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0001 <tip category="KStars|General">
0002 <html>
0003 <p>You can locate objects in the sky by their name.
0004 Use Ctrl+F, the "Pointing->Find Object" menu item, or the "Find Object"
0005 Toolbar button.
0006 </p>
0007 </html>
0008 </tip>
0009 <tip category="KStars|General">
0010 <html>
0011 <p>To change your Geographic Location,
0012 use Ctrl+G, the "Settings->Geographic..." menu item,
0013 or the "globe" Toolbar button.
0014 </p>
0015 </html>
0016 </tip>
0017 <tip category="KStars|General">
0018 <html>
0019 <p>You can Track an object, so it will always be centered
0020 in the display.<br/>
0021 Use Ctrl+T, the "Pointing->Engage Tracking" menu item, or the "lock"
0022 Toolbar button. You can also simply center the object by
0023 double-clicking on it or selecting "Center and Track" from the
0024 object's popup menu.
0025 </p>
0026 </html>
0027 </tip>
0028 <tip category="KStars|General">
0029 <html>
0030 <p>The KStars Handbook includes the AstroInfo Project, a series
0031 of informative articles about Astronomy.
0032 </p>
0033 </html>
0034 </tip>
0035 <tip category="KStars|General">
0036 <html>
0037 <p>There are three on-screen "Info Boxes" which show data related to the
0038 time/date, your geographic location, and the current central position on the
0039 sky (the focus). You can drag these boxes with the mouse, and "shade" them
0040 by double-clicking them to show more (or less) information. You can hide
0041 them altogether in the Settings->Info Boxes menu.
0042 </p>
0043 </html>
0044 </tip>
0045 <tip category="KStars|General">
0046 <html>
0047 <p>KStars has a full-screen mode; you can toggle this mode using the
0048 "fullscreen" toolbar button, or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F.
0049 </p>
0050 </html>
0051 </tip>
0052 <tip category="KStars|General">
0053 <html>
0054 <p>Help us improve the KStars project! Visit our website at https://edu.kde.org/kstars and join our mailing list at kstars-devel@kde.org to learn more. We welcome you to help us with bug reports, contributions of astronomy know-how and knowledge, code contributions, translations and many more kinds of contributions!
0055 </p>
0056 </html>
0057 </tip>
0058 <tip category="KStars|Navigation">
0059 <html>
0060 <p>The N,S,E,W keys will point the display at the North,
0061 South, East and West points on the Horizon. The Z key will point the
0062 display at the Zenith.
0063 </p>
0064 </html>
0065 </tip>
0066 <tip category="KStars|Navigation">
0067 <html>
0068 <p>The 0-9 keys will center the display on one of the major solar system
0069 bodies. 0 centers on the Sun, 3 centers on the Moon; the rest are the eight
0070 planets, in order of their distance from the Sun.
0071 </p>
0072 </html>
0073 </tip>
0074 <tip category="KStars|Navigation">
0075 <html>
0076 <p>Click and Drag with the mouse to slew the skymap to a new position on
0077 the sky.
0078 </p>
0079 </html>
0080 </tip>
0081 <tip category="KStars|Navigation">
0082 <html>
0083 <p>Double-click with the mouse to center the display on the location
0084 of the mouse cursor. If you double-click on an object, KStars will
0085 automatically begin tracking it.
0086 </p>
0087 </html>
0088 </tip>
0089 <tip category="KStars|Navigation">
0090 <html>
0091 <p>The status bar displays the current sky coordinates of the mouse cursor,
0092 in both Equatorial and Horizontal coordinate systems.
0093 </p>
0094 </html>
0095 </tip>
0096 <tip category="KStars|Navigation">
0097 <html>
0098 <p>The display can be zoomed in or out by spinning your mouse's scroll wheel,
0099 or by dragging the mouse up or down with the middle mouse button pressed. You
0100 can also use the +/- keys, or the "Zoom In"/"Zoom Out" items in the toolbar and
0101 in the View menu. The Zoom Level can be set manually using the "Zoom to Angular
0102 Size" item in the View menu (Shift+Ctrl+Z), and you can set it graphically by
0103 holding down the Ctrl button while dragging the mouse to define a rectangle for
0104 the new window boundaries.
