Google Earth, now with more Sky!

I got so excited when Google Earth first came out. Who knew that so many people in my 'hood had swimming pools?

Well the nerds have compiled another huge dataset and have added the sky to Google Earth.

Not geared towards the nerds, or professional astronomers, Google Sky looks like it should be just fine for the lay person, and perhaps turn some of them into astronomers.

You can search for astronomical objects by their NGC number (nerdy), their Messier Catalogue Number (geeky), or their common name (why bother then?). You can also choose a piece of the sky and zoom in to Hubble Space Telescope grade images or zoom out.

Although not as useful as Starry Night (still the standard), I'm sure Google Sky is on it's way to putting them out of business.