Tuesday, December 24, 2019

updated Stellarium shortcuts for Mac

Performed testing with Stellarium 0.18.3 on an iMac (21.5-inch) running OS X 10.11.6 using a Apple Wireless Keyboard (A1314 third generation). I sorted some issues; and I encountered some new challenges.

This is an update of my keyboard and mouse shortcuts listing. This reference is for Windows and Macintosh computers.

New with this update is the "notes" column to the far right with numbers keyed to the footnotes. For example, 1 is used to indicate newly added or recently changed items.

controlling the surroundings

*
show Location window
F6
Fn F64
toggle cardinal compass points qq
toggle ground and buildings
g
g
toggle ground fog
f
f
toggle atmosphere or air
a
a
toggle sky glow/building lights
Shift g
Shift g
ground (mountain) labels
Ctrl Shift g
⌘ Shift g
return to "home" (start-up) view
Ctrl h
(none)2





controlling the sky - deep sky

toggle stars
s
s
toggle star labels
Alt s
Option s
toggle constellation lines
c
c
toggle constellation boundaries
b
b
toggle constellation labels
v
v
toggle constellation artwork
r
r
toggle asterism lines
Alt a
Option a
toggle asterism labels
Alt v
Option v
toggle ray helpers
Alt r
Option r
toggle DSO/nebula labelsn or d
n or d
nebula background images
i
i
toggle quasars
Ctrl Alt q
⌘ Option q3, 5
toggle zodiacal light
Ctrl Shift z
⌘ Shift z
toggle Milky Way
m
m
toggle digital sky survey
Ctrl Alt d
⌘ Option d6
exoplanet labels, indicators
Ctrl Alt e
⌘ Option e5
show Sky and Viewing Options
F4
Fn F4





single constellation mode

remove previous constellations
w
w7
show all constellations
?
Option w1





the sky - solar system

toggle planets and Moon
p
p
toggle planet and Moon labels
Alt p
Option p
toggle planet markers
Ctrl p
⌘ p
toggle planet orbits
o
o
toggle star-lore planet names
Ctrl Shift n
⌘ Shift n
toggle planet trails
Shift t
Shift t
toggle planet surface labels
Alt n
Option n9
toggle meteor radiants
Ctrl Shift m
⌘ Shift m
toggle meteor radiant labels
Shift m
Shift m





controlling lines

toggle altitude/azimuth grid
z
z
toggle equatorial grid
e
e
toggle ecliptic line
, (comma)
,
toggle celestial equator
. (period)
.
toggle meridian line
;
;
toggle horizon line
h
h





changing image presentation

flip horizontally
Ctrl Shift h
⌘ Shift h
flip vertically
Ctrl Shift v
⌘ Shift v
equatorial or azimuthal mode
Ctrl m
⌘ m
look to east (or n, w, s)
Shift e
Shift e
look up to zenith
Shift z
Shift z
look to NCP
Alt Shift n
Option Shift n
look to SCP
Alt Shift s
Option Shift s





zooming

zoom in
PgUp or
Ctrl Up Arrow

Fn Up Arrow
zoom out
PgDn or
Ctrl Dn Arrow

Fn Down Arrow
zoom in or out slowly
Shift with keys
Shift with keys1
quickly zoom in/out
mouse wheel
mouse wheel
zoom close to selected object
/ (slash)
/
zoom out fully
\ (backslash)
\
zoom very close to planet
/ twice
/ twice
set field of view (FOV) to 180°
Ctrl Alt 1
(none)1
set FOV to 90°
Ctrl Alt 2
(none)
... through ...
...
...
set FOV to 2°
Ctrl Alt 8
(none)
set to 1°
Ctrl Alt 9
(none)
to ½°
Ctrl Alt 0
(none)





panning

quickly pan celestial sphere
left-drag
drag
pan right
Right Arrow
Right Arrow
pan left
Left Arrow
Left Arrow
pan up
Up Arrow
Up Arrow
pan down
Down Arrow
Down Arrow
pan a small amount
Shift Arrow-key 
Shift Arrow-key





controlling time flow

set date/time to now
8
8
set time rate to zero
7
7
increase time flow
l (lower case L)
l
decrease time flow
j
j
run time at normal rate
k
k
increase time flow a little
Shift l (that's L)
Shift l
decrease time flow a little
Shift j
Shift j
drag for time
Ctrl drag
Control drag10
flip time direction
?
0 (zero)1