0105 </p>
0106 </html>
0107 </tip>
0108 <tip category="KStars|Navigation">
0109 <html>
0110 <p>You can manually set the coordinates of the central Focus point.
0111 Press Ctrl+M, or use the "Pointing->Set Coordinates Manually..." menu item, and enter
0112 the desired coordinates in the popup window.
0113 </p>
0114 </html>
0115 </tip>
0116 <tip category="KStars|Navigation">
0117 <html>
0118 <p>To switch between Equatorial and Horizontal coordinate
0119 systems, use the "View->Coordinates" menu item, or press the spacebar.
0120 </p>
0121 </html>
0122 </tip>
0123 <tip category="KStars|Time">
0124 <html>
0125 <p>To set the Time and Date, type Ctrl+S, use the "Time->Set Time" menu item,
0126 or press the "time" toolbar button. Note that dates in KStars can be very
0127 remote; you can use any year between -50,000 and +50,000.
0128 </p>
0129 </html>
0130 </tip>
0131 <tip category="KStars|Time">
0132 <html>
0133 <p>You can use Ctrl+E or the "Time->Set Time to Now" menu item to synchronize
0134 the simulation clock with your CPU clock.
0135 </p>
0136 </html>
0137 </tip>
0138 <tip category="KStars|Time">
0139 <html>
0140 <p>The Spin Box in the Toolbar allows you to adjust the time step
0141 used by the KStars clock; setting it to "1.0 sec" provides "real time".
0142 Note: negative values make time run backwards.
0143 </p>
0144 </html>
0145 </tip>
0146 <tip category="KStars|Time">
0147 <html>
0148 <p>You can stop and start the clock with the "Play/Pause" button
0149 in the Toolbar, or with the "Time->Stop Clock" menu item.
0150 </p>
0151 </html>
0152 </tip>
0153 <tip category="KStars|Time">
0154 <html>
0155 <p>You can advance the simulation clock forward or backward by a single
0156 time step by pressing the ">" or "<" keys.
0157 </p>
0158 </html>
0159 </tip>
0160 <tip category="KStars|Objects">
0161 <html>
0162 <p>When you click your mouse in the map, the object in the sky nearest
0163 the mouse cursor is identified in the status bar.
0164 </p>
0165 </html>
0166 </tip>
0167 <tip category="KStars|Objects">
0168 <html>
0169 <p>When you hold the mouse cursor still for a moment, the nearest object
0170 will be identified by a temporary name label that automatically fades
0171 out when you move the mouse again.
0172 </p>
0173 </html>
0174 </tip>
0175 <tip category="KStars|Objects">
0176 <html>
0177 <p>Right-click with the mouse to open a popup menu of detailed options
0178 for a particular object, including links to images and information on
0179 the Internet.
0180 </p>
0181 </html>
0182 </tip>
0183 <tip category="KStars|Objects">
0184 <html>
0185 <p>The deep-sky objects with a special color (the default is Red)
0186 have extra URL links available in their popup menu.
0187 </p>
0188 </html>
0189 </tip>
0190 <tip category="KStars|Objects">
0191 <html>
0192 <p>By default, stars in KStars are displayed with realistic colors.
0193 A star's color depends on its temperature; cooler stars are red,
0194 while hotter stars are blue.
0195 </p>
0196 </html>
0197 </tip>
0198 <tip category="KStars|Objects">
0199 <html>
0200 <p>If you want the very latest orbital information for asteroids and
0201 comets (including recently-discovered objects), check the "Download
0202 Data" tool ("File->Download New Data" or Ctrl+D) frequently for updated
0203 ephemerides.
0204 </p>
0205 </html>
0206 </tip>
0207 <tip category="KStars|Objects">
0208 <html>
0209 <p>The Details window provides a large amount of information on any
0210 object in the sky, including coordinates, rise/set times, Internet
0211 links, and your own custom notes. Access the Details window through
0212 the popup menu, or by clicking on an object and then pressing "D".
