the feeling of how far you can scroll/zoom in. The hubble pics are the best..... so much stuff to see with good description
    I am amazed in awe of the universe
  • JuliusH, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2lat: -63.6146°
    long: -5.51109°

    A black square! :D must be aliens over there. Or someone forgot to upload that picture or stomething..
  • ChinkInMyArmor, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I can't tell from your comment if you knew about these:
    http://www.google.com/mars/
    http://moon.google.com/
  • lexbaby, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2LOL They started yesterday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1-bRTYgTS4
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Not if you have wi-fi...
  • brotherfranciz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Whoa, "Google Galaxy" would be one kick-ass program to play around with!
  • Plant11, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yeh, i live in Las Vegas. I'll check out these theoretical 'stars', though.
  • 4UIDigg, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1just a matter of time
  • anotherjeff, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1no.
  • grapfx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1i think it will be Google Heaven and Google Hell. In the Preference section, you will be able to customize it to your religious beliefs. Also instead of tagging and describing stars, you can click on angels and dead celebrities and get a link to their wikipedia page.
  • peterinjapan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I agree, Celestia is better. You can zoom around the solar system, the galaxy. It actually gives me whatever the opposite of claustrophobia is (ah, chasmophilia, thanks Google) to fly outside my solar system then try to find my way back. Great time-waster.
  • thesoprano, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Apparently Google Universe.
  • iticu, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3Chocolate flavoured Marshmallows.
    I mean, it would be about time.
  • tooktheredpill, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1They need to update their pictures, there is a vacant lot where Betelguese should be.
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