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Planetary radius / diameter
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 7:57 pm
by Bugbear
This is kind of a comination of questions...[*:3u3p3zjw]Is the planet radius or diameter displayed anywhere? I can see the planetary mass vs 1 Earth but not size.[*:3u3p3zjw]When I select a planet as my destination, and I'm in high orbit about the planet, is the distance displayed the distance to the surface, or to the centre of the planet?Cheers.
RE: Planetary radius / diameter
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:47 am
by s2odan
I don't think that is shown anywhere,(Radius). Except for if you land on a planet, the distance it gives you is the distance to the center, IE Radius. And height above land is shown on bottom right.
RE: Planetary radius / diameter
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 12:21 pm
by Danvir
If you look in the view that shows the orbits in the system (the one that allows you to speed up time and watch how the planets orbit) and select a body, it will show you the radius in km. And actually, the radius of the planet doesn't necessarily correspond with the mass, I've found a number of planets that only had about half the Earth's mass yet were actually larger than Earth in terms of their radius. This is to be expected, as the composition of a planet obviously has a large impact on its mass (planets made of heavier elements will be heavier).It's worth taking a look in that 'orbit' view, it also shows a planet's distance from their parent star (or a moon's distance from its parent planet) in km as opposed to AU.
RE: Planetary radius / diameter
Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2010 3:46 am
by UncleBob
Quote:
I've found a number of planets that only had about half the Earth's mass yet were actually larger than Earth in terms of their radius. This is to be expected, as the composition of a planet obviously has a large impact on its mass
You also have much higher densities on heavier planets due to gravitational compression.
RE: Planetary radius / diameter
Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:57 pm
by Bugbear
Ah there it is. Found the planet radius. Thanks very much!