Kerbol & Trappist-1

[The_Rocketeer]

Did it strike anybody else that the announcement from NASA today shows some exoplanets that bear quite a resemblence to some of KSP's worlds?



I look at this and see a hot Tylo, Vall, Eve, Kerbin, Laythe, Jool and Eeloo - not to scale of course.

But speaking of scale, I collect Trappist-1's 7th exoplanet orbits at about 1/25th of Mars' orbital altitude, above a small, cool star. How does that stack up in a direct comparison with KSP's planetary orbits and scales?

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

Naming scheme... ENGAGE!

[regex]

10 minutes ago, The_Rocketeer said:

Did it strike anybody else that the announcement from NASA today shows some exoplanets that bear quite a resemblence to some of KSP's worlds?

No.

Quote

But speaking of scale, I collect Trappist-1's 7th exoplanet orbits at about 1/25th of Mars' orbital altitude, above a small, cool star. How does that stack up in a direct comparison with KSP's planetary orbits and scales?

Based solely on radius Kerbol should be on the low end of M-class stars, much larger and brighter than this one. Jool is slightly outside of Mercury's orbit, with Eeloo slightly inside Venus' orbit. IIRC most of these planets would fall within the orbit of Jool.

E: Just checked out the website for the system, the h planet orbits at 0.063 AU, inside the orbit of Kerbin.

Edited February 22, 2017 by regex

[The_Rocketeer]

@regex you'll allow that there's at least a passing resemblence in one or two cases? Granted these are only artists' impressions - perhaps the guy was a fan of KSP

The info about orbits is fascinating, but I can't really visualise it

[regex]

8 minutes ago, The_Rocketeer said:

@regex you'll allow that there's at least a passing resemblence in one or two cases?

Nah, I'm too into actual stellar and system evolution (on a "barely a hobby" level) to make a connection between fake planets in a toy solar system and those in this system (E: Especially because I think "artist's impressions" are kind of damaging to the whole exercise, just like headlines touting "Earth-like" worlds rather than "Earth-size", CNN got it wrong, the Times got it right). I did, though, immediately think of replicating this system using Kopernicus...

Quote

The info about orbits is fascinating, but I can't really visualise it

Check the website for the system, scroll to the bottom.

Edited February 22, 2017 by regex

[The_Rocketeer]

I guess my apophenia must be flaring up.  Thanks for the pointer tho @regex

[regex]

2 minutes ago, The_Rocketeer said:

I guess my apophenia must be flaring up.  Thanks for the pointer tho @regex

There's nothing wrong with making the connection, I was just answering that question.

Also, for another reference tip, if you want to think of this system in direct KSP terms (orbital distances) TRAPPIST-1e (the fourth planet) orbits at around Moho's periapsis. That might help with the visualization of the system. Remember too that TRAPPIST-1a (the star) is 0.117sr while Kerbol is 0.376sr, making TRAPPIST-1a smaller than 1/3 of Kerbol.

[greenTurtle1134]

5 hours ago, regex said:

I did, though, immediately think of replicating this system using Kopernicus...

DO IT!

Someone had better do this!

[Richy teh space man]

When I saw planet g I did think it had a passing resemblance to Jool.

Seeing the announcement earlier today made me want to explore them, and that brought me back to playing KSP today after a hiatus.

[hikoriyami]

Nah, I'm too into actual stellar and system evolution (on a "barely a hobby" level) to make a connection between fake planets in a toy solar system and those in this system (E: Especially because I think "artist's impressions" are kind of damaging to the whole exercise, just like headlines touting "Earth-like" worlds rather than "Earth-size", CNN got it wrong, the Times got it right). I did, though, immediately think of replicating this system using Kopernicus...

Check the website for the system, scroll to the bottom.

Alright, I will make these planets in Kopernicus if there is a desire to have them. Would we like them real scale or Kerbal scale? 

Edited February 23, 2017 by hikoriyami

[greenTurtle1134]

Well, I certainly don't constitute a consensus, but I'd like them kerbal scale (distances divided by 10). Since Trappist is already about 10x smaller than Sol, this will likely result in an insanely small system, and real scale would also kinda work.

