Virtual Stargazing

Searching for inspiration in the night sky, but it's all cloudy and... snowing again? Or, your husband who knows all the names of of the stars is just getting up and going to work some thousand miles east of you? No problem that the internet can't solve for you: browse the virtual night sky at WIKISKY.ORG.






The site features a map of more than half a billion astronomical objects. You can navigate around it easily by clicking and dragging the map and using a zoom-in/zoom-out sidebar. You can also search on specific objects by name from a database, and it seems pretty tolerant of requests that use informal terms. (Ask for a lobster or a rotten egg and it will find you one.)

[via newscientist.blog]