I was thinking of getting my oldest kid a small telescope- a little father/daughter time wondering about the universe etc etc… but it was easer to download Google Earth 4.2 featuring ”Sky”. yes we lose the fun of strange insects and clouds, but we get quite a view! Sky makes use of the typical Google Earth controls, allowing you to pan and zoom your way through the heavens. Unlike the toy store scope I would have ended up with, Sky arms you with the resolving power of the Hubble telescope, mapping hundreds of millions of objects in space. Like Earth, Sky is user-powered: a community of professional astronomers are adding content for fun, education and real research.
Check it out now at http://earth.google.com/sky/skyedu.html. There. post complete without any cheezy space humor.