# Command Reference

## Menu Commands

### File Menu

&Ctrl;N File New Window

- Open another &kstars; window

&Ctrl;W File Close Window

- Close &kstars; window

&Ctrl;D File Download Data...

- Open the Download Extra Data tool

&Ctrl;O File Open FITS...

- Open a FITS image in the FITS Editor tool

&Ctrl;I File Save Sky Image...

- Create image on disk from current display

&Ctrl;R File Run Script...

- Run the specified KStars script

&Ctrl;P File Print...

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

&Ctrl;Q File Quit

- Quit &kstars;

### Time Menu

&Ctrl;E Time Set Time to Now

- Sync time to system clock

&Ctrl;S Time Set Time...

- Set time and date

Time Start/Stop Clock

- Toggle whether time passes

### Pointing Menu

Z Pointing Zenith

- Center the display at the Zenith point (straight up)

N Pointing North

- Center the display above the North point on the horizon

E Pointing East

- Center the display above the East point on the horizon

S Pointing South

- Center the display above the South point on the horizon

W Pointing West

- Center the display above the West point on the horizon

&Ctrl;M Pointing Set Focus Manually...

- Center the display on specific sky coordinates

&Ctrl;F Pointing Find Object

- Locate an object by name using the Find Object Window

&Ctrl;T Pointing Engage/Stop Tracking

- 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

&Ctrl;Z View Default Zoom

- Restore the default Zoom setting

&Ctrl;&Shift;Z View Zoom to Angular Size...

- Zoom to specified field-of-view angle

&Ctrl;&Shift;F View Full Screen Mode

- Toggle full-screen mode

Space View Horizontal/Equatorial Coordinates

- 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

&Ctrl;C Tools Calculator...

- Opens the AstroCalculator Tool, which provides full access to many of the mathematical functions used by &kstars;.

&Ctrl;L Tools Observing List...

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

&Ctrl;V Tools AAVSO Light Curves...

- 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.

&Ctrl;A Tools Altitude vs. Time...

- 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.

&Ctrl;U Tools What's Up Tonight...

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

&Ctrl;B Tools Script Builder...

- Opens the Script Builder Tool, which provides a GUI interface for building &kstars; DCOP scripts.

&Ctrl;Y Tools Solar System...

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

&Ctrl;J Tools Jupiter's Moons...

- 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.

&Ctrl;G Settings Geographic...

- 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.menu.documentation;

### 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;!

## Keyboard Commands

### Navigation Keys

Arrow Keys

- Use the arrow keys to pan the display. Holding down the &Shift; key doubles the scrolling speed.

+ / -

- Zoom In/Out

&Ctrl;Z

- Restore the default Zoom setting

&Ctrl;&Shift;Z

- Zoom to specified field-of-view angle

0–9

- Center Display on a major Solar System body:

  - 0: Sun

  - 1: Mercury

  - 2: Venus

  - 3: Moon

  - 4: Mars

  - 5: Jupiter

  - 6: Saturn

  - 7: Uranus

  - 8: Neptune

  - 9: Pluto

Z

- Center the display at the Zenith Point (straight up)

N

- Center the display above the North point on the horizon

E

- Center the display above the East point on the horizon

S

- Center the display above the South point on the horizon

W

- Center the display above the West point on the horizon

&Ctrl;T

- Toggle tracking mode

<

- Advance the simulation clock backwards by one time step

>

- Advance the simulation clock forwards by one time step

### Menu Shortcuts

&Ctrl;N

- Open a new &kstars; window

&Ctrl;W

- Close a &kstars; window

&Ctrl;D

- Download extra data

&Ctrl;O

- Open a FITS image in the FITS Editor

&Ctrl;I

- Export sky image to a file

&Ctrl;R

- Run a &kstars; DCOP script

&Ctrl;P

- Print the current sky map

&Ctrl;Q

- Quit &kstars;

&Ctrl;E

- Sync the simulation clock with the current system time

&Ctrl;S

- Set the simulation clock to a specified Time and Date

&Ctrl;&Shift;F

- Toggle full-screen mode

Space

- Toggle between the Horizontal and Equatorial Coordinate Systems

F1

- Open the &kstars; Handbook

### Actions for the Selected Object

Each of the following keystrokes performs an action on the selected object. The selected object is the last object which was clicked on (identified in the status bar). Alternatively, if you hold down the Shift key, then the action is performed on the centered object instead.

D

- Open the Details window for the selected object

L

- Toggle a name label for the selected object

O

- Add the selected object to the observing list

P

- Open the selected object's popup menu

T

- Toggle a trail on the selected object (solar system bodies only)

### Tools Shortcuts

&Ctrl;F

- Open the Find Object window, for specifying a sky object on which to center

&Ctrl;M

- Open the Set Focus Manually... tool, for specifying RA/Dec or Az/Alt coordinates on which to center

[ / ]

- Start/End an Angular Distance measurement at the current mouse cursor position. The angular distance between start and end points is displayed in the statusbar.

&Ctrl;G

- Open the Set Geographic Location window

&Ctrl;C

- Open the AstroCalculator

&Ctrl;V

- Open the AAVSO Lightcurve Generator

&Ctrl;A

- Open the Altitude vs. Time tool

&Ctrl;U

- Open the What's Up Tonight? tool

&Ctrl;B

- Open the Script Builder tool

&Ctrl;Y

- Open the Solar System Viewer

&Ctrl;J

- Open the Jupiter Moons tool

&Ctrl;L

- Open the Observing List tool

## Mouse Commands

Moving the mouse

- The sky coordinates (RA/Dec and Az/Alt) of the mouse cursor are updated in the status bar

"Hovering" the mouse

- A temporary name label is attached to the object nearest to the mouse cursor.

Left-clicking

- The object nearest the mouse click is identified in the status bar.

Double-clicking

- Center and track on the location or object nearest the mouse click. Double-clicking on an Info Box will shade it to show/hide extra information.

Right-clicking

- Open the popup menu for the location or object nearest the mouse cursor.

Scrolling the mouse wheel

- Zoom the display in or out. If you do not have a mouse wheel, you can hold the middle mouse button and drag vertically.

Click-and-dragging

- Dragging the sky map

- Pan the display, following the drag motion.

&Ctrl;+dragging the sky map

- Define a rectangle in the map. When the mouse button is released, the display is zoomed in to match the field-of-view to the bounds of the rectangle.

Dragging an Info Box

- The Info Box is repositioned in the map. Info Boxes will stick to window edges, so that they remain on the edge when the window is resized.