Optimal Transfer Windows.

[TopHeavy11]

Can someone tell me the optimal transfer windows for all of the planets? Or can you send me an image of the windows?

[HebaruSan]

This looks fairly decent (credit to Krizzen on Reddit):

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

4 hours ago, HebaruSan said:

This looks fairly decent (credit to Krizzen on Reddit):

For awhile now, my method of transfer has been, when the window is open, to set my maneuver node and begin spinning the prograde dial until it's a little less than what I know it takes for that particular planet. Then I pull the node around until my ejection from Kerbin is a straight line along my orbital path (forward or backward for the inner or outer planets, obviously). Then I spin the prograde dial again and move the maneuver node a bit if I need to. The goal is to get a good encounter with y ejection as close to a perfectly straight line as possible. It seems to work pretty well, so now I'm wondering; is this a low-tech way of finding the proper angle, or am I going about it the wrong way? 

[HebaruSan]

3 minutes ago, Cpt Kerbalkrunch said:

It seems to work pretty well, so now I'm wondering; is this a low-tech way of finding the proper angle, or am I going about it the wrong way? 

The angles in that graphic are all about determining:

3 minutes ago, Cpt Kerbalkrunch said:

when the window is open

... so if you have some other way of doing that (alexmoon or a mod), you don't need to worry about those angles.

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

12 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

The angles in that graphic are all about determining:

... so if you have some other way of doing that (alexmoon or a mod), you don't need to worry about those angles.

That's funny. That graphic suddenly makes much more sense. I thought it was showing where to place your maneuver node, but it's telling you when to place your maneuver node. 

As for the window itself, when I first started I would eyeball it and just use trial and error. That got old fast.  Now I just stick with KAC. 

[Chakat Firepaw]

Well, there are actually a couple of possible meanings for "optimal":  All depending on how important you consider deltaV, time in flight and arrival time.  Is needing an extra 200m/s worth a trip that takes 45 days less and gets there 60 days earlier?

Time in flight becomes very important if you are using a life support mod, because shaving those weeks off the trip means you need to carry less life support which means you have less mass, which gives you free deltaV for the same drive setup.

You are probably best served with either installing the Transfer Window Planner mod, (and if you do, you will also want Kerbal Alarm Clock), or using something like Launch Window Planner

[Spricigo]

I find interesting that people have different ways to know when the transfer window occur but usually that way include 'thanks @olex' somewhere. 

[juvilado]

KAC is a must for transfer Windows