Everyone’s had fun traveling all over the (Google) world. If looking at Earth’s terrain and visiting all cities and towns has grown stale though then things are “looking up” for you. Google Earth’s newest version (Google Earth version 4.2) is waiting to show you the wonders beyond our own planet. Sky in Google Earth lets you explore the moon, our sun. other planets, galaxies and nebulae. Aside from renderings of the Earth you can view the moon and even the sun up close without the danger of going blind.

There are two ways to switch from Earth View to Sky View. You can simply click on the Sky Button…

or you can click on the View Menu and choose Switch to Sky.


Navigating through the sky is just the same as navigating through Earth except that the sights are, of course, completely different. Clicking on the Layers Menu will reveal cool features like the ability to superimpose constellations, data from the Hubble telescope, animate the planets’ orbits, and more.

Microsoft has yet to release their own version although their Virtual Obeservatory is already being developed. Current competitors of Sky in Google Earth are The Sky (Software Bisque), Celestia (Open Source), SkyTools (Skyhound Software).