You'll have to infer some things about their color, landmass, and atmosphere. This is KSP so do some weird stuff. There is indication that radiation is changing the atmospheres, so you could probably get away with nitrous oxide or something like that. Please, though, at least one clearly habitable and at least one clearly uninhabitable.

Ooh, make a Github so we can all tack on bits and bobs!

[hikoriyami]

2 minutes ago, greenTurtle1134 said:

Well, I certainly don't constitute a consensus, but I'd like them kerbal scale (distances divided by 10). Since Trappist is already about 10x smaller than Sol, this will likely result in an insanely small system, and real scale would also kinda work.

You'll have to infer some things about their color, landmass, and atmosphere. This is KSP so do some weird stuff. There is indication that radiation is changing the atmospheres, so you could probably get away with nitrous oxide or something like that. Please, though, at least one clearly habitable and at least one clearly uninhabitable.

Ooh, make a Github so we can all tack on bits and bobs!

I have not used Github before...I have tried, got lost, and moved to spacedock If someone knows how to get started on it that would be great. I have experience in Kopernicus, Module Manager and texture packaging, but Github defeats me. 

P.S. This topic should probably go into add-on development if this continues down this road.

[regex]

If you're going to make these remember that pretty much all of them, with the possible exception of 1h, are most likely tidally locked to 1a.

[hikoriyami]

2 minutes ago, regex said:

If you're going to make these remember that pretty much all of them, with the possible exception of 1h, are most likely tidally locked to 1a.

Or in 3-2 or 2-3 Rotation orbits like Mercury

[Firemetal]

G is definitely Jool with environmental visual enhancements installed.

Fire 

[regex]

10 minutes ago, hikoriyami said:

Or in 3-2 or 2-3 Rotation orbits like Mercury

You could probably justify that for two or three of the outer bodies but I feel like the inner planets would definitely be face-locked, even considering we're talking about a relatively "light" star compared to the planetary mass. Planet e might have that rotational period, and that's the most likely to be "habitable".

[Spacetraindriver]

Moho, Duna, Laythe..?, Kerbin, Kerbin, Jool, Eeloo.

[The_Rocketeer]

@Spacetraindriver actually the more I look at 'h' the less I see Eeloo and the more I see Dres.

[Yakuzi]

Did it strike anybody else that the planets of our solar system bear quite a resemblence to some of KSP's worlds? ...

Edited February 23, 2017 by Yakuzi

[wumpus]

16 hours ago, regex said:

Especially because I think "artist's impressions" are kind of damaging to the whole exercise, just like headlines touting "Earth-like" worlds rather than "Earth-size", CNN got it wrong, the Times got it right). I did, though, immediately think of replicating this system using Kopernicus...

A better chance is that the "artist impression" came more from KSP than from the data.  Last I heard, these exoplanets are merely seen as blips of reduced light from the star in question: hardly any chance to determine color or composition (although it might be possible to guess size and mass, and thus determine gas giant or M-class).

[The_Rocketeer]

1 hour ago, Yakuzi said:

Did it strike anybody else that the planets of our solar system bear quite a resemblence to some of KSP's worlds? ...

Yes. The Kerbal system is obviously a sour-flavour pocket-edition of Sol, at least as far as Jupiter/Jool. Have a cookie if you spotted this on your own.

[Tyko]

I thought of Kerbol right away when I read about this. First, just the overall small size - more like Kerbol than Sol in dimensions. Then the fact that the artist chose to depict the planets as having a similar make-up to many of the planets in KSP. Granted, this isn't likely what they look like, but it was amusing that the artist's portrayal bore a resemblance to Kerbol. 

Sadly it's about 800,000 years away at Voyager 1 speeds. NASA needs to invent time acceleration.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Tyko

[The_Rocketeer]

So not just me then:



(Source)

[InterCity]

If any of you work at NASA, make sure to internally refer to G as "Jool". Because that's what it is!

 

[Nailed it!]

Hey, there should be a mod about the TRAPPIST system, with it's 7 planets.

Just an idea