Just had a question come to mind. Does the atmospheric model of the coming Odyssey expansion have a refraction model? Will we see pretty colors dependant on whatever sun is rising/setting. Will the colors be different depending on atmospheric makeup?
Atmospheric refraction model
- Thread starter BDelacroix
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Yes, they've already posted demos of flying in different composition atmospheres, way back at first reveal. Linky. Specifically, to steal pics from that old thread:
Ovid A 6: 59% argon, 41% CO2, 0.5% SO2
ADS 10329 B 5: 100% neon
Wolf 1311 B 3 B: 100% ammonia
Blue predominates, because blue sky is a laws of physics thing, not a chemistry thing.
If we’re talking about atmospheric diffraction (not refraction), that depends more on the spectrum of the sunlight and the density of the atmosphere more than the atmosphere’s chemical composition (assuming a clear sky with no clouds or smog, etc).
Rayleigh scattering impacts the blue end of the spectrum first and continues down through the visible range toward red as atmospheric density increases. If Earth’s atmosphere were really dense, instead of a blue sky and yellow sun we might see a yellow-white sky and orange-red sun. If instead Earth had a really thin atmosphere, the sky would be a muted blue-violet with more of a white sun. Venus and Mars follow this pattern with some tweaks: perpetual overcast on Venus, varying amounts of suspended dust on Mars. The fact their atmospheres consist of carbon dioxide instead of nitrogen and oxygen doesn’t really matter.
But the available sunlight does matter. If our sun were class M instead of class G, there wouldn’t be much blue light to scatter in Earth’s atmosphere and we’d have a whitish sky and a red sun. If it were class A, the sky would be deep blue with a white sun. Other colors might be possible with Mie scattering and particulates (dust, condensation), but this would be the general pattern.
Of course this is a game, and so I expect Fdev will gin things up for the spectacle.
Rayleigh scattering impacts the blue end of the spectrum first and continues down through the visible range toward red as atmospheric density increases. If Earth’s atmosphere were really dense, instead of a blue sky and yellow sun we might see a yellow-white sky and orange-red sun. If instead Earth had a really thin atmosphere, the sky would be a muted blue-violet with more of a white sun. Venus and Mars follow this pattern with some tweaks: perpetual overcast on Venus, varying amounts of suspended dust on Mars. The fact their atmospheres consist of carbon dioxide instead of nitrogen and oxygen doesn’t really matter.
But the available sunlight does matter. If our sun were class M instead of class G, there wouldn’t be much blue light to scatter in Earth’s atmosphere and we’d have a whitish sky and a red sun. If it were class A, the sky would be deep blue with a white sun. Other colors might be possible with Mie scattering and particulates (dust, condensation), but this would be the general pattern.
Of course this is a game, and so I expect Fdev will gin things up for the spectacle.
Very succinct, came here to post similar but you beat me to it, and probably clearer than I would have done. I know a lot, I just can't explain it very well
Hey, I'm a computer scientist, not a chemist, cut me some slack.
Thanks for the answers all.
No worries.
Found a nice graphic someone worked up that looks about right.
Source: https://i.stack.imgur.com/A0Qwh.png
Discussion thread here.
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