KStars is a scientifically accurate desktop planetarium, visualising a graphical simulation of the night sky from any location on Earth, at any date and time. The display includes 130,000 stars, 13,000 deep-sky objects, all 8 planets, the Sun and Moon, and thousands of comets and asteroids. KStars addresses students and amateur astronomers of all levels.

The database of known objects can be extended and updated from local or remote databases, which is prepared for in a user-extendable interface. KStars suggests observations of particular interest like conjunctions with respect to the location of the user. And for user-selected targets it proposes the ones that are best-observable.

The software may be used for planning experiments around the globe, e.g. for remote controlled commercial services. But KStars also features an INDI interface to control local telescopes and cameras. Users with programming experience can script it via the KDE desktop bus.