Google Sky

[spoondave]

I've learned to stop thinking that Google Earth couldn't possibly get any cooler, but this still got me excited:The constellations of Andromeda, Hydra and Vulpecula are now just a mouse click away for amateur star-gazers, following the launch of Google Sky

Comments

[howdoyalikethat]

That should be pretty cool. As good of a job as they did with Google Earth, Sky should be a great tool. I use Stellarium right now. It is a great program that tracks celestial objects in real-time. Pretty cool. Now I just need a better scope.

[spoondave]

How did I not know you were into backyard astronomy??

[howdoyalikethat]

Dunno. I used to be into it big time when I was younger but I kinda stopped. I recently got a cheapy telescope and it rekindled that spark I used to have. My house really sucks to observe from (light polution) but there are a few places around that are fairly dark. Once I get a good tele I might join a club and try to catch up.

[spoondave]

An Orion XT-8 is what I use. Heather got it for me two Christmases ago. It's really cheap for a large amateur telescope. The only real drawback to it is that as a manual Dobsonian, it's not much good for astrophotography. But if you know the sky and just want to look at stuff, it's great.