KStars: A K Desktop Planetarium / News: Recent posts

We have released KStars 0.9.1. KStars is a graphical desktop planetarium program for Linux/KDE.

This version contains all of the code changes we've made up to the feature freeze for KDE 3.1; see the ChangeLog for details. Note that this is the last version for which KDE 2.x compatibility will be maintained.

KStars 0.9 Release Announcement

The KStars team announces the release of KStars 0.9, the latest
version of the graphical desktop planetarium for KDE. This version
contains many improvements over the version that shipped with KDE 3.0,
which was functionally identical to our last independent release
(0.8.5). Some of the highlights include:

+ Configurable user interface: you can choose to hide the toolbars
and/or the information panel.... read more

We have fixed several bugs reported since the 0.8 release.

The KStars clock was running slow; we reimplemented the time handling code to fix it. There was a minus sign error in the handling of timezones when changing locations. We had used QString::utf8() in showFocusCoords(), which apparently caused crashes for some users. We switched to QString::local8Bit(), which seems to have cleared it up. Finally, Pluto was being toggled by Neptune's checkbox in the View Options Window.... read more

KStars is a graphical desktop planetarium for Linux/KDE. It displays an accurate representation of the night sky, including 40,000 stars, 10,000 deep-sky objects, all 8 planets, the Sun and the Moon. KStars is linked to hundreds of images and informative HTML documents on the internet. It is under steady development, but it is already very usable and highly configurable.

New features in version 0.8 include: filled Milky Way contour, visible coordinate grid, and genetive star names. You can now define your own custom color schemes and geographic locations, and can add a URL link to any object in the sky. See the ChangeLog for more details of what is new in this release.

KStars 0.7 is now available at http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/kstars/kstars-0.7.tar.gz

We added Pluto, so KStars now includes all major planets. Stars are now displayed with realistic colors, and Messier objects are displayed as inline pixmaps. KStars now links to over 300 excellent deep-sky images on the internet. We made many improvements to the interface and to the performance of KStars.

KStars is a graphical desktop planetarium for Linux/KDE2. It displays an accurate projection of the night sky for any date, from any location on Earth. The display includes 40,000 stars, 10,000 deep sky objects, the Sun, the Moon and the planets.... read more

KStars now includes the Moon (with phases), in addition to the Sun and all planets (except Pluto). The skymap is now resizable (it looks great in full-screen mode), and the rate that time passes can now be controlled. We also added a toolbar, a custom image viewer, links to informational web pages, and a French translation. Finally, we made speed improvements to both the load time and the rendering of the sky. ... read more

KStars 0.5 is released. The big update is the addition of the planets. Positions are accurate to an arcsecond over the time period 2000 BC - 6000 AD. The planets are displayed as detailed bitmaps, based on either HST or Voyager images.

Other improvements include a splash screen with load messages, and a reorganized view options dialog.

KStars 0.4 is released. KStars is a graphical Desktop Planetarium for Linux/KDE2.

KStars displays an accurate representation of the night sky for any location on Earth, and for any date/time. Almost 40,000 stars and over 10,000 deep-sky objects are displayed, as well as constellations and a horizon. You can also use KStars to download images of any part of the night sky from online databases.

Many new features have been implemented since 0.3, including NGC/IC catalogs, HST image downloads, visible horizon, and a find-by-name function. The stellar database has been expanded to include 40,000 stars to magnitude 8.0. See the Kstars homepage (http://kstars.sourceforge.net) for more details.

I have just released KStars 0.3 (Castor). You can download it at http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/kstars/kstars-0.3.tar.gz

New features include:

Added constellation lines/labels

You can now download images of any part of the sky from internet databases

You can drag the sky map display with the mouse.

The program state is automatically saved on exit/loaded on startup

Customizable view: you decide what gets plotted, and what colors are used.... read more

KStars 0.2 is released. Some minor bug fixes, and a few new features:

Added global coverage to locations database.
Added world map to location dialog.
Added German translation file (Thanks Martin!)

I have released a source tarball for KStars 0.1. Please have a look and let me know what you think!
I tried the make/install process on my machine and it worked fine, but since this is my first package ever, please be on the lookout for install problems.

Also, I haven't yet tackled making an RPM. I'm using KDevelop, which has a menu item for creating RPMs, but I couldn't get it to work...any pointers are welcome.

I have just posted the CVS repository for KStars. Please note that there is no 'make install' option at this time; kstars must be run from the directory in which it is made. Actually, you can move the executable, but the 'data/' subdirectory (and the files within) must exist in the directory containing the kstars executable.

Hello,

My name is Jason Harris, project manager for KStars, a desktop planetarium program for KDE. I'm an astronomer by trade and a programmer only by hobby, so bear with me! Please feel free to help out with KStars. I have a partial list of things that need doing on the project page.