for Educators

• Education Home
• Tools for your classroom
• Geo Education Home
• Getting Started
• Classroom Ideas
• Community
• Classroom activities
• Classroom posters
• Google Teacher Academy
• Teacher Community

Using Google Earth's Sky feature in your classroom

Educators, you already know that Google Earth can help you in your lesson plans about geography, history, far-off cultures, and more. We've now launched Google Sky, which adds another tool to your educational toolkit - outer space! With the new Sky feature, you can teach your students about astronomy while zooming around the universe. Real imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope is stitched together with imagery of the rest of the sky to give your students a unique experience.

There are two ways to use this tool: either download Sky in Google Earth 4.3, or use Google Sky straight from your web browser at www.sky.google.com. Be sure to visit the User Guide to get started. Eight special Sky layers highlight special content such as current sky events, historical sky maps, and the Education Center which offers built in content that's ready to be shared with your class.

Many Google Earth files (which use the KML file format) are available to help you with your lesson plans. Here are some examples to spark your imagination:

	Stargazing Find your location in Google Earth and switch to Sky for virtual stargazing. The sky above your location will appear as if students were looking up from their own backyards. Helpful layers for this lesson include Constellations, Backyard Astronomy, and The Planets.
	Stars Google Earth's Sky is filled with stars waiting to be explored. Use the Life of a Star layer to take your students through a star's lifecycle, from birth to death, complete with beautiful images of real stars at every stage including super nova! Open this KML file to see an animation of a star exploding, or search within Sky for "Eta Carina" to see a nearby star that will explode soon.
	Planets Use the Planets layer to examine the trajectories of the planets and demonstrate phenomena like retrograde motion. To explore historical data, use the time slider to find the planets at a given time. Use the Constellations layer to examine the concept of the ecliptic or open this KML file to view elements such as Pluto (not a planet anymore!), asteroids, and planetary moons.
	Galaxies Many of the points of light we see in the sky are not stars, but entire galaxies! Use the User's Guide to Galaxies to learn more about galaxies or turn on the Hubble Showcase layer to see detailed space imagery (zoom in to see individual stars).
	Mythology The names for many heavenly objects have their roots in human history and mythology. Use the Constellations and Planets layers to show many of these names - a great aid for teaching about the mythical heroes they are named after. For even more mythologically-relevant names, open this KML file to see Pluto, planetary moons, and more. Planet-moon interactions (Example: Jupiter-Io) are often representative of the relationships between characters.

While your students are exploring the universe, you might want to suggest a visit to Google Moon and Google Mars!