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Google Sky launches

40 points by technoguyrob 19y ago

technoguyrob 19y ago
This is a truly stunning sight: http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&longitude=-101.07421875&zoom=8&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=16&mI=1&oI=2 http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&l...
simplegeek 19y ago
I liked the dust cloud http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&longitude=-101.07421875&zoom=8&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=16&mI=1&oI=2 http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&l... Almost broken into tears, what about you Scoble?
- technoguyrob 19y ago
  That's no dust cloud; that's a star cloud! :-)
  - simplegeek 19y ago
    Oops, sorry, here is the correct URL http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=56.66358551191311&longitude=-166.7333221435547&zoom=12&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=16&mI=1&oI=2 http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=56.66358551191311&lo... Beautiful :)
adduc 19y ago
It's a nice idea, but I don't think it'll hit home as large as Google Earth and Google Docs has. This is for a niche market.
- albertcardona 19y ago
  Beware of "niche markets".
matth 19y ago
We'll know Google is truly awesome if they ever manage to launch a satellite to do their own surveying.
mynameishere 19y ago
The chunkiness that is tolerable with maps seems quite unnatural with astronomy. I mean, it really should feel like a spaceship. Also, is there some reason why three people have posted the same link? Here it is again, for those who've missed it: http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&longitude=-101.07421875&zoom=8&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=16&mI=1&oI=2 http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&l...
- noonespecial 19y ago
  They definitely need a more graceful fail for zooming too far in than a gray box in place of the tile that says "No imagery available at this zoom level." You're scrolling around, looking in on something, and then bang the whole screen is gone, nothing but gray boxes, and you're whole sense of context is lost... This bothered me on maps, doubly so here.
cmm324 19y ago
You know, I wish I had this tool when I was in astronomy...it would had been a much better class.
- simplegeek 19y ago
  You seem to have studied Astronomy so I've a question. To me, these are just bunch of some cool pictures? What information can we infer from them? I mean how further work is based on such pictures besides enthusiastic exploration?
  - npk 19y ago
    It's truly amazing the quantity of information in the images you are looking at. Basically, we're trying to explain how galaxies form. The progress that's been made on the problem has been tremendous over the past 10 or 20 years, but we still have a long way to go. My hope, is that we do not figure out how galaxies form, instead, finding some new physics. Anyhow, one highlight: By counting the same red galaxies you seen in sky's SDSS data, we have been able to measure the universal distribution of matter, and the change in "size" of the universe, through the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation.
    - simplegeek 19y ago
      Thank you, npk. Amazing stuff.
plusbryan 19y ago
Why, it's the pacman ghost nebula! http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&longitude=-101.07421875&zoom=8&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=16&mI=1&oI=2 http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&l...
moog 19y ago
When you pull the zoom all the way back you can see the Milky Way as a sine curve.
- aston 19y ago
  That's just Google Maps doing its standard wraparound (east touches west on a sphere). The shape is more like a U.
thamer 19y ago
These real-world images come as a nice complement to two great Free programs, Celestia - http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ - and Stellarium - http://www.stellarium.org/ http://www.stellarium.org/
MoonAsshole 19y ago
Where is the moon?
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]

40 points by technoguyrob 19y ago

This is a truly stunning sight: http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&longitude=-101.07421875&zoom=8&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=16&mI=1&oI=2 http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&l...

simplegeek 19y ago

I liked the dust cloud http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&longitude=-101.07421875&zoom=8&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=16&mI=1&oI=2 http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&l... Almost broken into tears, what about you Scoble?

technoguyrob 19y ago
That's no dust cloud; that's a star cloud! :-)
- simplegeek 19y ago
  Oops, sorry, here is the correct URL http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=56.66358551191311&longitude=-166.7333221435547&zoom=12&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=16&mI=1&oI=2 http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=56.66358551191311&lo... Beautiful :)

adduc 19y ago

It's a nice idea, but I don't think it'll hit home as large as Google Earth and Google Docs has. This is for a niche market.

albertcardona 19y ago
Beware of "niche markets".

matth 19y ago

We'll know Google is truly awesome if they ever manage to launch a satellite to do their own surveying.

mynameishere 19y ago

The chunkiness that is tolerable with maps seems quite unnatural with astronomy. I mean, it really should feel like a spaceship. Also, is there some reason why three people have posted the same link? Here it is again, for those who've missed it: http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&longitude=-101.07421875&zoom=8&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=16&mI=1&oI=2 http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&l...

noonespecial 19y ago
They definitely need a more graceful fail for zooming too far in than a gray box in place of the tile that says "No imagery available at this zoom level." You're scrolling around, looking in on something, and then bang the whole screen is gone, nothing but gray boxes, and you're whole sense of context is lost... This bothered me on maps, doubly so here.

cmm324 19y ago

You know, I wish I had this tool when I was in astronomy...it would had been a much better class.

simplegeek 19y ago
You seem to have studied Astronomy so I've a question. To me, these are just bunch of some cool pictures? What information can we infer from them? I mean how further work is based on such pictures besides enthusiastic exploration?
- npk 19y ago
  It's truly amazing the quantity of information in the images you are looking at. Basically, we're trying to explain how galaxies form. The progress that's been made on the problem has been tremendous over the past 10 or 20 years, but we still have a long way to go. My hope, is that we do not figure out how galaxies form, instead, finding some new physics. Anyhow, one highlight: By counting the same red galaxies you seen in sky's SDSS data, we have been able to measure the universal distribution of matter, and the change in "size" of the universe, through the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation.
  - simplegeek 19y ago
    Thank you, npk. Amazing stuff.

plusbryan 19y ago

Why, it's the pacman ghost nebula! http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&longitude=-101.07421875&zoom=8&Spitzer=0.00&ChandraXO=0.00&Galex=0.00&IRAS=0.00&WMAP=0.00&Cassini=0.00&slide=16&mI=1&oI=2 http://www.google.com/sky/#latitude=-70.00556654574503&l...

moog 19y ago

When you pull the zoom all the way back you can see the Milky Way as a sine curve.

aston 19y ago
That's just Google Maps doing its standard wraparound (east touches west on a sphere). The shape is more like a U.

thamer 19y ago

These real-world images come as a nice complement to two great Free programs, Celestia - http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ - and Stellarium - http://www.stellarium.org/ http://www.stellarium.org/

MoonAsshole 19y ago

Where is the moon?

deleted 19y ago

[deleted]