KStars

Plans and prices

Every plan, in full

On the record

Astrophotography

The Ekos suite provides an astrophotography workflow with polar alignment, focusing, auto-guiding and image capture.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Automation

KStars supports scriptable actions using D-Bus.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Catalogs

Users can add custom object catalogs; the site lists extra star catalogs reaching magnitude 16 and a default NGC/IC catalog of about 10,000 objects.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Downloads

The KStars download page offers Windows, macOS and Linux downloads and a source tarball.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Equipment integration

KStars uses INDI to support astronomical equipment including telescope mounts, focusers, filter wheels, and CCD and CMOS cameras.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

FITS files

KStars includes a FITS Viewer for viewing FITS data files.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Latest listed version

The download page lists version 3.8.5, released on 3 October 2026.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Maker

KStars is made by KDE; KDE e.V. is the registered non-profit representing the KDE Project in legal and financial matters.ev.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Notable limitations

The site describes star-hopper routing as experimental and incomplete, and says observation logging needs more polish to be fully usable.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Observation logs

KStars supports the OAL XML schema for observation logs, which the site says makes logs compatible with many software and log-sharing websites.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Observation planning

Its observation planner orders objects for an observing session and can download DSS images for offline comparison.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Privacy

KDE's software privacy policy says KDE software generally does not transmit information from users' devices except as a result of explicit user action, with some exceptions described in the policy.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Purpose

KStars is desktop planetarium software for students, educators, amateur astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

Sky simulation

It graphically simulates the sky, including planets, up to 100 million stars, 10,000 deep-sky objects, comets and asteroids.kstars.kde.org · read 8 Oct 2026

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