As mentioned by GEB on July 9th, Google is making a big announcement today in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. If you re-start Google Earth right now, you can see the Moon in 3D! Look for the little planet icon in the upper middle of Google Earth and you’ll see a new option “Moon“. The new moon in Google Earth changes the virtual globe into a 3D rendition of the moon. The terrain of the moon is in 3D and there are layers telling you more about the moon.
Here’s my first screenshot of the new 3D moon in Google Earth – showing the Apollo 11 landing site:
The first thing you should check out in the new Google Earth moon mode is the awesome Apollo 11 tour found in the layers under: Moon Gallery->Guided Tours->Apollo 11. This tour is narrated by Andrew Chaiken and Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and is one of the best illustrations of the Apollo 11 mission I’ve seen to date!
The official announcement doesn’t start until 11 AM. I’ll be tweeting the event at https://twitter.com/gearthblog Expect more in posts later today. But, right now, re-load Google Earth and look for the moon!
Here is a YouTube video introduction of Moon in Google Earth by Google:
View in HD resolution
Continue reading more notes on the new Moon in Google Earth…
[UPDATE: Here is Google’s official announcement of Moon in Google Earth]
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.
I wonder how accurate it is all the way round? I’ve often wondered what it might be like to walk all the way round the Moon. Does anyone know, in theory, if it would be possible to walk all the way round the Moon? I mean how long would it take if you could do it?
About 91 days
Pretty awesome! I figured that it was going to be the moon prior to announcement by the little hints that google was throwing out there! Found anything cool yet? I’ve just found Apollo 12’s landing site.
Absolutely fabulous. There’s still room for improvement and I’ve already found an inaccuracy or two (mostly in the placemark box texts), but this is so awesome to use. Great stuff.
This is too cool!
Also, if you go on street view on Google Maps, the little street view man is an astronaut!
Hi,
Since I have not installed Google Earth on my machine but I was eager to write about it on Google-niche blog, I borrowed a image from you at:
http://www.gtricks.com/google-earth-tricks/research-moon-google-earth/
Though I have given proper source, please tell me if you are uncomfortable with it.
And,@jona, practically you cant walk on moon coz of zero gravitational force. All you can do is hop.
It would be really awesome if Google Earth would get high detail & high resolution color pictures of the moon instead of using pictures from the 70’s… I’m sure better pictures have been taken than the ones Google currently has up!
i lyk this 3d satillite!!!!!