Overview
How to look into the sky and see things… Kinda
1.) What is Astronomy?
Astronomy on Kerbin is a fairly fun, but highly infuriating little feature that exists, and is defined as the art of looking into the sky and seeing things. Here’s a fun fact for you about astronomy:
In one-hundred percent (100%) of the discoveries of the planets, the old Kerbals had to look into the sky, just like you are going to, and name the planets.
Similarly, 100% of people who breathed air have died.
If you are not aware, every single time you leave the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) or the SPH (Spaceplane Hangar), the entire solar system is generated, and physics are applied.
Every. Single. Time.
That is, if I had to give a guess, the main reason why the loading time is fairly long, and is also why you have the ability to do astronomy.
Now that short little explaination of astronomy is complete, let’s get a quick overview on the planets.
2.) What can I see?
In KSP, there is one sun, seven planets, and multiple moons that exist and are always moving. The planets, and the visible moons, in order, are:
Kerbol
Moho
Eve
Minmus
Mun
Kerbin
Duna
Dres*
Jool
and last but not least,
Eeloo*
The two planets marked by asterisks, Dres and Eeloo, are dwarf planets. All visible planets are marked by italics, except for Kerbin, which is the planet you start on. Just by looking down, you have astronomised one planet.
Good job.
ALL OF THESE DISTINGUISHING MARKS ARE REFERRING TO VISIBILITY FROM KERBIN.
I’m beyond positive that you can see every single planet from an orbit, but we aren’t going to do that, as there is no fun and only fury that sparks from looking at planets from space.
Now that you know what you can see, and also what you can’t, let’s move on to how to see things.
3.) How do I See?
To begin, I believe that viewing these planets is easiest with the anti-aliasing turned to maximum (8x). The planets will have shape, and will be visible at all times, not as a single pixel visible only while you are looking around.
Now, we are first going to enter the Aerospace Hanger.
Now, we are going to select the PPD-12 Cupola Module.
You know, that one that looks like it should be on the ISS?
Orient it so that the window side is up. This is crucial, unless you want to just look at the end of the runway.
Now, we are going to launch the ship.
From here, we are going to mouse over the kerbal and go into the interior view (titled ‘View’).
You should now see something that looks like this:
Now, you should see a big circular window in front of you. Double-click on that (or any window for that matter!), and you should see out of the window, and not see the entire cockpit. Double-clicking the big circular one in front of you should yield this result:
You will notice that these pictures have both been taken at night. This is crucial to seeing most planets, the one exception being Eve. From here, we are going to set a reference point, and make sure that we can actually see the planets.
4.) Setting a Reference Point, Viewing Outer Planets
Now that you know the basics of how to see, we are going to open the map view, and orient it top-down.
Notice that I have the two planets that I want to see facing away from Kerbol, with Mun being in a similar place. This is crucial, as Mun will be our reference point to view these celestial bodies. If the planets that you wish to view are towards Kerbol, you can timewarp them onto the dark side.
From here, we are going to double-click on Mun. You should zoom right into it, and see something similar to this:
Be sure to take a look at the craters, as they will provide an even better reference point for us to view the planets from. Notice how the bright side is at the right, with a large crater slighly below the equator, and the darker side has a crater slight above the equator. Also notice that there is a third large crater at the very bottom right. Try to keep track of these positions, as this will greatly speed up the Astronomy process. With enough time, you could find the planets without a reference, but that just sounds very, very dull.
From here, we are going to go back into the cockpit view, and find Mun.
There it is!
Notice how Mun’s craters have oriented, and how I no longer see the bevel of the glass. You can zoom in with the scroll wheel on your mouse (assuming you have one) to see more detail in objects through the window.
As for Mun’s orientation, the map view does not show the planets as how you would see them from Kerbin, so be sure to make sure you are looking at the right spots, and know where the craters are at. From here, you can see the bright side crater that was on the right is now on the top, and the dark side crater is on the bottom, while the third crater is now more visible. This is our main point of reference, and from here, we can find anything that the Kerbal eye can see.
Let’s return to the map view…
Notice how Jool is oriented to the right of the Mun, and how from our view, we would see the Mun with the bright side up, which would once again be the right side from our map. This tells us that we would need to look up to find Jool, which, while tiny, is visible.
After some searching, and looking around going straight up from Mun, you will find Jool. Be sure to squint, as it really is a teeny little planet from here. This is roughly what it should look like:
(Click on the image to enlarge it – Jool is in the dead center of the screen as a TINY grey dot).
Hi, Jool!
Now you know how to find Jool, and if you wish, Duna.
5.) Viewing Eve (or Moho, if you are MENTAL)
Now, onto how to view Eve.
First, make sure it’s day time, and orient your screen and planets so that Eve’s planet label is on top of Kerbol, not behind it. You’ll just blind yourself if Eve is behind Kerbol.
Now, I believe that anything in the map view that is on the right side from the fixed view of a celestial body is actually on the top, in reference to looking into the sky. Notice how Eve was on the right side of Kerbol. We are now going to look at the top of Kerbol.
After a little bit of searching, and putting Kerbol to the side/bottom of the screen so that the blinding effect doesn’t kick in, we can see Eve.
(Just like Jool’s picture, click to enlarge. Eve is just above the halo around Kerbol, as a grey dot.)
Hello, Eve!
You can attempt to view Moho, but I have not had any success in viewing Moho. This is the same with Eeloo and Dres, but you can, once again, try.
6.) Goodbye!
Now that you’ve completed this guide, go and try to see these celestial bodies for yourself. Trust me, it is a difficult, but fairly rewarding experience. It is a shame how you can only REALLY see three planets, but hey, it still is a cool little feature/easter egg. Thank you for reading, I wish you the best of luck in your search to find these planets!