0213 </p>
0214 </html>
0215 </tip>
0216 <tip category="KStars|Objects">
0217 <html>
0218 <p>You can attach a name label to any object in the sky. Toggle the
0219 label in the popup menu, or by clicking on the object and then
0220 pressing "L".
0221 </p>
0222 </html>
0223 </tip>
0224 <tip category="KStars|Tools">
0225 <html>
0226 <p>The KStars Astrocalculator (Ctrl+C) gives you direct access to many
0227 of the calculations that KStars does behind-the-scenes.
0228 </p>
0229 </html>
0230 </tip>
0231 <tip category="KStars|Tools">
0232 <html>
0233 <p>The AAVSO Light Curve Generator tool (Ctrl+V) connects to a server at the
0234 American Association of Variable Star Observers, and constructs a
0235 lightcurve for any of the 6000+ variable stars that they monitor
0236 on a daily basis.
0237 </p>
0238 </html>
0239 </tip>
0240 <tip category="KStars|Tools">
0241 <html>
0242 <p>The Altitude vs. Time tool (Ctrl+A) will plot altitude curves for any group
0243 of objects that you select. This is a great tool for planning
0244 observing sessions.
0245 </p>
0246 </html>
0247 </tip>
0248 <tip category="KStars|Tools">
0249 <html>
0250 <p>With the What's up Tonight? tool (Ctrl+U), you can tell at a glance what
0251 objects will be visible from your location on a given night.
0252 </p>
0253 </html>
0254 </tip>
0255 <tip category="KStars|Tools">
0256 <html>
0257
0258 <p>KStars has a powerful Observation Planner tool
0259 (Ctrl + L). The planner helps you maintain a
0260 wish list of objects that you would like to
0261 observe, and then select some of these
0262 objects to plan out an observing
0263 session. The planner can then assign
0264 observing times, and present the objects in
0265 time order for easy observing workflow on
0266 the field.
0267 </p>
0268 </html>
0269 </tip>
0270 <tip category="KStars|Tools">
0271 <html>
0272
0273 <p>KStars has a powerful astrophotography suite called Ekos! Ekos lets you control your astrophotography equipment through INDI, perform auto-focus etc, and set up automatic capture sequences.
0274 </p>
0275 </html>
0276 </tip>
0277 <tip category="KStars|Tools">
0278 <html>
0279 <p>The ScriptBuilder tool allows you to construct complex D-Bus
0280 scripts using a simple GUI. The scripts can be played back later
0281 from the command line, or from within KStars.
0282 </p>
0283 </html>
0284 </tip>
0285 <tip category="KStars|Tools">
0286 <html>
0287 <p>The Solar System Viewer tool (Ctrl+Y) shows an overhead view of the solar
0288 system, showing the positions of the major planets for the current
0289 simulation date.
0290 </p>
0291 </html>
0292 </tip>
0293 <tip category="KStars|Tools">
0294 <html>
0295 <p>The Jupiter Moons tool (Ctrl+J) shows the relative positions of Jupiter's
0296 four largest moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto), as seen from
0297 Earth, and as a function of time.
0298 </p>
0299 </html>
0300 </tip>
0301 <tip category="KStars|Tools">
0302 <html>
0303 <p>You can export the sky image to a file using the "Save Sky Image"
0304 item in the File menu, or by pressing Ctrl+I. In addition, you can
0305 run KStars from a command prompt with the "--dump" argument to save a
0306 sky image to disk without even opening the program window. This can
0307 be used to generate dynamic wallpaper for your KDE desktop.
0308 </p>
0309 </html>
0310 </tip>
0311 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0312 <html>
0313 <p>To add your own custom Object Catalogs, select "Import Catalog..." or
0314 "Create Catalog..." from the Catalogs page in the KStars Configuration window.
