My space (page four)

A look at the best ways to explore the cosmos in Sky for Google Earth

Get a tour of the stars

Wandering is fun for a while, but sometimes you want a tour guide. There’s all kinds of information embedded in Sky, not to mention podcasts and video.

1. In Sky mode, look at the Layers list on the left-hand side. Find the layer called ‘Education Center’ and click on the grey arrow next to it.
2. Down will drop a list of guided tours of interesting sights in Sky. We particularly liked the two last ones, ‘User’s Guide to Galaxies’ and ‘Life of a Star’. The first one shows you great pictures of some of the most interesting galaxies in Sky, and tells you about them too. The second takes you through the life cycle of a star, with examples from around the sky.
3. Try going to ‘Virtual Tourism’ to see some cool stars, galaxies and nebulae that have video attached to them. The only thing is that the videos are hosted on YouTube, so some of them have disappeared.
4. Back in the Layers menu, if you open up the ‘Current Sky Events’ section, check out Hubblecast. It’s a tour that’s linked to a video podcast of some of the best things astronomers are discovering right now, and because it’s from the Hubble telescope, the images are fantastic.

How about downloading some extras? Next page >