14 DAY TRIAL // Google's downloadable mapping tool Google Earth gets a new minor update which affects the Planets and the Moon layers included in the program. According to the Google Earth Blog, "the only problem is that the layers only included three months worth of prediction, so on October 22 they no longer showed future data." So, the Mountain View company updated the layer but how can we get the new ones? There's not much to know because the only thing you should do is to enable them in Google Earth. In addition, you might want to restart Google Earth to be sure the new layers were included in your mapping application.
"Apologies for letting them expire 10 days ago, but we've loaded new versions of the planets and Moon layers," Ryan Scranton wrote on the Google Earth Community blog. "No effort on your part necessary to download them; just turn on those layers in your client and you'll see the new versions (might need to switch to Earth and then back to Sky if you still see the old versions). We're still experimenting with how to serve time-dependent data and make the planets searchable like the rest of the more stationary objects on the sky, so stay tuned for more updates in this area over the coming months."
Google Earth received lots of functions which made the application more than a provider of high-resolution satellite photos. Besides the Earth imagery, Google's program also provides access to sky pictures which enable you to analyze the planets and the galaxies straight from your computer.
In addition, Google added Flight Simulator, an interesting utility which puts you in the role of an airplane pilot who flies over the locations provided by Google Earth. This way, you can enjoy the beautiful panoramas offered by Google while flying with your favorite plane.