Google into Space

Reported January 2008

PASADENA, Calif. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Even with some of the best telescopes, it’s hard to make out all the planets. But now, there’s a new way for you to explore space -- traveling through the final frontier on your PC.

With a click of a mouse, just like any one can use Google earth to zoom in on New York, Chicago or LA, now wanna-be-astronomers can focus their attention up.

“There are probably a couple billion stars or more seen in images in Google sky and there’s probably a few hundred million galaxies.” S. George Djorgovski, PhD, Professor of Astronomy. California Institute of Technology

Panoramic images taken by the Samuel Oschin telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California, are combined with other photos from around the globe.

“They’ve combined the images in more or less seamless fashion to be able to pan and scan and zoom.” S. George Djorgovski, Ph.D., told Ivanhoe.

With the help from astronomers and computer scientists at Cal-tech, Google's scientists have layered them to reveal a celestial sphere of stars, galaxies and other cosmic wonders.

“A very famous place where stars are born is called the Orion … as you get closer and closer more details show up.” Dr. Djorgovski said.

Anyone can just click and explore the latest pictures from the Hubble telescope and see cosmic explosions.

“Our programs get this information from NASA satellites that monitor the sky.” Dr. Djorgovski said.

Giving you the ability to watch some of the most dynamic cosmic events unfold at the same time as scientists discover them.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Jill Perry
Caltech Media Relations
(626) 395-3226
jperry@caltech.edu

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