# Command Reference

## Menu Commands

### File Menu

&Ctrl;N File New Window

- Open another &kstars; window (warning: unstable!)

&Ctrl;W File Close Window

- Close &kstars; window (warning: unstable!)

&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...

- Choose time and date

Time Start/Stop Clock

- Toggle whether time passes

### Focus Menu

Z Focus Zenith

- Center at the Zenith point (straight up)

N Focus North

- Center above the North point on the horizon

E Focus East

- Center above the East point on the horizon

S Focus South

- Center above the South point on the horizon

W Focus West

- Center above the West point on the horizon

&Ctrl;F Focus Find Object

- Locate an object by name

&Ctrl;T Focus Track Object

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

&Ctrl;M Focus Set Focus Manually...

- Opens a dialog in which you can enter specific RA/Dec coordinates to center on.

### View Menu

+ View Zoom in

- Zooms view in

- View Zoom out

- Zooms view out

View Horizontal/Equatorial Coordinates

- Toggle between the Horizontal and Equatorial Coordinate Systems

### Settings Menu

Settings Info Boxes Show Info Boxes

- Toggle display of all three Info Boxes on/off

Settings Info Boxes Show Time

- Toggle display of the Time Info Box on/off

Settings Info Boxes Show Focus

- Toggle display of the Focus Info Box on/off

Settings Info Boxes Show Location

- Toggle display of the Location Info Box on/off

Settings Toolbars Show Main Toolbar

- Toggle display of the Main Toolbar on/off

Settings Toolbars Show View Toolbar

- Toggle display of the View Toolbar on/off

Settings Color Schemes

- This submenu contains all of the defined color schemes, including your custom schemes. Selecting an item sets the scheme automatically.

&Ctrl;G Settings Set Geographic Location...

- Select a new geographic location

Settings Configure &kstars;...

- Modify view options

### Tools Menu

Tools Calculator...

- Opens the AstroCalculator window, giving you full access to many of the mathematical functions used by &kstars;.

### Help Menu

&help.menu.documentation;

### Popup Menu

The right click popup menu is context-sensitive, meaning it is different depending on what kind of object you click on. We list all possible popup menu items here, with the 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/Set/Transit times 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 except Solar System]

- Show 1st/2nd Gen DSS Image: The Digitized Sky Survey is an incredible resource: a photographic atlas of the entire sky. Through the miracle of the internet, you can download a photograph of any patch of sky. &kstars; provides one-click access to this database. There are two generations of the Survey; the second generation is not yet complete, so you may get an error when requesting a 2nd Gen DSS image. Note that the image files are large, and may not be very aesthetic. If other images are available for your object, you should try them first.

[Messier, Solar System]

- Show SEDS Information Page: The Students For the Exploration and Development of Space have a wonderful website, which includes very extensive information on the Solar System and on Messier objects. &kstars; provides links to these pages in the popup menu.

[Messier]

- Show SEDS Image: The main image of this Messier object from the SEDS.org information page.

[Some Deep-Sky objects]

- Show HST Image: Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope periodically publish beautiful images from the HST as press releases. Some of these are pretty famous, and have become cultural icons. You can access them all through &kstars;.

[Some Deep-Sky objects]

- Show KPNO AOP Image: The Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona has a public outreach program called the Advanced Observing Program, which allows anyone to rent a 16-inch telescope located on Kitt Peak for a night. This program has been producing some of the finest amateur astronomy images ever taken, and we include over 100 of them in our database of links.

[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.

## Keyboard Commands

Arrow Keys

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

+ / -

- Zoom In/Out

0–9

- Center Display on a Solar System object.

  - 0: Sun

  - 1: Mercury

  - 2: Venus

  - 3: Moon

  - 4: Mars

  - 5: Jupiter

  - 6: Saturn

  - 7: Uranus

  - 8: Neptune

  - 9: Pluto

Z

- Center on the Zenith Point (straight up).

N

- Center above North horizon.

E

- Center above East horizon.

S

- Center above South horizon.

W

- Center above West horizon.

F1

- Open the &kstars; Handbook.

&Ctrl;F

- Open Find Object Window.

&Ctrl;M

- Specify RA/Dec coordinates to center on.

&Ctrl;G

- Open Set Geographic Location window.

&Ctrl;E

- Set time to the CPU clock.

&Ctrl;S

- Open Set Time window.

&Ctrl;T

- Toggle tracking.

&Ctrl;C

- Access the AstroCalculator.

&Ctrl;N

- Open another &kstars; window (warning: not yet stable).

&Ctrl;W

- Close a &kstars; window (warning: not yet stable).

&Ctrl;P

- Print the current sky map.

&Ctrl;Q

- Quit &kstars;.

## Mouse Commands

The current RA, Dec coordinates of the mouse cursor is always displayed in the status bar. Clicking the Mouse anywhere will identify the nearest object in the status bar. Double-clicking will center and track on the clicked location or object. Click and drag to pan the display. Right click to bring up the popup menu with detailed options for the clicked object. Holding the middle mouse button and moving the mouse vertically will change the zoom level (you can also use the mouse scroll wheel, if you have one).

You can also move the Info Boxes by dragging them with the mouse, and "shade" the Info Boxes by double-clicking on them.