Now, view universe as seen by Hubble on Sky in Google Earth

Stellar events seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will now be visible to enthusiasts back on Earth - Google Earth to be precise -just at the click of a mouse.

Washington, Aug 23 : Stellar events seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will now be visible to enthusiasts back on Earth - Google Earth to be precise -just at the click of a mouse.

Internet Search giant Google has developed the 'Sky in Google Earth' software in partnership with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, the science operations centre for Hubble.

To access the new feature, users will need to download the newest version of Google Earth, available free of charge.

According to Carol Christian, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and one of the developers of the Sky in Google Earth project, the software will allow a viewer to zoom across the vastness of the night sky, making tour stops at all the popular Hubble images.

Objects that are several light years away can be visited within a matter of few seconds with Sky in Google Earth, said Christian.

"You have seen the Hubble images of objects such as the Eagle Nebula, the so-called pillars of creation. With Sky in Google Earth you can see where the objects are located in space, including the constellations in which they reside. Then you can discover other cool objects in nearby regions of the sky. And you don't have to know anything about astronomy to use the program," he said.

According to Christian, travellers can begin their celestial tour by selecting "Switch to Sky" from the "view" drop-down menu in Google Earth.

From here, an object, such as the Eagle Nebula, or even a category, such as colliding galaxies, can be selected from a menu.

The viewer will first get a view of the sky showing the constellations surrounding the selected object. As he/she zooms in, the constellations disappear and the chosen object emerges from the background.

Christian said the image is set within a background of real stars and galaxies taken by two powerful visible-light surveys of the heavens, the Digitized Sky Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

The Digitized Sky Survey comprises photographic surveys of nearly the entire sky and contains about a million objects. The Sloan survey comprises images of hundreds of millions of much fainter objects and covers more than a quarter of the sky.

"This is a fun program for amateur astronomers, scientists, educators, and the public to explore space. It is like having the heavens at your fingertips, or your own planetarium," said Christian.

These apart, the software will also provide links to the Hubble news database and Hubble information, including Hubble Heritage project.

As of now, about 125 Hubble images, spanning the life of the telescope have been included in Sky in Google Earth.

Christian said there are plans to add the public images from 2007 as well as colour images of all of the archived data from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, into the database.

Newly released Hubble pictures will be added to the Sky in Google Earth program as soon as they are issued, said Space Telescope Science Institute astronomer Alberto Conti.

ANI