Need some help understanding how to get other planets.

[Timagain]

I have been trying to get Duna. I downloaded Protractor and Mechjeb. I built a craft capable of getting to Duna. I also put a craft (rover) on the surface of Kerbal so I can time warp. Using this site http://ksp.olex.biz/ it tells me that the angle is 44.36°. So I time warp until Protractor says Duna is 44.36°. But it doesn't look like 44.36°, it looks closer to 90°. I launch anyways and get into orbit, but I couldn't get a good encounter. So I start over and this time i use Mechjeb Manuver Planner and it wants to wait till 54 days to launch. I time warp 51 days (to give myself so time). and take a look at Protractor and it says that Duna is 3.20°. I find a Windows Onscreen Protractor and sure enough it says Duna is 45° ish.(on screen protractor isn't perfectly aligned) I do get some decent encounters with Duna.

Here is a picture

So why does Protractor tell me 3.20°?

I have seen videos that show Mechjeb with Protactor like screen but I cant seem to find it, does it still have it?

I have updated Kebal to .22 and both protractor and mechjeb are the newest versons ( i think, there so much on spaceport ).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Lheim]

I could be wrong; I haven't used protractor in a while.

But I believe it uses a kind of 'count down' approach to angles. That is, protractor tells you how many degrees OFF the correct phase angle for launch you are - ie, zero is launch time.

[Tex_NL]

Since you already have MechJeb why don't you just let MechJeb do its thing and observe?

Launch your Duna mission up to a stable orbit. If you stay too low you can't time warp high enough, if you go too high you'll lack the benefits of the Oberth effect. In this case I would go to roughly 500*500km equatorial. Target Duna, open MechJeb's 'Maneuver planner' and select 'Transfer to another planet'. Create and execute the node. Sit back, relax, keep a close eye on Protractor and observe what MechJeb is doing.

Next time you can do it all on your own.

[Sirrobert]

Here ya go:

[benzman]

As I understand protractor you are supposed to sit on the launch pad and warp until the FIRST column counts down to zero, which puts the target planet into the right position, then launch, establish a stable orbit and warp until the SECOND column counts down to zero, which puts you on the right position in your orbit to start your burn. If you click on the "?" on the right hand side of the protractor window it will bring up a help file.

[Mr.Rocket]

Get the mod Kerbal Alarm clock. You can set a timer and timewarp so it automatically stops at the ideal transfer time.

[Space Peanut]

if you setup a maneuver-node that extends your own current orbit through Dunas, you can then move the node around in your orbit until you get an encounter. sometimes as well as this you need to change the inclination of your orbit too.

sorry if that dont make sense but in any case, don't stress, you'll get there! Took me about a month and I finally made it on my own this morning using my seat-of-the-pants, just keep trying until you get an encounter method.

[arq]

Protractor tells you the difference to your phase angle, so when it read 44deg you needed to wait another 44deg, which is why it was more like 90deg.