Whats that dot in the sky?

[j-tk]

I can't believe I just noticed this, or if it was a new addition. While launching, or while in orbit around other planets with moons, etc, you can actually see them as a

white point of light moving across the stars! First noticed minmus arcing over and along the horizon after Bob pushed the wrong button forcing us to do

a Polar landing on Kerbin, then again today while prepping to land on Eve, I noticed it's moon moving as well.

Kudos to the Dev team, it's the little things that count!

Edit: Putting here instead of page 3:

Edited June 18, 2013 by j-tk

[Dunbaratu]

I've seen a moving white dot from the Mün as well and I assumed it was one of my satellites around the Mün, but then I noticed it didn't have the little text saying how far away it was, so maybe that's not it. I just shrugged it off and assumed it was n error that the text label wasn't there and it must be one of my vessels. But maybe it was this?

[AmpsterMan]

You can even spot Jool and Duna if you zoom in in IVA view.

[7499275]

Maybe the devs are giving us a little taste of a new planet? Hmm... It tastes very... dry and rocky

[JelloTickles]

Maybe the devs are giving us a little taste of a new planet? Hmm... It tastes very... dry and rocky

I hope for an asteroid belt someday.

[Chrisd857]

Well, Minmus looks like a small white dot, even from the surface of Kerbin.

[ShachonianX]

I've seen a moving white dot from the Mün as well and I assumed it was one of my satellites around the Mün, but then I noticed it didn't have the little text saying how far away it was, so maybe that's not it. I just shrugged it off and assumed it was n error that the text label wasn't there and it must be one of my vessels. But maybe it was this?

Might be Minmus.

[7499275]

I hope for an asteroid belt someday.

I remember reading somewhere that the devs plan on adding a complete asteroid belt between Duna and Jool like real life Mars and Jupiter.

[Dunbaratu]

Might be Minmus.

Seems unlikely given how it was moving. The Mun doesn't rotate fast enough, and Minimus doesn't travel fast enough, to match how it was tracking across the sky. I could visibly see it moving at no time warp (1x).

[AustralianFries]

I was about to say: "Pretty much anything that isn't part of the skybox or the terrain will be seen as a white pixel at a distance. Could be a satellite." until I remembered the 2.5km unrender cap.

Screenshots requested.

[Sir Nahme]

it's a bird! it's a plane! It's Jeb deorbiting in his space skivvies!

[j-tk]

Lol, I'll set up a flight tomorrow and get some screenies to animate to show it. you can see them from most of the planets, even Dunas little moon. It's a nifty little addition

[Schweehog]

When in IVA and zoomed in to the max, Jool appears as 4 pixels. A 5th one pops up occasionally. It shows as smaller than stars, and it's almost impossible to find by accident. It's over 100 times smaller than other stars.

[The Jedi Master]

Either:

A) Minmus

B)Glicth

Or C)HOLY CRAP, NEW EASTER EGG, EVERY BODY SCAN THE SKIES!!!

[Landge]

Minmus:

I know I misspelled Minmus

Edited June 18, 2013 by Landge

[Dunbaratu]

I was about to say: "Pretty much anything that isn't part of the skybox or the terrain will be seen as a white pixel at a distance. Could be a satellite." until I remembered the 2.5km unrender cap.

Screenshots requested.

Even when a ship in orbit is not rendering because it's too far away it still shows a text label describing the distance away, and the colored 4-dots-in-a-diamond icon. This is a dot without any of that labeling.

[Mephane]

In this image, the small bright spot next to the sun, at about 4 o'clock, is Minmus, when I did that picture I even checked it in map view. You might need to click the image for full size in order to see the spot, but it is there:

[Sapphire]

Have you tried zooming far out in map view? Maybe you're seeing Eve or something.

[Whirligig Girl]

1 word: Minmus

[KerbMav]

I think its cool we can see distant stellar objects even outside the render distance - fells right and I gladly sacrifice a few flops for this.

[Motokid600]

Ever see an actual satellite drift across the sky? I see dozens every night at my mountain home. I've seen the ISS before too. So bright.. it casts a shadow. I really hope KSP can emulate this some day. ( is there a way to up the draw distance? )

[BubbaWilkins]

I was about to say: "Pretty much anything that isn't part of the skybox or the terrain will be seen as a white pixel at a distance. Could be a satellite." until I remembered the 2.5km unrender cap.

Screenshots requested.

I believe the rendercap only applies to user created crafts. Anomalies such as the pyramids in the desert on Kerbin, Space Centers, and such are visible much further out. I assumed all planets are visible from Kerbin, provided you had enough magnification to see them.

[nubcaker]

Ever see an actual satellite drift across the sky? I see dozens every night at my mountain home. I've seen the ISS before too. So bright.. it casts a shadow. I really hope KSP can emulate this some day. ( is there a way to up the draw distance? )

Coolest thing I heard all week.

[Spaceisbeautifulul]

I've heard of/seen things called "meridians".

Its when the sunlight reflects off the antenna of a satellite causing a huge beam of light.

They're extremely predictable, and fun to watch.

[DMagic]

Do you mean Iridium flares? These are a family of communication satellites with antennae that basically act like giant mirrors.

There are a quite a few tracking sites and apps that tell you when these will be visible. There are something like 50 or 60 of these things in orbit, so these flares happen all of the time, much more frequently than ISS sightings (though not nearly as bright)