KStars 2.9.8 is released for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It is a hotfix release that contains bug fixes and stability improvements over the last release.
This marks the last release of the 2.x series, the next KStars release shall be v3.0.0
Highlights:
+ Eric Dejouhanet fixed several issues in the Ekos scheduler to enable running duplicate jobs.
+ Pino Toscano fixed many problematic i18n strings that accumulated over the years.
+ Csaba Kertesz improved KStars Lite android build process and fixed touch support.
+ Andy Galasso fixed several issues with Ekos PHD2 support.
+ WolfgangReissenberger fixed logging out in capture module.
+ YuriChornoivan fixed minor EBN issues.
+ Using Max RMS value as the threshold to abort the guider instead of maximum pulse length.
This is mostly a bugfix release where we concentrated on fixing bugs as reported by our users. But that didn't stop us from creating new tools that were long requested by the community, including the Mount Control tool that facilitates motion and GOTO commands with a simple interface.
On the other hand, KStars GSoC 2017 project started with lots under the hood work taking place. Csaba went full throttle with migrating the C++ code to modern C++14 standards while updating the build process to be stricter, more secure, and efficient. The whole code base was formatted and countless warnings resolved. Furthermore, several enhancements were made to decrease memory usage and increase performance of tools such as Observation Planner.
For KStars Lite on Android, it now supports Automatic Mode where you can identify stars, planets, and constellations simply by pointing the phone toward the sky and looking at the live Sky Map within the App. Significant performance gains were made in FITS files that support WCS data. Since processing WCS is very CPU intensive, loading WCS data is now performed on demand. This is especially important for embedded devices where resources are limited.
Robert Lancaster implemented automatic download of Astrometry.net index files directly from the GUI. No longer the user have to go and hunt for index files, calculate FOVs for different equipment...etc. With the updated system, all the required index files are highlighted automatically by Ekos, and all you have to do is to click and download them!
Special thanks to all those who made this release possible. Outstanding work from KDE's Craft team, led by Hannah Von Reth, for making this great tool that enables KStars to reach users across all major platforms.
A couple of days after the release of KStars 2.7, the KStars team is happy to announce the availability of KStars Lite for Android, now available on the Google Play Store.
KStars Lite is our successful Google Summer of Code project for 2016. It was developed by our star student and active developer Artem Fedoskin who managed within a few months to create a QML/QtQuick lite version of desktop KStars with many features including:
Full Skymap
A beautiful sky map that takes you into deep space to see stars, planets, galaxies, and much more:
All Solar System Objects
Constellation Art
Constellation Boundary Lines, Lines, Names
Equatorial Coordinate System
Horizontal Coordinate System
Deep Sky Objects
Stars and Deep Stars
Ecliptic, Equator and Horizon
Milky Way
Satellites
Supernovae
Labels
GPS-Based Location
While you can select your location from the thousands of cities shipped with KStars Lite, you can also simply ask it to automatically fill that information and it would fetch your location within a few seconds!
This feature is very handy when you're on the field and want to see an accurate representation of the night sky form your current location.
KStars Lite fetches not only longitude and latitude information, but also geographic information about your current location (city, state, country) via Google services.
Color Schemes
Similar to the desktop KStars version, KStars Lite support setting of several color schemes.
Most notable is the Night Vision scheme that enable your eyes to adjust to the darkness while still being able to utilize the sky map fully without any blazing glares that could ruin your night vision.
Projection Systems
Select from various projection systems. A projection system is used to map 3D space into your 2D screen, and there are many ways to do it including:
KStars Lite provides you with a convenient search functionality to search within KStars catalogs that includes thousands of stars, galaxies, nebulae, and solar system objects. When an object is found, you can go to the object on the sky map or view detailed information about it.
But what if the object is not found within KStars database? Do not worry! KStars include functionality to search numerous online catalogs for millions of objects. Once found, the KStars database downloads the new object data, and includes the new object just like a regular KStars object where you can view its information, center it...etc
Detailed Object Info
Explore detailed object information provided by KStars Lite. This includes images, position and time information, and links to pursue further information on the object.
Want to know when the project will pass overhead? Check the position tab. Want to see more images of the object? Check the links tab. Have some notes to write about the object? Save them in the logs tab.
The general tab includes the most prominent information about an object such as its magnitude, its distance from earth, and its angular size in the sky.
Full INDI Client Support
Control your Telescope, CCD, DSLR, and even your complete observatory within KStars Lite. With its first class INDI client support, you can connect to an INDI server running your equipment, and start controlling them immediately.
You can track your telescope motion on the sky map, and even select any object and ask the telescope to track it. Have a camera attached to your telescope? Simply capture an image and get a live preview on KStars Lite!
No need to fiddle with cables and wires anymore, use KStars Lite to wirelessly control your astronomy equipment at any time and from any where.
What's next?
Please bear in mind this is our first KStars Lite release for Android, and while we worked hard to fix some of the quirks in the development version, there is still room for improvements including improving its stability and performance:
Reduce startup time: Currently it takes about ~35 seconds for KStars Lite to startup (on my Samsung S5) which is a very long time compared to what users typically expect on Android. We will be working hard to reduce this startup time to an acceptable range.
Adjust sky map to follow gyroscopic sensors: We eventually expect users to point their phone/table to any location on the sky, the KStars Lite would then adjust the sky map to show this particular region of the sky. There were several issues with using Qt Sensors that prevented this feature from making it into the initial release, but we are working on it.
Ekos support: We might include some of the modules of Ekos in the Lite release.
