Kerbol System

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Revision as of 11:54, 26 December 2014 by Yoha (talk | contribs) (Relation to the Solar System)
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All celestial bodies orbiting Kerbol with the sizes to scale
Comparison of the radii

The Kerbol System is at the moment the only available planetary system. It has Kerbol as the central body which is orbited by 5 planets and 2 dwarf planets. Only Kerbin and Laythe have an oxygen atmosphere and only Kerbin hosts life.

With the outermost dwarf planet Eeloo it reaches up to 113 549 713 200 m (about 113.5 Gm or 0.76 AU) out into space. Compared to our Solar System it is a very small system, as Earth's periapsis (or more specific perihelion) is about 147 Gm (or 0.98 AU) and thus outside of Eeloo's orbit.

It is difficult to determine if or where the Kerbol System has an edge. Kerbol itself has a non relativistic escape velocity, so it is possible to escape Kerbol. But itself it is not possible to escape Kerbol's gravitational pull, because the sphere of influence is infinite. Although real world gravity expands into infinity, it does only for Kerbol in KSP so it's unclear if this property can be used to determine where the edge is.

Graphical comparison of the main celestial bodies in the Kerbol System (sizes to scale)
Orbits of planets and dwarf planets

See also

System

TinyKerbol.pngKerbol
TinyMoho.pngMoho
TinyEve.pngEve TinyGilly.pngGilly
TinyKerbin.pngKerbin TinyMun.pngMun TinyMinmus.pngMinmus
TinyDuna.pngDuna TinyIke.pngIke
TinyDres.pngDres
TinyJool.pngJool TinyLaythe.pngLaythe TinyVall.pngVall TinyTylo.pngTylo TinyBop.pngBop TinyPol.pngPol
TinyEeloo.pngEeloo
(Sizes and distances not to scale)

Relation to the Solar System

Kerbol system Solar system
Kerbol Sun
Moho Mercury
Eve Venus
Kerbin Earth
Dres Ceres
Jool Jupiter
Eeloo Pluto? (semi-major axis does not match)

Planet from the Kerbol System are defined from a few characteristics:

Characteristic How the value was chosen
gravity at sea level hand-picked
radius hand-picked, loosely a tenth the radius of its solar counterpart for Moho, Eve, Kerbin, Duna and Jool
rotational period hand-picked or tidally locked, except Kerbin (21599.91201454015) and Duna (65517.859375)
orbit semi-major axis a eleventh the one from its solar counterpart, except for Eeloo
eccentricity hand-picked, close to solar one for Moho, Jool and Eeloo
mean anomaly at epoch hand-picked (radians), often 3.14
inclination hand-picked (degrees), close to solar one for Moho and Eve
longitude of ascending node hand-picked (degrees)
argument of periapsis hand-picked (degrees)