Customize Messier objects zoom

You can customize how Stellarium will zoom a single Messier object. The configuration file is named “SCconfig.ini” and it’s located in %APPDATA%\Stellarium\ folder.

First of all, open Stellarium (not the console) and search for a particular Messier object (press F3), let’s say “M31”. Manually zoom the object until the desired zoom value. Take note of the FOV value (for example, suppose you read: 2.43°).

Open the SCconfig.ini file with your preferred text editor (we suggest “Notepad++”) and search for the [messier] section. Find the m31 row. It is similar to this:

[messier]

m31 = 4

…

Change the value with the new value found previously:

m31 = 2.43

Save the file. That’s all! Now, every time you search for the M31 object using the “Messier” button in the “Search” window, and click on “Center on object/Go to” button, M31 will be zoom exactly to a FOV = 2.43.