Giants in space

[xoknight]

So I was just thinking, is it possible for something humongous to be in orbit and you will be ABLE TO SEE IT FROM THE GROUND? Will it be out of the physics range so it won't be rendered? or is it possible?

Edited November 6, 2013 by xoknight

[Specialist290]

Sadly, no, at least not in the stock game. Anything outside of ~2 kilometers range of the active vessel is unloaded from the physics engine and put "on-rails," meaning it only exists as a data point until the game needs to load it into the physics engine again.

[Zephram Kerman]

I think it's 2.6 km. Yeah?

But one could still do this, at least on an airless body like Mun or whatever. Just put your observer on a mountain top, then the large structure in a terrifyingly low orbit near that spot. I recommend the highlands near the equatorial canyon.

[Vanamonde]

I think it's 2.6 km. Yeah?

It's 2.25, to be precise. If you're approaching a very large ship/station, the game will freeze for an instant as it loads all those parts, making the precise figure easy to read.

[boolybooly]

There needs to be a way round this eventually for things like reusable boosters etc, currently boosters with parachutes stop using physics when they are 2.25 Km away and so automatically "collide" with the planet if low enough and disappear unless you can follow them down, losing the ascending craft in the process.

[RawChicken]

There was a video which i can not find right now, where a kerbal was in Minmus next to a tructure that made a Loop. Then there was this vessel orbitin minmus with such and orbit that it will orbit always pass that same loop. There you could see the vessel orbiting from the ground.

If someone remembers the video please post! It was amazing!!