Command Reference
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Chapter 4. Command Reference

Menu Commands

File Menu

File->New Window (Ctrl+N)

Open another KStars window

File->Close Window (Ctrl+W)

Close KStars window

File->Download Data... (Ctrl+D)

Open the Download Extra Data tool

File->Open FITS... (Ctrl+O)

Open a FITS image in the FITS Editor tool

File->Save Sky Image... (Ctrl+I)

Create image on disk from current display

File->Run Script... (Ctrl+R)

Run the specified KStars script

File->Print... (Ctrl+P)

Send the current sky map to the printer (or to a PostScript/PDF file)

File->Quit (Ctrl+Q)

Quit KStars

Time Menu

Time->Set Time to Now (Ctrl+E)

Sync time to system clock

Time->Set Time... (Ctrl+S)

Set time and date

Time->Start/Stop Clock

Toggle whether time passes

Pointing Menu

Pointing->Zenith (Z)

Center the display at the Zenith point (straight up)

Pointing->North (N)

Center the display above the North point on the horizon

Pointing->East (E)

Center the display above the East point on the horizon

Pointing->South (S)

Center the display above the South point on the horizon

Pointing->West (W)

Center the display above the West point on the horizon

Pointing->Set Focus Manually... (Ctrl+M)

Center the display on specific sky coordinates

Pointing->Find Object (Ctrl+F)

Locate an object by name using the Find Object Window

Pointing->Engage/Stop Tracking (Ctrl+T)

Toggle tracking on/off. While tracking, the display will remain centered on the current position or object.

View Menu

View->Zoom in (+)

Zooms view in

View->Zoom out (-)

Zooms view out

View->Default Zoom (Ctrl+Z)

Restore the default Zoom setting

View->Zoom to Angular Size... (Ctrl+Shift+Z)

Zoom to specified field-of-view angle

View->Full Screen Mode (Ctrl+Shift+F)

Toggle full-screen mode

View->Horizontal/Equatorial Coordinates (Space)

Toggle between the Horizontal and Equatorial Coordinate Systems

Devices Menu

Devices->Telescope Wizard...

Opens the Telescope Wizard, which provides a step-by-step guide to help you connect to your telescope and control it with KStars.

Devices->Device Manager

Opens up the device manager, which allows you to start/shutdown device drivers and connect to remote INDI servers.

Devices->INDI Control Panel

Opens up INDI Control Panel, which allows you to control all the features supported by a device.

Devices->Capture Image Sequence...

Acquire images from a CCD camera or webcam device

Devices->Configure INDI

Opens up a dialog to configure INDI-related features such as automatic device updates.

Tools Menu

Tools->Calculator... (Ctrl+C)

Opens the AstroCalculator Tool, which provides full access to many of the mathematical functions used by KStars.

Tools->Observing List... (Ctrl+L)

Opens the Observing List Tool, which provide convenient access to some common functions for a list of objects chosen by you.

Tools->AAVSO Light Curves... (Ctrl+V)

Opens the AAVSO Light Curve Generator Tool, which allows you to download a light curve for any variable star from the American Association of Variable Star Observers.

Tools->Altitude vs. Time... (Ctrl+A)

Opens the Altitude vs. Time Tool, which can plot curves representing the altitude of any object as a function of time. This is useful for planning observing sessions.

Tools->What's Up Tonight... (Ctrl+U)

Opens the What's Up Tonight Tool, which presents a summary of the objects which are observable from your location on a given date.

Tools->Script Builder... (Ctrl+B)

Opens the Script Builder Tool, which provides a GUI interface for building KStars DCOP scripts.

Tools->Solar System... (Ctrl+Y)

Opens the Solar System Viewer, which displays an overhead view of the solar system on the current simulation date.

Tools->Jupiter's Moons... (Ctrl+J)

Opens the Jupiter Moons Tool, which displays the positions of Jupiter's four brightest moons as a function of time.

