KStars displays thousands of objects: stars, planets, clusters, nebulae and galaxies. You can identify any object by clicking on it (its name appears in the statusbar at the bottom of the window. You can get more information about an object by right-clicking on it. A popup menu will appear, showing its name(s), object type, and links to images and information from the internet.
If you know of an additional URL with information or an image of the object, you can add a custom link to the object's popup menu using the Add Link... item. This opens a window in which you can enter the URL and the text that should appear in the popup menu. You can make sure the URL is correct with the Check URL button, which will test the URL in your web browser. Please specify whether the URL points to an Image, or to an HTML document! If you specify Image here, the new menu item will open the Image Viewer, not the web browser. You can also point to files on your local disk, so this feature could be used to attach observing logs or other custom information to objects in KStars. Your custom links are automatically loaded whenever KStars starts up, and they are stored in the directory ~/.kde/share/apps/kstars/, in files myimage_url.dat and myinfo_url.dat.
You can search for named objects by clicking on the search icon in the toolbar, or by selecting Find Object... from the Location menu. The Find Object window lists all the named objects in the KStars database. Many objects are listed only by their catalog name (for example, NGC 3077), but some are also listed by their common name (for example, Whirlpool Galaxy). You can filter the list by name, or by object type. Highlight the desired object, and press Ok. The display will center on the object and begin tracking it. Note that if the object is below the horizon, you may not see anything except the ground. You can make the ground invisible in the Display Options window.
Object Tracking is automatically engaged whenever an object is centered in the display, either by using the Find Object window, by double-clicking on an object, or by selecting Center and Track from the right-click popup menu. You can disengage tracking by panning the display, pressing the Lock icon in the toolbar, or selecting Track Object from the Location menu.