barnabu

Google’s LatLong blog has announced a bunch of changes to the default Google Earth Sky Layers. Some of my files are closely tied to the update, so here’s a quick list of the KML addons directly affected.  Check out Gearthblog’s post for the other main additions:

Planet Locations
Firstly I’ve updated my Orrey animation. This is the file that shows a simplified, top down representation of the solar system, designed to run alongside GoogleSky’s planet location time animations in the Default Layers - look under ‘Our Solar System’.

Google have updated the Layer to run from January to April 2008, and decreased the time steps in the time line from 1 hour to 15 minutes.  I’ve tweaked my file to synchronize with this.

Constellation boundaries
As I (sort of) predicted, GSky now provides it’s own set of constellation borders by default (under Backyard Astronomy). These are displayed as coloured polygons. This obviously reduces the need for anyone to use my KML constellation add-on.  But mine do still have some use - the two sets combine pretty neatly - with Google Sky’s polygons fading out when you zoom, and my lines staying on permanently.

Real Sized Planets
Lastly, Google Earth’s Welcome Tour now includes a direct link to my Real sized planets file (thanks Google! ), the KML Gallery plus Joey Wade and Frank Taylor’s cool Millennium Falcon, Star Wars animation.

Related posts:

1. Google Sky Orrery x3
2. Google Sky Planet Orbits
3. Google Sky
4. Animated Planets in Google Sky
5. Real Sized Planets in Google Sky

Constellations, Google Sky, KML, Orrery, Planets, Solar System