time with mouse wheel

increase/decrease by minutes
Ctrl
1
increase/decrease by hours
Ctrl Shift
⌘ Shift1
increase/decrease by days
Ctrl Alt
⌘ Option1
increase/decrease by years
Ctrl Alt Shift
(none)





controlling "regular" time

show date/time window
F5
Fn F5
forward 1 hour solar
Ctrl = (equal)
⌘ =
backward 1 hour
Ctrl - (hyphen)
⌘ -
forward 1 day solar
= (equal)
=
backward 1 day
- (hyphen)
-
forward 1 week solar
]
]
backward 1 week
[
[





controlling sidereal time

forward 1 day sidereal
Alt = (equal)
Option =
backward 1 day
Alt - (hyphen)
Option -
forward 1 year sidereal
Ctrl Alt Shift ]
⌘ Option Shift ]
backward 1 year
Ctrl Alt Shift [
⌘ Option Shift [





working with objects

select an object
left-click
click
centre on selected object
spacebar
spacebar
toggle tracking of object
t
t
deselect object
right-click
⌘-click
display search dialogue box
Ctrl f or F3
⌘ f or Fn F3
go, i.e. travel, to a planet
Ctrl g
⌘ g
toggle angular measurement
Ctrl a
⌘ a5
copy object info to clipboard
Ctrl c
⌘ c
add custom marker
Shift click
Shift click
remove custom marker
Shift right-click
Control Shift click
remove all custom markers
Alt Shift right-click
Opt. Ctrl. Sh. click





working with satellites

5
configure artificial satellites
Alt z
Option z
toggle satellite display or "hints"
Ctrl z
⌘ z
toggle satellite labels
Alt Shift z
Alt Shift z





controlling the screen

toggle night (red light) mode
Ctrl n
⌘ n
toggle full-screen mode
F11
F118
toggle toolbars/menus, i.e. GUI
Ctrl t
⌘ t
save screenshot to disk
Ctrl s
⌘ s
toggle planet selection marker
Ctrl Shift p
⌘ Shift p1
close a window/dialogue box
Esc
Esc





controlling the application

show configuration window
F2
Fn F2
show help/about window
F1
Fn F1
show script console window
F12
(none)
keyboard shortcuts window
F7
Fn F7
show Astro. Calc. window
F10
Fn F10
show Bookmarks window
Alt b
Option b
show Exoplanets config window
Alt e
Option e5
show meteor settings window
Ctrl Alt Shift m
⌘ Option Shift m5
show meteor search window
Ctrl Alt m
⌘ Option m5
quit from Stellarium
Ctrl q
⌘ q

Notes:
  1. Recently added or changed shortcuts.
  2. On the Mac, the shortcut ⌘ h hides the app. This is an operating system shortcut.
  3. On the Mac, the shortcut ⌘ Shift q causes Stellarium to quit. 
  4. The operation of function keys on both Windows and Mac computers may require the use of a function or Fn key.
  5. Keyboard shortcuts associated with a plug-in. They may not function if the plug-in is not active.
  6. The digital sky survey layering feature refers to the display as a "hierarchical progressive" sky survey.
  7. The "remove" constellation shortcut applies when "single constellation mode" is active, as triggered in Configuration, Tools.
  8. The F11 does not work on iMac 21.5 and 2011 wireless keyboard.
  9. Referred to as surface "nomenclature" labels. This marks detailed surface features on planets, for example, Olympus Mons on Mars.
  10. On the Mac, only works when mouse is dragged horizontally. Only changes seconds.
Some shortcuts were omitted. Notably those for the oculars plug-in. And those to do with scripting.

Finally, of course, Mac documentation and keyboard labelling is inconsistent. We note the symbols below:

⌘ (cloverleaf) is the Command key,
      with the apple symbol on very old systems
⌃ (carat) is the Control key
⌥ is the Option (alt) or alternate key
⇧ (up arrow) is the Shift key
⇪ (up arrow with segments) indicates that the Caps Lock is used
fn or Fn is the Function key

Please report errors in the comments below...

1 comment:

Richard said...

Thank you so much. I wish Stellarium had provided a way to print out the shortcuts. this will save me a lot of time, and reveal possibities I hadn't thought of