Can you see Jool from other planets?

[fireblade274]

Can you?

[KerikBalm]

I don't think so, not without a mod... maybe at the closest approach with Dres and some zoom.

A while back I spotted Jool from one of my probes at maximum zoom, as barely more than a few pixels... and then had a screenshot of where it was in its trajectory... it was like 95% of the way to jool from Kerbin... later I may try and find those screenshots.

[yorshee]

I have no idea. I'm going to go to Dres and then wait for the two to be closest to each other to find out!

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Distant-Object-Enhancement Mod

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/98943

Edited October 5, 2015 by MalfunctionM1Ke

[Bev7787]

Cacteye mod (No pics yet though)

[SargeRho]

If you zoom in a lot, yes you can. At least I've seen Kerbin and the Mun from well outside of its SoI, and seen Minmus from Kerbin's surface. That was in an earlier version of KSP, not sure if anything has changed about that.

[Vaporo]

On occasion, yes. Jool is visible from Kerbin even without mods. It's just a flickering pixel when it does, though.

[Johnny Wishbone]

If you zoom in a lot, yes you can. At least I've seen Kerbin and the Mun from well outside of its SoI, and seen Minmus from Kerbin's surface. That was in an earlier version of KSP, not sure if anything has changed about that.

Yes, you can still see Minmus from Kerbin's surface in stock game (1.0.4).

[Galactic Hitchiker]

I'm pretty sure you can catch Jool. You can certainly can see Minmus from Kerbin.

I really just wanted an excuse to post this picture of Kerbol, Minmus and the Mun...

[FyunchClick]

Distant-Object-Enhancement Mod

LOLed at strawberry cheesecake.

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

I think the planet are always too difficult to see a distance. They look good up close, but as yet far away they become these dim little crescents This is because they are rendered in game engine, while the background stars are painted there as white and black.

To fix this, I would suggest this (new feature) planet's albedo, the amount of lights they reflect, should increase mathematically with distance, so as you get far away they become bright white like the background stars.

Then you’d see them in the night sky from Kerbin.

Or is that Kerbin sun simply not that bright?

[cantab]

I doubt it's possible generally in stock, though it might be on occasion if the pixels fall just right. It's hard to spot Jool from the edge of its SOI, though that says more about the lolhueg SOI.

[Tourist]

Absolutely you can. For instance if you squint really hard, you can see Jool from Laythe.

[322997am]

I'm pretty sure you can catch Jool. You can certainly can see Minmus from Kerbin.

I really just wanted an excuse to post this picture of Kerbol, Minmus and the Mun...

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/451780257819246723/45BB4A34FBCEC60AAEAA707D57BC88B5B518C37F/

We're is minmus

[Mau]

We're is minmus

Minmus just above the 'center' of the rocket.

It is rather faint due to Kerbol's glare, but still visible.

Edited October 6, 2015 by Mau

[OhioBob]

The numbers suggest that, in real life, the major planets (Eve, Kerbin, Duna and Jool) should be quite bright when observed from one another. Within the game, the brightness and visibility of planets is much less than what they should be. For example, from Kerbin a full Minmus should have an apparent magnitude of about -11, yet it can be difficult to even spot Minmus.

I wrote a long winded thread about how the planets would look from Kerbin if it were a real life solar system. Here it is if anybody is interested:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/130927-Kerbal-Astronomy-101

Of course the thread is just hypothetical and doesn't represent what can actually be observed within the game.

[EliasDanger]

Minmus just above the 'center' of the rocket.

It is rather faint due to Kerbol's glare, but still visible.

I always thought it was too small to see from kerbin. I found it in the screenshot, though.

[samstarman5]

I always thought it was too small to see from kerbin. I found it in the screenshot, though.

Only if it is around its 'new moon' phase, as in near between Kerbin and the sun in its orbit. Otherwise, most of the time it appears about as bright as somewhere between Jupiter and Venus in our own sky when they are at their brightest. Not hard to find at all, really. It is very apparent at the start of any new game. Give it a look.

I have yet to see Jool from Kerbin orbit, but I have seen Eve and Duna when they are nearby. One only has to go first person with a kerbal and use their super-zoom vision. I just get a figure on the planet's locations in relation to Kerbin, align the craft just so, and then go planethunting. It's fun to do and rather amazing to see them that way.

Edited October 8, 2015 by samstarman5

[mikegarrison]

The numbers suggest that, in real life, the major planets (Eve, Kerbin, Duna and Jool) should be quite bright when observed from one another. Within the game, the brightness and visibility of planets is much less than what they should be. For example, from Kerbin a full Minmus should have an apparent magnitude of about -11, yet it can be difficult to even spot Minmus.

I wrote a long winded thread about how the planets would look from Kerbin if it were a real life solar system. Here it is if anybody is interested:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/130927-Kerbal-Astronomy-101

Of course the thread is just hypothetical and doesn't represent what can actually be observed within the game.

Yes, well that's kind of what the Distant Object Enhancement mod does. With that mod, all the planets are very visible from Kerbin space. Even some of their moons. It doesn't change their apparent disk size, though.

Edited October 8, 2015 by mikegarrison

[Starhawk]

The title of this thread made me think of this picture from NASA's Astronomy Pic of the Day:

Wow is Jool ever small.

Happy landings!