While the folks at Google who made this map of nearby stars caution that "scientific accuracy is not guaranteed" — and much of the data is drawn from Wikipedia — what they do give us is a tool for Google Chrome that is at least a tad bit educational and for the most part makes the user feel like she is about to ride Space Mountain. Though the map shows the "real location" of more than 100,000 stars, 87 are "individually identified." Clicking on names of the stars provides extra detail and an up-close image of what they look like in orbit. 

Google has gotten attention for other work they've done in the cosmos recently: they've updated their Google Mars feature by "including large swaths from the Context Camera (CTX) on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter" and a tour of the Curiosity's potential landing sites. according to Wired. 

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Esther Zuckerman