Alternatives to KStars
A free, open-source desktop planetarium from KDE for simulating the sky and planning observations. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
KStars
A free, open-source desktop planetarium from KDE for simulating the sky and planning observations.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as KStars.
Stellarium
A planetarium on your screen showing exactly what is in the sky above you, tonight or on any date you choose.
Stellarium is an open-source GPL-2.0 planetarium that also runs on Android and iOS, simulates telescope views and controls mounts, but lacks KStars' built-in astrophotography workflow.
Celestia
An open-source real-time 3D space simulator for exploring the solar system, stars and galaxies.
Celestia is an open-source GPL-2.0 3D space simulator for flying between planets and galaxies, not a sky view planner with observation tools from your location.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
SpaceEngine
A 3D universe simulator for travelling between stars and galaxies and landing on planets.
Universe Sandbox
A physics-based space simulator for experimenting with gravity, collisions, climate and stellar evolution.
NASA Worldview
A browser tool from NASA for exploring full-resolution daily satellite imagery of the whole globe.
Google Earth
A free 3D globe with high-resolution imagery, historical imagery layers and guided Voyager stories.
Marble
A KDE virtual globe and world atlas that zooms from a desktop globe to OpenStreetMap street level.
