The KStars Handbook

Jason Harris

Lead Developer & Maintainer: Jasem Mutlaq
Core Developer: Akarsh Simha
Core Developer: Carsten Niehaus
Core Developer: Eric Dejouhanet
Core Developer: Heiko Evermann
Core Developer: Hy Murveit
Core Developer: James Bowlin
Core Developer: John Evans
Core Developer: Mark Holloman
Core Developer: Robert Lancaster
Core Developer: Pablo de Vicente
Core Developer: Thomas Kabelmann
Core Developer: Wolfgang Reissenberger
Revision 3.6.6 (2023-08-01)

KStars is free, open source, cross-platform Astronomy Software. It provides an accurate graphical simulation of the night sky, from any location on Earth, at any date and time. The display includes up to 100 million stars, 13,000 deep-sky objects,all 8 planets, the Sun and Moon, and thousands of comets, asteroids, supernovae, and satellites. For students and teachers, it supports adjustable simulation speeds in order to view phenomena that happen over long timescales, the KStars Astrocalculator to predict conjunctions, and many common astronomical calculations. For the amateur astronomer, it provides an observation planner, a sky calendar tool, and an FOV editor to calculate field of view of equipment and display them. Find out interesting objects in the What's up Tonight tool, plot altitude vs. time graphs for any object, print high-quality sky charts, and gain access to lots of information and resources to help you explore the universe! HiPS all-sky progressive overlay provide stunning views from numerous surveys spanning the whole electromagnetic spectrum. Included with KStars is Ekos astrophotography suite, a complete astrophotography solution that can control all INDI devices including numerous telescopes, CCDs, DSLRs, focusers, filters, and a lot more. Ekos supports highly accurate tracking using online and offline astrometry solver, autofocus and autoguiding capabilities, and capture of single or multiple images using the powerful built in sequence manager.


Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. A Quick Tour of KStars
The Setup Wizard
Have a Look Around
Objects in the Sky
The Popup Menu
Finding Objects
Centering and Tracking
Keyboard Actions
End of the Tour
3. Configuring KStars
Setting the Geographic Location
Setting the Time
The Configure KStars Window
Catalogs
The DSO Catalog Database
The Catalog Management GUI
Creating a new Catalog
Catalog Color Editor
Catalog Details Dialog
Solar System
Satellites
Supernovae
Guides
Terrain
Image Overlays
Colors
FITS
INDI
Ekos
Xplanet
Advanced
Developer
Customizing the Display
Adjusting orientation of the sky map
HiPS Progressive Overlay
4. Command Reference
Menu Commands
File Menu
Time Menu
Pointing Menu
View Menu
Tools Menu
Data Menu
Observation Menu
Settings Menu
Help Menu
Popup Menu
Keyboard Commands
Navigation Keys
Menu Shortcuts
Actions for the Selected Object
Tools Shortcuts
Mouse Commands
5. KStars Tools
Object Details Window
The Astrocalculator
Julian Day module
Sidereal Time module
Day Duration module
Equinoxes and Solstices module
Equatorial/Galactic Coordinates module
Apparent Coordinates module
Horizontal Coordinates module
Ecliptic Coordinates module
Angular Distance module
Geodetic Coordinates module
Planet Coordinates module
Altitude vs. Time Tool
Simulate Eyepiece View
What's up Tonight? Tool
The Script Builder Tool
Introduction to the Script Builder
Using the Script Builder
Solar System Viewer
Ekos
Ekos Setup
User Interface
Profile Wizard
Profile Editor
Logs
Capture
Focus
Guide
Align
Scheduler
Analyze
Ekos Tutorials
Jupiter Moons Tool
Observation Planner
FITS Viewer Tool
Main Controls
Features
FITS Viewer Solver
Embedded FITS Viewer
3D Star Profile & Data Visualization Tool
6. Command-Line mode for Image Generation
7. Astronomical Device Control with INDI
INDI Setup
Telescope Setup
CCD and Video-Capture Setup
Configure INDI
INDI Concepts
Remote Device Control
Running an INDI server from the command line
Secure Remote Operation
INDI Frequently Asked Questions
8. Questions and Answers
9. The AstroInfo Project
AstroInfo: Table of Contents
Celestial Coordinate Systems
The Equatorial Coordinate System
The Horizontal Coordinate System
The Ecliptic Coordinate System
The Galactic Coordinate System
The Celestial Equator
The Celestial Poles
The Celestial Sphere
The Ecliptic
The Equinoxes
Geographic Coordinates
Great Circles
The Horizon
Hour Angle
The Local Meridian
Precession
The Zenith
Epoch
Julian Day
Leap Years
Sidereal Time
Time Zones
Universal Time
Telescopes
Aperture and Focal Ratio
Aberrations
Magnification
Field of View
Types of Telescopes
Optical Telescopes
Observations in Other Wavelengths
Space-Based Observations
Blackbody Radiation
Dark Matter
Flux
Luminosity
Parallax
Retrograde Motion
Elliptical Galaxies
Spiral Galaxies
Magnitude Scale
Stars: An Introductory FAQ
Star Colors and Temperatures
Cosmic Distance Ladder
Direct measurements
Standard candles
Other methods
10. Credits and License
Index