I have always wondered how many people are even aware of what phase the moon is in, or rise or set time for that matter. Every time I see a post griping about the lack of this feature I always wonder. Is that a really important feature, or just nit-picky. Of course I think professional astronomers are always aware, but quite often I see amateurs that can't quite put their finger on that information at any given moment.  I'm pretty happy to see a proper placement of at least some of the constellations, although I doubt if all of them are represented. 

 

I even wonder if anybody will even respond to this post.LOL  Just food for thought, inquiring minds would like to know. 

I'm only concerned with the full Moon phase.............Personal reasons.

Since I turn into a werewolf then, I always keep track of when a full moon is upcoming. My flying is kind of erratic then because of an inability to use the controls properly.....

 

 

See?  :ph34r:

I had forgotten all about that aspect, not to mention Vamps etc.  Vampires I am sure are aware, but most werewolves in my experience don't really realize they are. They just come to themselves afterwards and wonder how they got there. As an aside that used to happen to me a lot. especially when i was in San Diego. 

Hm, I'd definitely be more concerned about the suns position being accurate

I do, however, notice the correct or incorrect moon phases. I'm usually aware of the current phase. It really should be properly implemented in my opinion, but I wouldn't greatly miss not having it

This is something Jcomm also brought up in His Microsoft Flight days and was happy to find that:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/378131-midnight-sun/

 

Yes! It is modelled.

 

As a matter of fact, MS FLIGHT has also rather accurate Moon phases, and date + latitude always show you the correct sunrise/sunset times as well as elevation during day. 

I'm actually kind of surprised a sim as proud of its accuracy as X-Plane doesn't have it yet. I think FSX even threw in the occasional meteor if you were lucky, as well as the Aurora Borealis.

 

Silver Lining can use the moon as a light-source as well to add correct moonlight effects to a scene, but it remains to be seen whether SkyMaxx Pro will be able to implement the feature in X-Plane.

I'm actually kind of surprised a sim as proud of its accuracy as X-Plane doesn't have it yet. I think FSX even threw in the occasional meteor if you were lucky, as well as the Aurora Borealis.

Well, I am not surprised. To say it clearly: The graphics engine of X-Plane 9 was far below even the capabilities of FS2004. SInce Astronomy is or was (time...) one of my Hobbys I recognized immediatly how accurate FSX was. So I looked for such a feature immediately in X-Plane 10 too and... Well... there are numerous problems with the sky in X-Plane 10.

I'm always aware of the moon phase, and not just because I have a clock that keeps track of it.  One interesting thing is seeing a screen shot I took a couple of weeks ago that shows the correct moon phase for that date.  I'm not overly concerned about moonrise/moonset times, as if the phase is correct the rise/set times are likely to be correct as well. 

 

Before I installed FSX SP2, I always checked the constellations, which were accurate for that date.  Since SP2 there haven't been many stars.

 

My biggest problem now when flying real world time is that sometimes the sunrise/sunset times are off.  I suspect this has to do with daylight savings time, as when the timing is off, it seems to be by about an hour.

 

Hook

And, as I have posted at another thread, and HiFlyer and other mentioned too, it's not just the Moon, but rather the Sun set / rise times and the lighting near those times of the day that is out of sync with reality in X-Plane but very well done, for instance, if FSX, MS FLIGHT, ELITE.

 

Why would ELITE, a professional trainning simulator, include the Moon and proper Moon phases, not to talk of accurate Sun rise / set times? Because for night VFR the Moon phase is important! For day VFR the sun rise / set times are important too, and many times I arrive at my aerodrome IRL with more than enough daylight, when in X-Plane it's pitch dark :-(

 

I believe most men in a relationship with a gal, also learn about Moon phase, sooner or later... :-)

 

There is yet another reason for me to look at the skies - I was, many Moons ago, an avid amateur astronomer, who spent his first 3 months of salary in a catadioptric 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain  ( Baush&Lomb Criterum 8000 ) telescope, directly from the USA...  Was sold to buy my first sim computer :-(

Noticed generally when I look out the window and see the moon, look back at my screen and find the real world is out of sync.  :rolleyes:

This is an X-plane forum, and I'm only an FSX guy, but with FSX there are plugins to make the heavens completely accurate.  Presumably, these will work in p3D, because they just replace the graphics that depict the night sky.

 

 

 

 

I believe most men in a relationship with a gal, also learn about Moon phase, sooner or later... :-)

 

 

 

 

No, I don't think it works like that....or does it? 

 

 

This is an X-plane forum, and I'm only an FSX guy, but with FSX there are plugins to make the heavens completely accurate

 

Well, but by default they're already very good / plausible - how I whish I could have the same in X-Plane 10....

Yes, I am aware  of the phases, but only for where I live, I don't know about the rest of the world.

 

 

 

j/k

Simulation for me is flying and navigation. Daylight, weather, night with stars and moonphases do matter. It's like the lack of seasonal textures, you can live without them but immersion factor is somewhat lacking.

All very good observations, thanks for the participation. i do have to say, I have a little over 100 hrs of night flight, and I have never once looked at the moon when flying at night. At least not to navigate. To me the most important aspect of simulation is to get as accurate flight model as possible, while working within the envelope, and that the navigation aids are reasonably accurate. for an accurate flight model I find the Carenado Archer II to be the go to plane. (I'm strictly a GA pilot). I wouldn't be surprised if most of their planes are on the mark, but the Archer and the Cessenas are the only ones I have real world time in. 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all,