Thing #7A

Google Sky. On Google Reader I came across an article for Google Sky. I have used Google Earth, but hadn't even heard of Google Sky. Google Sky can be accessed by downloading Google Earth 4.3 or straight from your web browser at sky.google.com. I used it straight from the website instead of trying to reload Google Earth on my computer. Google Sky offers an interactive panoramic view of several parts of the sky: the planets, the constellations, the galaxies, a hubble showcase feature, a Chandra-X showcase feature, and podcasts. I really enjoyed the information about the moon. You can look at the surface features of the moon, track the different landing places and mission objectives from the Apollo landings, look at the surface using an elevation map, and watch videos from the Apollo missions. I also spent some time playing with the constellation feature. I can never see those things in the sky, but Google Sky shows their location on the panoramic view of the sky and traces them out. I can definitely see many educational uses for Google Sky. I am going to introduce it to one of our fifth grade teachers.