I'm a space and astronomy enthusiast and informal educator (JPL Solar System Ambassador), and I just learned about the Sky component of Google Earth. I've played a bit, took a tour, and it looks promising. I've also read through a bunch of forum posts to see what people have asked and said. The interface is generally intuitive (based on Google Earth navigation), and with layers etc., it could be a great tool for exploring and learning about the sky. But...

One thing I have a problem with is orientation. Sure there is the direction spinner with North indicated. But not all the sky is visible from your chosen point on Earth. Even if you ignore the atmosphere (the sky is not black in the daytime), there is the Earth itself blocking half the celestial sphere. It would be nice to be able to turn the ground on or off in the Sky views. It would also be nice to show the ecliptic, the celestial equator, and celestial grid (even though the pointer reads out DEC and RA as you move the mouse around). These would help you recognize how the sky you are seeing relates to your place and the time of day (and date). Maybe these things can be added by users as new layers, and maybe they have (or will be), so sorry if I missed that. However they are added, they should of course be under user control to display or not.

As an example of a really nice implementation of these ideas, look at the free open source planetarium program Stellarium ( Stellarium freeware ). It does a nice job with the atmosphere and time controls too.

Thanks,
Bruce
Music of the Spheres

Great. Thanks for your suggestion.

The grid is available using APPLE-L, as for Earth.

We had the horizon in during beta testing and the testers recommended
removing it because it was very confusing. Instead, you go somewhere
on Earth and then click SKY and see what is overhead.

We could consider bringing the horizon back, but it was confusing.

We really want Sky and Earth integrated....someday

The ecliptic could be added. We will think about it!

Thanks

Dr. Carol Christian and Dr. Alberto Conti
GoogleSky Team at STScI
http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/gsky/

How about having a horizon layer? If you select the horizon layer, it would black out the portion of the celestial sphere obscured by the earth. That seems like it would be pretty intuitive.

If that feature is added, it would be a pretty useful tool for backyard astronomy.

Very impressive tool, nevertheless.

I agree with the other posters. When I am not around to help them, my kids are having a hard time picturing where the celestial objects are in relation to their backyard when they drag the laptop outside.

Adding a horizon based on your location would be a nice feature to enhance backyard stargazing provided the horizon is a solid opaque color. Maybe adding an optional faux tree line or city skyline (ala planetarium style) would make it less confusing for people.

Just a thought. Thanks for the good work thus far...

Yes! Please add an optional horizon layer. I cannot figure out what's viewable at a given time and what's not.