Help me time a syzygy for Kerbin Mun Minmus

[xcorps]

I'd like to put a probe in orbit behind Minmus and get some screenshots of a Kerbin Mun Minmus alignment.

How to?

[Taki117]

IT's not really all that hard. If you are not pressed for time (i.e you are not waiting on a transfer window) then you can basically put your probe into orbit at the edge of Kerbin's SoI and then just timewarp.

[cantab]

Here's a suggestion for how to set up your orbit:

Period the same as Minmus's.

High Minmus-relative inclination.

Apoapsis near the AN/DN with respect to Minmus, and higher than Minmus's orbital radius plus its SOI radius.

Closest approach near the Apoapsis, and NOT an encounter.

This way, every time your probe passes apoapsis, it will see Minmus near Kerbin. The high inclination of the probe's orbit will stop it entering Minmus's SOI. Then you only need to wait for the Mun to be in the right spot too.

To get into that orbit in the first place, I would wait until KSC is under Minmus's AN/DN (you might have to eyeball this, in which case you can use the apparent intersection of Kerbin's centre, the Mun's orbit, and Minmus's orbit to guide you), then launch and pitch north or south. That will get you a roughly polar orbit that you can then expand.

Edited July 3, 2014 by cantab