What about giving a more realistic color to the sun ?

[Kido_SoraKi]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering why, in KSP, the sun is yellow when you are in space, because in real life, it is white !

The only reason that most people think it is yellow is because of the diffusion of the light through the atmosphere (mostly blue is diffused, by the way, that's why we see a blue sky, so we see mostly red and green sun, red + green = yellow).

But in outer space there is no such diffusion of the light and the sun should be white.

So I beg you, please do an update in your shader. It would be wonderful !

By the way there is another issue with the sun light shader when in space.

The light is occulted by objects but the way the light disappear is very strange: First it is like the light is not obstructed (like the sun light goes through Kerbin for example) and then the sun is going smaller and smaller but always visible and finally it disappear.

Here is a picture of this visual glitch:

This glitch is easily reproducible by going to the space map and move the camera so Kerbin is in front of the sun.

Have a nice day,

Bye.

Edited July 2, 2015 by Kido_SoraKi
adding content

[clivman]

The yellow color always bothered me.

[Mr_Brain]

Consider that the kerbals' Sun is not our Sun. Its size is that of a red dwarf, so it should actually be red by that metric.^Source

[Vanamonde]

I like yellow. It's purty.

[r4pt0r]

Consider that the kerbals' Sun is not our Sun. Its size is that of a red dwarf, so it should actually be red by that metric.^Source

And taking that into account, I prefer the yellow look. It is a down-scaled version of our system and the sun being the wrong(but still very believable IMO) color is A-OK to me.

[sal_vager]

Seeing as Kerbol is smaller than Sol, it could be considered a K class star and be visibly more yellow than our own.

[StormKat]

Our sun is a G class star. Just in case you wanted to know.

[Wjolcz]

Seeing as Kerbol is smaller than Sol, it could be considered a K class star and be visibly more yellow than our own.

http://astronomer.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/starcolors.jpg

A K class, you say?

I would like an overall light system improvement. The ambient light in space kind of bothers me. If we got rid of that, then lights would become actually useful and some performance could be saved.

I actually liked what NovaSilisko did in his Alternis Kerbol. It was a bit more red and looked nice, IMO:

[Brotoro]

The wiki says Kerbol has a surface temperature of 5840 K...so, yes, I would expect it to look white like our Sun.

Unless the wiki is incorrect.

[tater]

Kerbol is vastly less bright than our sun as well. Kerbin is right on top of the sun (well inside Mercury), and yet at low sun-angles on the Mun, you need lights (instead of sunglasses).

[Joonatan1998]

One thing to note about Kerbol is that it isn't in the same scale as the rest of the system.

(it is way too large)

I think this is because they wanted Mun close to kerbin but also wanted cool eclipses.

I don't really know how that fits with the "higher gravitational constant" theory some people have.

But I think it is possible it actually should be more blue than our sun.

[ygarl]

We do however have a yellow sun - not a white one.

Sirius and Vega are excellent examples of white stars - and our Sun is not even close to as hot as them.

[Kido_SoraKi]

We do however have a yellow sun - not a white one.

Sirius and Vega are excellent examples of white stars - and our Sun is not even close to as hot as them.

This is where you are wrong, our sun emit white light (the reason you see it yellow is because the atmosphere of the earth absorb mostly blue light) but in space the light emitted is white.

See by yourself:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2059.html

[thereaverofdarkness]

I thought Kerbol was an F-class star. It certainly looks like an F-class when viewed from up close.

[Bill Phil]

One thing to note about Kerbol is that it isn't in the same scale as the rest of the system.

(it is way too large)

I think this is because they wanted Mun close to kerbin but also wanted cool eclipses.

I don't really know how that fits with the "higher gravitational constant" theory some people have.

But I think it is possible it actually should be more blue than our sun.

The gravitational constant is the same as ours. I did the math and I'm sure others have as well.

[Joonatan1998]

The gravitational constant is the same as ours. I did the math and I'm sure others have as well.

Either planets are insanely dense or gravitation is stronger.

The ingame numbers go with extreme density.

But I (and some other players) think stronger gravity could also explain everything.

My point is:

The game is in scale compared to real solar system.

Gas giants are the size of earth, earth-like planets are the size of ceres.

If we continue with the same scale, Kerbol isn't a dwarf star.

also:

Kerbol is less dense and larger compared to the real sun than the planets are compared to the real planets.

Real sun density = 1408 kg/m^3

Kerbol density = 234 kg/m^3

Earth density = 5515 kg/m^3

Kerbin density = 58484 kg/m^3

Eve density = 85220 kg/m^3

Jupiter density = 1326 kg/m^3

Jool density = 4678 kg/m^3

So if we are looking for "realistic" color, we should think about stars that are less dense and larger than the sun.

Edited July 12, 2015 by Joonatan1998

[Bill Phil]

Either planets are insanely dense or gravitation is stronger.

The ingame numbers go with extreme density.

But I (and some other players) think stronger gravity could also explain everything.

My point is:

The game is in scale compared to real solar system.

Gas giants are the size of earth, earth-like planets are the size of ceres.

If we continue with the same scale, Kerbol isn't a dwarf star.

also:

Kerbol is less dense and larger compared to the real sun than the planets are compared to the real planets.

Real sun density = 1408 kg/m^3

Kerbol density = 234 kg/m^3

Earth density = 5515 kg/m^3

Kerbin density = 58484 kg/m^3

Eve density = 85220 kg/m^3

Jupiter density = 1326 kg/m^3

Jool density = 4678 kg/m^3

So if we are looking for "realistic" color, we should think about stars that are less dense and larger than the sun.

Stronger gravity doesn't work out, though. It's just as strong as ours...

[Joonatan1998]

Stronger gravity doesn't work out, though. It's just as strong as ours...

I don't see why it wouldn't.

The only problem are the ingame numbers given.

If gravity was 8 times stronger, the planets could be 8 times lighter.

(of course this could lead to problems on how you define mass...)