Surface Darkness Time of planets moons etc

[ManuxKerb]

Hi

I'm in the process of building my first minmus karbonite extraction vehicle and i want to mine during the "night" eg the time when the moon has its landing site away from the sun and needs to rely on battery. How can i find out how long this time will and attach enough batteries ?

The wiki only lists the orbit darkness time (in Kerbin Time) and not the one who is relevant from the surface.

It would be good if we could make a list, also from other bodies (I plan a refuling station on duna and minmus):

[TABLE=width: 300, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]Mun surface darkness time:

[/TD]

[TD]3d 2h

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Minmus surface darkness time:[/TD]

[TD]6 h

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Duna surface darkness time:

[/TD]

[TD]1 d 4 h

[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

Thanks at all of you at explaing it in such a detail!

Here are the darkness times for reference

Edited April 11, 2015 by ManuxKerb

[impyre]

...The surface darkness time will vary depending on altitude and the planet's sidereal rotational period. For most bodies altitude can usually be ignored, if behind a cliff or mountain, you might expect a few additional minutes of darkness, but it shouldn't be significant... for the Mun though (whose sidereal rotation period is a tad over 6 days) being near a mountain or other obstruction could increase darkness time significantly. For minmus this is 40,400 seconds (or just a little under 11 hours 15 minutes). This is applicable if you're at a relatively high altitude (or otherwise unobstructed view of the horizon). This means you could expect to spend 20,200 seconds in darkness (or about 5.6 hours... better call it 6 to be safe).

- - - Updated - - -

Latitude doesn't affect rotational period (total daytime + nighttime), as though you have less distance to travel your velocity will be proportionally less also. And just FYI, if you can get right on the pole, you could see the sun all the time (excepting eclipses of course).

Edit: for clarity.

Edited April 11, 2015 by impyre

[Deutherius]

Latitude doesn't affect this, as though you have less distance to travel your velocity will be proportionally less also. And just FYI, if you can get right on the pole, you could see the sun all the time (excepting eclipses of course).

While you are right about the less distance but less velocity part, the real reason why latitude doesn't matter to daytime length in KSP all that much is that the celestial bodies have no axial tilt and usually very little orbital inclination (to Kerbol). This causes the arctic and antarctic circles (or however you want to call the kerbalized variants) to be on very high latitudes.

I agree with the rest of your post and would estimate the daytime length in the same way.

[Venusgate]

Here's a tip!

Focus on a planet in the map view.

Clik on the parameters icon (center right icon that looks like a planet with a ring)

Look for "Rotation Period"

Divide by 2!

[impyre]

While you are right about the less distance but less velocity part, the real reason why latitude doesn't matter to daytime length in KSP all that much is that the celestial bodies have no axial tilt and usually very little orbital inclination (to Kerbol). This causes the arctic and antarctic circles (or however you want to call the kerbalized variants) to be on very high latitudes.

I agree with the rest of your post and would estimate the daytime length in the same way.

I'm aware of the effect of axial tilt on day length, but thanks for pointing it out anyhow. I chose to address what may be a common misconception (that day/night times are affected by latitude due to rotational velocity being lower), that's all.

EDIT: Perhaps I should've been more clear to reduce confusion.

Edited April 11, 2015 by impyre