Browsing over any part of the world and focusing down on a spot with incredible precision is now possible with free software like NASA World Wind. This program uses satellite technology to bring the globe to your desktop.

NASA released World Wind six months before Google Earth, yet it failed to make as much of an impact. However, anything coming out of the prestigious aeronautics administration is definitely worth a closer look. So what sets World Wind apart from Google Earth?

World Wind's real selling point is the quality of its satellite imagery. World Wind reveals Earth in many different perspectives thanks to the large variety of maps. Blue Marble exposes Earth in its true colors, Landsat 7 gives you high resolution imagery, and MODIS can display time relevant data such as earthquakes, fires or floods. Browse mountain ranges and observe the snowy peaks, the clouds, and the different colors of the rock, with incredible precision. Be aware though that the lower you go, the more detail will appear, and World Wind will take more time to process the image.

It sometimes seems that we're getting ever further away from discovering the mysteries of the Universe. Now, some scientists reckon that there was life before the Big Bang, throwing doubt on the theory that this explosion marked the beginning of time. One boffin in Pennsylvania has even devised a theory of how we might be able to see back in time to before this momentus event.

If you're curious to discover more about how the Universe was formed, you don't need to be sat in a multi-trillion dollar space station to do so. There are several freeware and shareware astronomy apps that will help you peer into far reaches of space without even looking out of the window. AstroGrav is particularly useful for studying how astronomical objects move and examining the effects of the forces of gravity. Meanwhile, NASA World Wind acts as a kind-of Google Earth for outer space, providing you with the ability to navigate the cosmos through a responsive viewer. Likewise, Celestia gives you the power to travel through the solar system to one of over 100,000 stars. Just let us know if you discover how it all began if you find out on your travels.

Looking at the moon landings on Earth might seem like a silly idea, but New Scientist have put together a collection of downloadable layers for Google Earth, which allow you to see how far the astronauts went on their moon explorations. They put the routes taken by the Apollo explorers, and add them to major cities. If you know any of the cities included - London, New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Sydney - these give you an excellent feel for the scale of their investigations, from the small first steps of Apollo 11, to the much larger distances covered in later missions with the Lunar Rover.

If moon landings on Earth are too earthy for you, check out Google's 2D Moon here. Google are announcing "something special" at an event later today featuring none other than Buzz Aldrin. If they don't announce Google Moon in 3D, I'll eat my space suit.

In the unlikely event that the moon isn't added to Google Earth, you can download NASA's World Wind, which is free and features 3D models of Earth, the moon, Mars, Venus and Jupiter too.

Download the Google Earth moon landing layers here, and Google Earth here. If you have Google Earth installed, download the layers you want, and just open them with Google Earth. The moon landing images will then appear automatically.