Realistic apparent magnitudes of distant objects

[lajoswinkler]

KSP objects like planets and satellites are invisible from great distances. Minmus looks like a speck. I've never seen Jool from Kerbin, yet it should be looking like a slightly green tinted star.

There should be a more realistic approach, not only because of aestetics, but general usefulness, navigation. In real life, when you move way from a bright object, its luminosity drops and so does the angular diameter. Looking from space, cloudless Earth is very blue, but if you go far away from it, the saturation drops, so you get a light blue point in the sky. Every space simulator program I've used simulated this effect.

It takes a lot of space between an eye and an object to dim it beyond vision. What goes for natural objects, goes for the artificial ones, too. Spent rocket stages are so tiny and so far away they don't have a discernible angular diameter (like stars don't, that's why they twinkle when looked through atmosphere) so they look like asteroids.

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news168.html

Satellites in our orbit look like points, yet they're so far and so small you could never ever see them if they weren't illuminated against a dark sky.

If the sky, which is quite dreadful at the moment, gets replaced with a realistic, point-like, randomly made star map, star-like planets, satellites and artificial object would look even better. I'd even remove the galaxy as you just can't see it unless you're under a clear, dark sky.

[technicalfool]

Seconded. There must be a way to put a satellite on rails for ease of physics, but keep its rendering switched on. Maybe even preserve rotation, so if it was tumbling before, it carries on tumbling, but as a single rigid body. Make it so that satellites and debris beyond a certain distance (or below a certain zoom level) get rendered as a point.

I think it'd be pretty cool, if there are going to be telescopes added for planet-spotting, to be able to also see your own satellites. Add a dithering effect for atmospheric haze. It's quite possible to see the stripes of Jupiter with a 110mm reflecting telescope, and you can make out the solar panels and main body of the ISS easily. Tracking the 17,000mph orbiting research station with a manual gear on the other hand, now that takes a steady hand!

As a bit of a workaround, you can use the Lazor Systems mod to increase the physics distance up to 90-something kilometres. Really not recommended though, unless your satellites are all teeny little things.