Initially there was Google Search, then Google Maps and Google Earth, and now Google is out to help armchair astronomers explore the universe just with a click of a mouse button. It’s Google Sky, a free Google Earth’s downloadable feature. Using Google Sky, astronomic tourists can analyze and find the way through innumerable stars and 200 million galaxies.

Sydney-based Carl Sjogreen, product manager for Google Australia said, “It’s a virtual telescope to let people explore all this imagery. You can control what kind of imagery you're seeing at one time, pick and choose planets and galaxies, as well as some tours which guide users through (space).”

According to him, Google’s engineering group in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, gathered effigies from top astronomical organizations like the AAO that worked with Google through the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

Envisions also came from astronomic coactions comprising the Digital Skey Survey Consortium and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The UK Astronomy Technology Centre and the Palomar Observatory in California also allowed the project use of their images.

Sky was formulated by Google’s Pittsburgh office that was opened in 2006 and presently having over 50 engineers. The office is chiefly focused on Google infrastructure, computer understanding of text, developing systems for detecting fraud and advertising quality.

For More information on Google Sky, please visit http://earth.google.com/

You can use Google Sky features in the latest version of Google Earth (4.2). For more information on the latest release and download, please visit http://earth.google.com/sky/skyedu.html