Amateur stargazers have a new way to explore the heavens - with
an update to Google's free global mapping application Google
Earth. This program shows users a globe of the Earth, which they
can search for landmarks, high-resolution images and information
tagged to the planet by other users. Google says the original
application has been downloaded more than 250 million times. The
new feature, called Sky, adds a wealth of astronomical data to
Google Earth, including images of more than 100 million
individual stars and 200 million galaxies. At the press of a
button, a user sees their perspective shift upwards, revealing
the correct constellation of stars for their selected position
on Earth. They can then pick out particular stars or planets
manually, or using the search field, and zoom upwards to see
more detailed images and additional information. Some 20,000
celestial objects can be searched for by name using the Sky
feature. Astronomical imagery and information comes from a
number of scientific organisations