How accurate is KStars?
KStars is pretty accurate, but it is not (yet) as accurate as it can possibly be. The problem with high-precision calculations is that you start having to deal with a large number of complicating factors. If you aren’t a professional astronomer, you’ll probably never have a problem with its accuracy. There are two occasions where it may be noticeable: eclipses, and rise/set times. As discussed below, the position of the Moon is extremely hard to predict with high precision, so you probably cannot use KStars to predict eclipses at this time. Here is a list of some of the factors we have not yet corrected for: • The positions are not corrected for atmospheric refraction. Light bends slightly as it passes through our atmosphere, which alters the apparent positions of objects in the sky. The effect is larger for objects near the horizon. For example, you may find that the rise/set time predicted by KStars is off by a few minutes without this correction. We plan to correct for refraction in