0315 See the Handbook for instructions on formatting your catalog file.
0316 </p>
0317 </html>
0318 </tip>
0319 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0320 <html>
0321 <p>By default, KStars ships with the NGC and IC deep-sky object catalogs. You can download many more catalogs from the File->Download New Data option. You can also make your own custom catalogs and add them.
0322 </p>
0323 </html>
0324 </tip>
0325 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0326 <html>
0327 <p>By default, KStars ships with a catalog of stars up to about magnitude 8. You can download additional star catalogs (Tycho-2 and USNO NOMAD) to show up to 100 million stars down to about magnitude 16 using the File->Download New Data option.
0328 </p>
0329 </html>
0330 </tip>
0331 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0332 <html>
0333 <p>To add your own custom image/information URLs to
0334 any object, select "Add Link..." from the object's popup menu.
0335 </p>
0336 </html>
0337 </tip>
0338 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0339 <html>
0340 <p>You can adjust dozens of display options by clicking the
0341 "configure" Toolbar button, or selecting the "Settings->Configure KStars..."
0342 menu item.
0343 </p>
0344 </html>
0345 </tip>
0346 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0347 <html>
0348 <p>The on-screen Info Boxes can be hidden or shown using the
0349 "Settings->Info Boxes" menu.
0350 </p>
0351 </html>
0352 </tip>
0353 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0354 <html>
0355 <p>The Toolbars can be hidden or shown using the "Settings->Toolbars" menu.
0356 </p>
0357 </html>
0358 </tip>
0359 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0360 <html>
0361 <p>You can hide either the Ra/Dec or Az/Alt coordinate fields in the statusbar,
0362 or hide the statusbar completely, using the Settings->Statusbar menu.
0363 </p>
0364 </html>
0365 </tip>
0366 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0367 <html>
0368 <p>You can easily switch between predefined color schemes by selecting
0369 the scheme from the "Settings->Color Schemes" menu.
0370 </p>
0371 </html>
0372 </tip>
0373 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0374 <html>
0375 <p>You can define your own Geographic Locations. Fill in the
0376 required fields in the "Set Geographic Location" Dialog and then press the
0377 "Add City to List" button. Your Locations will be available in all
0378 future sessions.
0379 </p>
0380 </html>
0381 </tip>
0382 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0383 <html>
0384 <p>You can define your own Color Schemes. Adjust the colors
0385 in the Configuration Window's "Colors" Tab, and then press the "Save
0386 Current Colors" button. Your Color Scheme will appear in the list in
0387 all future sessions.
0388 </p>
0389 </html>
0390 </tip>
0391 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0392 <html>
0393 <p>You can construct your own field-of-view (FOV) symbols, using the
0394 FOV Editor from the Settings->FOV Symbols menu. You can set the angular size, the
0395 shape, and the color of your new symbols.
0396 </p>
0397 </html>
0398 </tip>
0399 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0400 <html>
0401 <p>If you use a camera to capture images, you can create a field-of-view (FOV) symbol that matches your camera sensor's size. You can then adjust the orientation of the FOV symbol to match the orientation of your camera, to see what fits into your imaging field. The FOV Editor may be accessed from the Settings->FOV Symbols menu.
0402 </p>
0403 </html>
0404 </tip>
0405 <tip category="KStars|Customize">
0406 <html>
0407 <p>The Advanced tab of the KStars Configuration window allows you to fine-tune
0408 the behavior of KStars. You can specify whether to correct for atmospheric
0409 refraction, and whether to use animated slewing. You can also specify which
0410 objects are hidden while the display is in motion.
0411 </p>
0412 </html>
0413 </tip>
0414 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0415 <html>
0416 <p>KStars displays up to 100 million stars, more than 13,000 deep-sky objects, the 88 constellations,
0417 all planets, the Sun, the Moon, thousands of comets and asteroids, and the
0418 Milky Way.
0419 </p>
0420 </html>
0421 </tip>
0422 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0423 <html>
0424 <p>The line in the sky that the Sun and all the Planets seem to follow
0425 is called the Ecliptic.
