Planetary Surface Albedos

[AncientAstronaut]

Has anybody worked out the albedo (light reflectivity value) of Kerbin, Mun and Minmus and all of the new planets? If so, can someone make a list? If not, let's figure them out here!

[Richy teh space man]

I'd guess Minmus > Kerbin > Mun

[AncientAstronaut]

I'm talking about percentage. The percentage of how much light it reflects.

[BurningSky93]

I'd guess Minmus > Kerbin > Mun

I would agree with this. If the Mun is analogous to the Moon, and Kerbin is analogous to Earth, then the Mun has a geometric albedo of about .11 and kerbin has a geometric albedo of about .37. However, as Kerbin doesn't presently have any clouds I think that may have a diminishing effect on its actual present albedo.

I'd say Minmus is definitely on top in Kerbin's local system, being an iceball, I'd say probably a Bond albedo of something like .4, .5?

As for the new planets, I'd wager the Desert Planet, being fairly analogous to Mars, will be beneath Kerbin but above the Mun (Mars' geometric albedo is about .15). Eve I imagine to have a fairly high albedo, perhaps something like .6, .7? The gas giant is fairly bright, so something like .5? No idea about the lavaless planet.

EDIT: If we're talking percentages, then let's use Bond albedo for everything. In which case:

Moon: .12 (12%), so about the same for the Mun

Earth: .3 (30%), so about the same for Kerbin (when it gets clouds?)

Minmus: .4, .5?

Desert Planet: .25 (same as Mars)

Eve: Huge, like .9 if it's a Venus analogue (Venus is .9)

Gas Giant: Like .3-.5?

Obviously this is all just educated conjecture on my part.

Edited August 27, 2012 by BurningSky93