Google and Slooh are teaming up to map the universe and give their users a live, front-row seat. The companies on Friday unveiled a Slooh layer in Google Earth that will let users explore outer space in real-time.

Google added the Google Sky layer to Google Earth in 2007, allowing users to explore space's celestial bodies from within the program. Slooh now adds another layer to Google Sky. The company has robotic telescopes in the Canary Islands, Chile, and Australia, which will allow users to stream live images of the heavens via Google Earth.

"We're thrilled to announce this integration with Google Earth, which fulfills our mission to promote scientific enlightenment and reconnect people with the natural world around them," Slooh founder Michael Paolucci said in a press release. "Sharing the view through a live telescope is a powerful experience, one we are pleased to now share with Google's worldwide audience."

Slooh takes users on five-minute expeditions that produce celestial images resembling those from a Polaroid camera. Approximately 35,000 existing images from Slooh have already been added to Google Earth. Slooh also provides broadcasts of events like lunar eclipses, which include commentary from experts.

"Slooh's 'map the universe' layer brings a powerful educational component to Google Earth," Noel Gorelick, Sky's technical lead in Google Earth, said in a statement. "Not only does the ability to explore space live bring a totally new active dimension to the experience, but also gives Google users a deeper awareness of the positions of a myriad of celestial objects and the birth of galaxies in our solar system."

Slooh also offers "Space Camera Launch Cards" for $9.99 at RadioShack and Toys 'R' Us, which let kids initiate their own Web-based missions to outer space.