If Google’s earnings report hadn’t gone well yesterday afternoon, we’d perhaps raise an eyebrow over the company’s latest partnership.  Google posted some stellar financial results, however, making a deal involving Google Earth and a firm called Slooh look like just one more endearing quirk.

Slooh is, by the way, a company that deals in astronomy.  It describes itself as "an online Space Camera that streams live views from robotic telescopes stationed in the Canary Islands, Chile and Australia."

As for the new pact, it involves the launch of a Slooh layer in Google Earth, and said layer is supposed to feature photos of over 35,000 celestial objects.

What’s more, according to an official statement, "Google will also broadcast Slooh’s live astronomy missions inside Google Earth and other media properties to Google’s global audiences.  This feature will provide a live coverage feed of celestial events such as lunar eclipses, enhanced with audio narration by Slooh host and nationally renowned astronomy luminary Bob Berman."

So it looks like Google Sky is really taking off, if you’ll pardon the small pun.

Anyone who’s still worried about the expense of all this might at least note that Google Sky is less likely to incur government investigations and lawsuits than Street View, too.