Satellites should be seen from the surface of Kerbin

[CrazedGunman502]

Things like the ISS can be seen from earth, so why not?

Of course the whole satellite would not be rendered, but instead seen as a bright white dot, the brightness/size of the dot being determined somehow (presumably part count but smaller stations could still have higher part counts then extremely big ones)

Oh right, I forgot, solar panels must be on the craft for this to work. (and being hit by sunlight)

Natural Satellites should be seen too!

Jool, being the most visible, a bright green pixel. Getting closer would reveal dots (the moons)

Eve, a faint purple dot.

Duna - "the red dot you can see if you squint really hard"

But why? Why should this be implemented? Well, why do we go out stargazing IRL? Just the thought that up there, there are kerbals happily crashing into solar panels. So awesome.

This should probably be implemented not now, but sometime after they're "polishing" the game.

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

You can see planets from kerbin. And the reason why you can't see player made stuff is because of the amount of physics having to be rendered at all times

[CrazedGunman502]

You can see planets from kerbin. And the reason why you can't see player made stuff is because of the amount of physics having to be rendered at all times

Yes, and the workaround is instead of having to render the craft, just represent it with a tiny dot about the size of minmus.

You CANNOT see planets, they are not rendered until you get close. The ordan industries telescope mod shows this.

[LethalDose]

I don't think it's even worth the computing power to figure out where that dot would be, let alone draw the pixel shooting across the sky. It's a game, so we have to accept things aren't perfect representations, and we make those sacrifices to improve gameplay.

[JiWint]

Enjoy watching minmus with overpowered IVA zoom

[razark]

I don't think it's even worth the computing power to figure out where that dot would be, let alone draw the pixel shooting across the sky.

Except that the game already does this. If you've ever been at the pad, and had a ship/probe/whatever pass overhead at less than 100 km, it will draw the "here's something" cross and distance labels. Simply replace the cross with a white dot, and extend the distance it's drawn from 100 to 500 km, and you've got a reasonable system.

For better accuracy, it should only show the dot when the sun is not visible to the observer, but the observed craft is in direct sunlight.

[Motokid600]

Yes, and the workaround is instead of having to render the craft, just represent it with a tiny dot about the size of minmus.

You CANNOT see planets, they are not rendered until you get close. The ordan industries telescope mod shows this.

Yea you can. I've spotted Jool, Eve and Duna from LKO using a camera mod with infinite zoom. there there. Just hard to find.

Apparent magnitude.. yea i wish it could be implemented.

[LethalDose]

Except that the game already does this. If you've ever been at the pad, and had a ship/probe/whatever pass overhead at less than 100 km, it will draw the "here's something" cross and distance labels. Simply replace the cross with a white dot, and extend the distance it's drawn from 100 to 500 km, and you've got a reasonable system.

For better accuracy, it should only show the dot when the sun is not visible to the observer, but the observed craft is in direct sunlight.

I haven't appreciated this. I usually don't even notice that a reticle appears over a target until ~ 25km, so I haven't looked. I'll pay more attention next time I have a station going over the KSP.

[Motokid600]

I haven't appreciated this. I usually don't even notice that a reticle appears over a target until ~ 25km, so I haven't looked. I'll pay more attention next time I have a station going over the KSP.

O yea especially if you have a lot of debris. Everytime you look up on the launch pad you'll see the faint crosshairs drift by. All they need to do is change those crosshairs to a white dot and it'd be perfect. The range indicator would only show when you mouse over it..

But there is one thing that be hard to code in. The dot should only appear if the object is being lit up by the sun. Meaning you'd only see it a few hours after sunset and before sunrise just as in real life depending on the crafts altitude. You won't be seeing any satellites at midnight..

Then there's that apparent magnitude thing I mentioned. The brightness of the dot should go by the size of the craft and how many solar panels are on it.

And another thing.. if its a piece of debris... The dots brightness should fade in and out because of the tumbling piece of space junk.

Edited December 8, 2013 by Motokid600