Current sky events introduction
Hubblecast: This layer provides the users with over 120 high-resolution images provided by the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA/ESA's renowned orbiting telescope. This layer also provides videos, which show science mini documentaries on various astronomical topics.
Star Date: is actually the radio podcast available in English and Spanish. It is the public education and outreach arm of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory.
Our Solar System: this layer gives a sneak peek into our own solar system.
It enables us to visit all the planets of our solar system. It lets you view the planets in two views. One is in motion and the other is location. The moon and sun are also included along with all the planets.
The planets layer shows the seven official planets and their positions in the sky two months into the future.
In addition, the moon layer displays the animations for 2 months of both the lunar positions and the moon phases.
Back yard Astronomy: this layer shows information about constellations and other space sights that are visible from a backyard telescope. This layer lets the users explore a variety of place marks and information on stars, galaxies, and nebulae visible to the eye, binoculars and small telescopes. It’s very useful for the amateur astronomer, as he may find all the things he wanted to learn about a star he has been looking at from his backyard and wondering who to ask. This layer is a comprehensive and organized reference to the fragments of the night sky.
Backyard Astronomy Introduction
Constellations: this layer gives the details of all the constellations known in the universe. It actually maps them in the sky by connecting dots through space, labeling each one of them with its given name. On a single click users can learn about the stars that make up the constellation of their choice.
Messier Catalog: Charles Messier compiled this in the late 1700’s. It contains most of the brightest galaxies, nebulae and star clusters visible from the northern hemisphere. This catalog was actually made accidentally. Charles Messier was a comet hunter and in his search he made a list of objects that he was not interested in or that were not the comets he was looking for, the result was this catalog. And this catalog contains some of the most beautiful objects in the sky. By accident!
New General Catalog: J.L.E Dreyer a century later i-e prepared this in late 1800s. This catalog actually extended the Messier’s list to the southern hemisphere and the fainter objects in the northern hemisphere. Google’s version of this catalog contains some 12000+ objects. Which two orders of magnitude more (they differ by a factor of about 100) than the Messier’s catalog.
Yale Bright Start Catalog: Hoffleit prepared this catalog in 1964. It draws its information from various earlier star catalogs. It lists all the stars that are visible with naked eyes in the sky, under good atmospheric conditions. The stars visible to the naked eye are brighter than the magnitude of 6.5.
IAU Constellation Boundaries: Originally, the shapes made by their star patterns defined the constellations informally, but, as the pace of celestial discoveries quickened in the early 20th century, astronomers decided it would be helpful to have an official set of constellation boundaries. Eugene Delporte originally listed the 88 “modern” constellations on behalf of the IAU Commission 3. And these boundaries are very much made visible on Google Sky so that the user knows which galaxy he is in currently and where it ends.
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