Planetary Brightness (Magnitude)

[Colonel Kenney]

No follow what you mean. Like if you look at the moon through a telescope your eyes will dilate inward and filter out the light of the lesser stars.

But look at that one picture taken by a camera. You really can see the different in magnitudes. Especially living in a high pollution area even with a camera.

I'd be ok if there were just some markers in the hud showing where everything is.

 

[ubermick]

I'd be ok if there were just some markers in the hud showing where everything is.

And there likely will be, we are still in Alpha after all, in a five system square. Still very early days. Most likely we'll see those appear in beta.

As a lifelong astronomer, I do agree that local bodies should stand out, but as pointed out those photos are over exposed. Using Hipparchus' magnitude scale, the sun is -26, the moon -15, Sirius (brightest star in the sky, other than the sun) is -1.47, and Vega (brightest star in Lyra, part of the summer triangle) is 0.00. (The human eye can see down to around +6.00 in ideal dark seeing conditions)

Based on that, Jupiter is (on rare occasions) slightly brighter than Sirius, but usually around the same. Mars usually falls around the same brightness as Jupiter, but can often fluctuate down to +1 depending where it is in it's orbit. Only Venus has a stable magnitude above that of Sirius.

Also should be noted that the planets appear brighter because the lightwaves being reflected from them are more powerful, and are able to sustain integrity through the atmosphere easier than starlight. (The reason why planetary bodies "twinkle" less than stellar bodies). This effect is nullified outside of space. If you're outside of the Earth's atmosphere, and have Jupiter and Sirius in your field of vision, aside from the colour difference, they'll look exactly the same. In fact the stars outside of our atmosphere are considerably brighter, due to better lightwave integrity.

 

[Oculus]

You are right in light polluted sky, the perceived difference will indicate that the brighter object is in fact way brighter than the objects of lower magnitude. This once again comes down to thresholds and range.

In a no light pollution zone with no cloud and no moon and dark adapted, Jupiter (Venus tho you rarely see this beyond dusk/dawn) is not bright enough to cause your dynamic range to change so compared to the other stars yes it is bright but does not seem way brighter relatively to the other stars.

I used to live in the UK and I never saw the milky way, move to rural NZ and unless it is cloudy there is no such thing as a really dark sky as there are is so much starlight you can see where you going just by that.

Back to the game, I am not sure what dynamic range monitors have but it might be to harsh on the eyes having more realistic star magnitudes but I not bothered if frontier make the closer planets/stars brighter to make the game prettier.

 

[Colonel Kenney]

The main complaint I have is that during supercruise you have it locked but there is not even a white dot or something indicating that it is a body. Basically planets and moons don't even exist until you get close enough, it just puts the entire body into it. Before then it should be as bright as any star in the sky at the time. Possibly sticking out and "feeling" closer than the others.

There is no comparison between the planetary body vs the skybox at all until you get close. Once you get close its awesome but before then, you don't even see anything.

Like if I'm supercruising to a target and what if I'm passing something interesting and want to divert. Right now you have no idea ANYTHING except the sun is out there and the target you've selected.

 

[Magellan]

Planetary brightness at long distance

The main complaint I have is that during supercruise you have it locked but there is not even a white dot or something indicating that it is a body. Basically planets and moons don't even exist until you get close enough, it just puts the entire body into it. Before then it should be as bright as any star in the sky at the time. Possibly sticking out and "feeling" closer than the others.

There is no comparison between the planetary body vs the skybox at all until you get close. Once you get close its awesome but before then, you don't even see anything.

Like if I'm supercruising to a target and what if I'm passing something interesting and want to divert. Right now you have no idea ANYTHING except the sun is out there and the target you've selected.

I just wanted to add my voice to this and the original post, since I'd noticed the same. I agree that planets should be visible (but star-like) without any HUD indicators from at least several hundred light-seconds away, depending on the planet's size, albedo, and the phase of the planet as observed from your current location. From Earth, we can easily see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with the naked eye, with Venus and Jupiter often appearing as bright as (or brighter than) the brightest stars. Stellarium shows this effect very well.

Yes, the planets in Elite: Dangerous are awesome when viewed up close, but it does feel wrong that there's currently no unaided visual indication of anything there from even a moderate distance, until close enough to show a disc. When arriving in a system from hyperspace, virtually every planet in the system should look like one of the stars in the backdrop: They will all be fully illuminated by the central star when viewed from there, so should appear fairly bright, especially the bigger/closer ones. Conversely, if the planet is almost between the central star and the observer, it should reflect almost no light. Some angle in between would give an intermediate brightness.

As an example, the Hathor gas giant in the Dahan system is currently invisible even at 200 light-seconds, when approaching with the sun behind. 1 AU is about 500 ls. Jupiter and Saturn are easily visible as bright points of light from Earth at about 5 and 10 AU (about 2500 and 5000 ls) respectively.

If implemented well, I think this could also be a great exploration mechanic to allow us to discover unknown planets in uncharted systems at relatively long range (which presumably wouldn't be shown on the HUD?). Engaging super-cruise and keeping our eyes peeled for any star-like planets that move or change brightness against the galactic backdrop would allow us to find them even without using instruments. (After all, watching planetary motions is how the planets in our own solar system were discovered millennia ago!)

TL;DR: "Planet" comes from the ancient Greek for "wandering star," and I really hope that planetary brightness will be represented properly at long distance, particularly for those who enjoy exploration. Perhaps I'm worrying about nothing and this is planned for a later release, anyway. Everything else so far (especially the galactic map and backdrop!) is stunning - great work Frontier!

 

[Rickenbacker]

I find in supercruise that it looks like you are approaching empty space and until you get realllly close then the planet takes shape. Very very well done planets and lighting but it still does not shine as bright as it should. It should look like the brightest star in the sky besides the sun.

The cockpit glass dampens light quite heavily. If it didn't, you'd get a hell of a sunburn (and see nothing but white) when exiting a jump next to the star. Instead you see the star much darker than it actually is. I assume this effect dampens the planets down so that they're basically invisible.

But I do agree, bright spots for planets would make more sense, and look better.

 

[Sanderson]

I don't know much about astronomy but, this makes me want to buy a telescope!

 

[Oddball]

Like if I'm supercruising to a target and what if I'm passing something interesting and want to divert. Right now you have no idea ANYTHING except the sun is out there and the target you've selected.

You can see what planetary bodies are in your current system by viewing your navigation panel. Everything is there including the space port and interesting scenario's.

What I suspect will happen in later Beta's is the inclusion of a local system map which we have already seen as a work in progress.

Here is a piccy for you....

Spoiler

 

[bujin]

The cockpit glass dampens light quite heavily. If it didn't, you'd get a hell of a sunburn (and see nothing but white) when exiting a jump next to the star. Instead you see the star much darker than it actually is. I assume this effect dampens the planets down so that they're basically invisible.

If that was the case, you wouldn't see any background stars or even the milky way.

 

[Colonel Kenney]

THEY TOTALLY FIXED THIS!!!!

Hats off!!! Awesome .. although some of the lighting seems a little big for some of the moons etc. The transition between dot of light and planet is AWESOME

Great job guys!