A Guide to Earth and Sky

Friends, internet search giant Google isn't content with being your guide to the World Wide Web. Now they want to be your guide to the earth and the sky, too.

Google announced this week that they've added a new service to their popular Google Earth program, which lets users "fly" across the planet and explore 3D maps and satellite images of our blue home. What more could a desktop explorer want? How about a new virtual telescope--Google Sky--that lets you tour the cosmos, too?

Wherever you are on Google Earth, you can now flip up and see the stars, galaxies, and nebulae above. You can explore strange new worlds, or overlay charts on the night sky. You can learn about constellations from Andromeda to Virgo. You can take a guided tour of galaxies great and small. Then, in just one click, you can zoom back to Earth.

You do have to take a few minutes to download Google Earth and install it on your computer. And new users will require a little time to get used to navigating both the program and the cosmos (here's a quick video guide). Meanwhile, we thought you might enjoy our own slideshow look at the solar system. Launching it is as simple as clicking below.