The Earth and the stars in one - the new Google Earth

The latest release of Google Earth now incorporates constellations. Sitting here in the Southern hemisphere, I tried to orientate my view of the Northern Hemisphere sky within the new Google Earth application, as it would be seen in Essex, UK. No doubt my friend, Colin, will set me straight. I should know all this stuff of course, after 20 years in the Scouting movement. It is a well established fact, that any Scout passing through Orion Troop simply couldn't have avoided cold winter evenings gazing up at the sky looking for the constellations of Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Cassiopeia, Canis Major, Orion and a few more besides. All this was important because we learnt how to find Polaris, the Pole star, and therefore how to find North at night. Handy stuff to know when on a 15km night hike.

Download the latest version of Google Earth here, and explore the galaxy for yourself.

Here is what I should be seeing from New Zealand this evening.