Star Map

The Star Map is an animated tour of some of the amazing Hubble and Spitzer telescope imagery as seen in Google Sky. The map animates through a number of galaxies. All you have to do is press 'play' and sit back as the Star Map takes you on a virtual tour of the Universe.

If you like to take a little extra time over your space travel you can always use the Star Viewer map.

Star Viewer Update

I have added the latest Hubblecast video to the Star Viewer map. The latest video looks at NGC 2623.

NGC 2623 appears to be one very bright and bizarre galaxy, but is actually the result of a pair of spiral galaxies, like our own Milky Way, smashing together at incredible speeds.

You can access the video from the sidebar to the left of the map or you can use the 'recently added' link underneath the map.

Safari

One of the hidden treasures of Google Maps is Mike Fay's Megaflyover images of Africa. These images provide some super close-ups of a number of African animals. This Safari map animates through a few of the best images from the Megaflyover.

Unfortunately this map tries to default back to Google Maps' normal zoom levels. The secret in using this map is to press the 'Play again' button (bottom right) which forces the map to zoom in beyond the default levels and exposes some great close up shots of the animals.

View the Safari

The Canadian Parliament Street View Tour

Using Google's newly released Street View imagery of Canada and Prague I've created a small Street View tour of Parliament Hill in Ottawa and of Prague's Old Town Square.

If you pan the Street View around then information about what is currently being shown in the Street View will appear at the bottom of the screen.

The code for this small Street View tour was developed with the help of Map Channels.

View the The Canadian Parliament Street View Tour

View Prague's Old Town Square

NASA Moon Rocket Crash Site

Here is a Google Earth browser plugin map of yesterday's NASA experiment of firing a segment of rocket into the Moon. The target for the rocket was the Cabeus Crater. The crater was chosen because the lighting conditions at the time would be ideal to see the resulting ejected dirt and rock.

The map includes an embedded YouTube video from Associated Press showing footage of the mission. To view the map and video you will need to have installed the Google Earth plugin on your computer.

View the NASA Moon Rocket Crash Site

Star Viewer Map

I've added a new video from the Spitzer Hidden Universe series to the Star Viewer Map. The new video shows the formation of crystalline structures caused when material from Ex Lupi's disk started falling into the central star.

EX Lupi is in the constellation Lupus, about 500 light years away. To view the video select EX Lupi from the left hand side-panel or from the recently added link under the map. Then click on the blue square map marker on the map.

I've also added a comments section to the map, so now you can also leave feedback on the page.

Sydney Dust Storm Map

On Wednesday morning Sydney, Australia awoke to a red haze. The haze was a dust storm blown in from the desert outback. The dust storm stretched hundreds of kilometres along the coast of Australia.

Air pollution levels from the dust were the highest recorded since records began in the 1970s, with 15,500 micrograms of particles per cubic metre. This Google Map is a collection of a number of YouTube videos of the storm, shot in and around Sydney.

Sydney Dust Storm Map

Aga Khan Palace, India

The Aga Khan Palace was constructed by Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan III, in the year 1892. Built in Yerwada, near Pune, it was intended to be a source of employment for the famine-struck villagers in the surrounding areas. Prince Karim El Husseni, Aga Khan IV, donated the palace to the Government of India in 1969, in memory of Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy. The Aga Khan Palace is in Kalyani Nagar, Pune

The Aga Khan Palace is also known as the Gandhi National Memorial because of its close association with Mahatma Gandhi, who was kept at this palace under house arrest in the 1940s.

View a video of the Aga Khan Palace on Google Maps