Settings Menu

Settings->Info Boxes->Hide/Show Info Boxes

Toggle display of all three Info Boxes

Settings->Info Boxes->Hide/Show Time

Toggle display of the Time Info Box

Settings->Info Boxes->Hide/Show Focus

Toggle display of the Focus Info Box

Settings->Info Boxes->Hide/Show Location

Toggle display of the Location Info Box

Settings->Toolbars->Hide/Show Main Toolbar

Toggle display of the Main Toolbar

Settings->Toolbars->Hide/Show View Toolbar

Toggle display of the View Toolbar

Settings->Statusbar->Hide/Show Statusbar

Toggle display of the Statusbar

Settings->Statusbar->Hide/Show Az/Alt field

Toggle display of the mouse cursor's horizontal coordinates in the statusbar

Settings->Statusbar->Hide/Show RA/Dec field

Toggle display of the mouse cursor's horizontal coordinates in the statusbar

Settings->Color Schemes

This submenu contains all of the defined color schemes, including your custom schemes. Select any item to set that color scheme.

Settings->FOV Symbols

This submenu lists the available field-of-view (FOV) Symbols. The FOV Symbol is drawn at the center of the display. You may choose from the list of predefined symbols (No symbol, 7x35 Binoculars, One degree, HST WFPC2 or 30m at 1.3cm), or you may define your own symbols (or modify existing symbols) using the Edit FOV symbols... item.

Settings->Geographic... (Ctrl+G)

Select a new geographic location

Settings->Configure KStars...

Modify configuration options

Settings->Startup Wizard...

Opens the Setup Wizard, which allows you to easily set your geographic location and download some extra data files.

Help Menu

Help->KStars Handbook (F1)

Invokes the KDE Help system starting at the KStars help pages. (this document).

Help->What's This? (Shift+F1)

Changes the mouse cursor to a combination arrow and question mark. Clicking on items within KStars will open a help window (if one exists for the particular item) explaining the item's function.

Help->Report Bug...

Opens the Bug report dialog where you can report a bug or request a “wishlist” feature.

Help->About KStars

This will display version and author information.

Help->About KDE

This displays the KDE version and other basic information.

Popup Menu

The right click popup menu is context-sensitive, meaning its content varies depending on what kind of object you click on. We list all possible popup menu items here, with the relevant object type [in brackets].

[All]

Identification and type: The top one to three lines are devoted to the name(s) of the object, and its type. For stars, the Spectral Type is also shown here.

[All]

Rise, Transit, and Set times for the object on the current simulation date are shown on the next three lines.

[All]

Center and Track: Center the display on this location, and engage tracking. Equivalent to double-clicking.

[All]

Angular Distance To...: In this mode, a dotted line is drawn from the first target object to the current mouse position. When you invoke the popup menu of a second object, this item will read Compute Angular Distance. Selecting this item will display the angular distance between the two objects in the statusbar. You can press the Esc key to exit angular distance mode without measuring an angle.

[All]

Details: Open the Object Details window for this object.

[All]

Attach Label: Attach a permanent name label to the object. If the object already has a label attached, this item will read Remove Label.

[All]

Show ... Image: download an image of the object from the internet, and display it in the Image Viewer tool. The "..." text is replaced by a short description of the image's source. An object may have multiple image links available in its popup menu.

[All]

... Page: Display a webpage about the object in your default web browser. The "..." text is replaced by a short description of the page. An object may have multiple web links available in its popup menu.

[All Named Objects]

Add Link...: This allows you to add your own custom links to the popup menu of any object. It opens a small window in which you enter the URL of the link, and the text you want to appear in the popup menu. There is also a pair of radio buttons which allow you to specify whether the URL is an image or an HTML document, so KStars knows whether to launch the web browser or the image viewer. You can use this to add links to files on your local disk, so this feature could be used to attach observing logs or other custom information to objects in KStars. Your custom links are automatically loaded whenever KStars starts up, and they are stored in the folder ~/.kde/share/apps/kstars/, in files myimage_url.dat and myinfo_url.dat. If you build an extensive list of custom links, consider submitting them to us, we would like to include them in the next version of KStars!

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