Virtual Stargazing

Hey you Leos, when you look at the night sky can you pick out the constellation that looks like a lion? And Scorpios, you may know your ruling planet is Pluto but, if you were looking through a telescope, could you find it?

Well there are no more excuses for your ignorance. Now all you astronomically-challenged, budding astrologers can revel in Google Earth's new Sky feature which allows you to view the skies as seen from Earth. Google Earth's Sky lets you explore, search and discover about a hundred million stars and two hundred million galaxies -- and all the images you see are real!

To get started you just download the free Earth software and click on the Sky button. A view of the sky above your current location will appear and from there you can navigate, rotate and zoom at will. You can add layers such as an overlay to help you see all the constellations and you can view a planet and watch an animation of its orbit. Google provides online documentation and user forums to assist you.

Just keep in mind that while viewing the stars and planets can be an enlightening experience, you should leave the interpretations to astrology professionals .. .like someone we know...ahem...