0426 </p>
0427 </html>
0428 </tip>
0429 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0430 <html>
0431 <p>Object positions in KStars include the effects of precession, nutation,
0432 aberration, atmospheric refraction, and light travel time (for planets).
0433 </p>
0434 </html>
0435 </tip>
0436 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0437 <html>
0438 <p>You can simulate the famous experimental test of general relativity in KStars -- KStars can calculate the bending of star-light around the sun. Simply center on the sun, zoom in the sky map and toggle the corrections by pressing 'r' on the keyboard.
0439 </p>
0440 </html>
0441 </tip>
0442 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0443 <html>
0444 <p>The nearest star to the Sun is Rigel Kentaurus (alpha Centauri).
0445 The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius (alpha Canis Majoris).
0446 </p>
0447 </html>
0448 </tip>
0449 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0450 <html>
0451 <p>The large group of galaxies between Leo, Virgo and Coma Berenices
0452 is called the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies.
0453 </p>
0454 </html>
0455 </tip>
0456 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0457 <html>
0458 <p>The large group of clusters and nebulae near the south celestial pole
0459 are objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a dwarf galaxy in
0460 orbit around the Milky Way.
0461 </p>
0462 </html>
0463 </tip>
0464 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0465 <html>
0466 <p>The Messier Catalog is a list of 110 of the brightest non-stellar objects
0467 in the sky. It includes such famous objects as the Orion Nebula (M 42), the
0468 Andromeda Galaxy (M 31), and the Pleiades (M 45).
0469 </p>
0470 </html>
0471 </tip>
0472 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0473 <html>
0474 <p>Every now and then, planets seem to stop, and temporarily change their direction of motion across the night sky. This is called retrograde motion. You can simulate it in KStars by attaching a trail to an outer planet and letting the simulation clock step quickly (at 1 sid day or so).
0475 </p>
0476 </html>
0477 </tip>
0478 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0479 <html>
0480 <p>From a dark, country-side location, the Andromeda Galaxy (M 31) is visible to the naked eye! The galaxy lies about 2.2 million light years away from us, and yet it has an apparent size of 3 degrees, 6 times the apparent size of the full moon!
0481 </p>
0482 </html>
0483 </tip>
0484 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0485 <html>
0486 <p>Apparent sizes of deep-sky objects and planets are measured in arcminutes. An arc-minute is 1/60 of a degree. Stars have even smaller apparent sizes, which are measured in milli-arc-seconds (1/3600000 of a degree)!
0487 </p>
0488 </html>
0489 </tip>
0490 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0491 <html>
0492 <p>Distance to the more nearby stars may be measured using "Parallax". The idea is explained in the Astro Info project. KStars shows the distances to many stars in the Details dialog. To access this information, simply right click on the star, and choose "Details" in the popup-menu.
0493 </p>
0494 </html>
0495 </tip>
0496 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0497 <html>
0498 <p>The Hubble Space Telescope images are usually in false-color. The colors are chosen to indicate the presence of the elements Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur. For real-color images, try the other image options.
0499 </p>
0500 </html>
0501 </tip>
0502 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0503 <html>
0504 <p>The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) has digitized images from photographs of every region of the sky, made with the Oschin Schmidt telescope at Mt. Palomar, and the UK Schmidt Telescope. The DSS image of almost any region of the sky can be accessed from KStars by right-clicking on the sky map and selection "Show DSS Image".
0505 </p>
0506 </html>
0507 </tip>
0508 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0509 <html>
0510 <p>Edwin Hubble made the first measurements that showed that the distant galaxies are receding at very fast speeds from us. This was early evidence for the expansion of the universe. Learn more at the AstroInfo project in the KStars Handbook (Help->KStars Handbook).
0511 </p>
0512 </html>
0513 </tip>
0514 <tip category="KStars|Trivia">
0515 <html>
0516 <p>The best way to observe a faint object in the night-sky is to not look straight at it but look in the region around it! This technique, called "averted vision", works because of the way the rod cells, which are sensitive to dim light, are placed on the retina in our eyes.
0517 </p>
0518 </html>
0519 </tip>