Google Sky is now on the browser

Internet users can now access imagery of millions of celestial objects without downloading software.

Google Sky brings the imagery and functionality of the popular Sky in Google Earth feature to a web browser, making it easier than ever for students, amateur astronomers and professionals alike to explore the universe.

By simply clicking to http://sky.google.com, users can browse, zoom and pan the sky, search for stars and galaxies, and link to any place in the sky. The same layers that are available in Sky in Google Earth, such as "Backyard Astronomy," "Hubble Showcase" and podcasts from the radio program Earth & Sky can be accessed by clicking on an image strip that appears along the bottom of the page.

For instance, the part of the sky visible when a user first loads sky.google.com shows the Cigar Galaxy (also known as Messier 82), one of the most striking galaxies in the universe. Switching on the infrared view of the sky using the "Spitzer Infrared Showcase" button at the bottom of the screen will overlay images from NASA's Spitzer satellite and show how different the Cigar Galaxy appears in the infrared. When the overlay is activated a slider will appear, letting users move back and forth between infrared and optical light. To look in more detail, users should zoom into the galaxy or enter its name in the search box.

For more information, please read our blog posts and watch the video on the Official Google Blog [http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/space-jam.html] and the Google Lat Long Blog [http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/03/organizing-more-than-one-worlds.html].

Google Sky is available in 17 domains: Australia, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and US; and in 26 languages: Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, German, English (UK), English (US), Finnish, French, Hebrew, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latin America), Swedish, Thai and Turkish.