Interesting that it’s reflected at all, I wouldn’t have even though of that.  I’m guessing as others have mentioned that there is likely some artistic license taken with the moon and sun sizes so they look right rather than being astronomically accurate.  
 

Now if MSFS can show me the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter on December 21 I’ll be super impressed! 😉

Edited December 15, 20205 yr by regis9

10 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@JRBarrett, I never realised it was so simple to calculate eclipses. Wow! I’m not expecting to see the moon’s shadow across the Earth but at the least I would expect to see the moon totally obscuring the sun. It does get reasonably close in MSFS and certainly better than P3D but it’s baffling why an eclipsed sun is visible thousands of miles outside the path. That isn’t realistic at all.

I think MSFS is just using the simple algorithm that says “there will be a solar eclipse today (somewhere)”, and displaying a standard eclipsed sun graphic. Calculating the exact location, timing and degree of coverage would be much more complex - it would really require a dedicated program for calculating celestial mechanics. At least the occurrence of the eclipse was recognized by MSFS, which I don’t think any other flight sim does.

I wonder if the sim displays lunar eclipses? They are more common, and usually visible over a much wider area than solar eclipses. Less dramatic, as the main effect is a darkening of the moon. The next one to occur will be next month on January 10th.

Jim, would it not be simpler just to calculate the orbit of the sun and moon and display them at their relevant positions? As long as they get the moon in front of the sun things should work. I'm just speculating of course since I don't have MSFS so can't raise this on the official forum.

Yes, lunar eclipses are generally visible from the side of Earth that can see the eclipsed moon. So that should be easier. But easier said than done perhaps. Make a note in your diary to check on 10 January. 👍

2 hours ago, regis9 said:

Interesting that it’s reflected at all, I wouldn’t have even though of that.  I’m guessing as others have mentioned that there is likely some artistic license taken with the moon and sun sizes so they look right rather than being astronomically accurate.  
 

Now if MSFS can show me the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter on December 21 I’ll be super impressed! 😉

Maybe " when the moon is in the 7th house and Jupiter aligns with Mars then...."

Hey there, I rarely post but do know a little about how eclipses are calculated and it's not a trivial matter to calculate the position of the sun and moon accurately enough to make for a truly realistic solar eclipse experience. At least probably not in real-time at 30-60 fps when so many other factors are fighting for processing power as well. I'm impressed it shows as much as it does, to be honest. Software like Stellarium uses either the French VSOP ephemeris, or for extreme long-term accuracy JPL ephemeris tables that calculate the orbit of the moon using vast numbers of periodic terms. The path of totality is so narrow and the duration so short it requires thousands of terms for the position of the Earth and Moon relative to the sun to be correct at any location.

It would probably be a surprise to many AVSIM members that the gravitational force exerted on the Moon by the Sun is actually more than twice that of Earth, and yet the Moon is in a perfectly stable orbit around our planet. This is a unique situation with respect to the major moons of the Solar System, and is one of the primary reasons why the motion of the Moon is so complex.

Or ask the guys from Antikythera.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

Forgot, it`s a bit too late.

I took a look in game and compared to Stellarium, and it doesn't appear that the game takes lunar parallax into account, which is about the equivalent of two moon widths at maximum comparing its position against the background stars from one location and another. It also doesn't orient the moon properly in the southern hemisphere. Taking off from Punta Arenas on December 1 with a full moon rising, the moon is in the same rotational orientation that you'd see from the northern hemisphere with the "face" upright. Without looking more deeply I'd guess that their calculation of the moon and sun's position is done using a greatly simplified method using the centers of the each body as the location. This method is certainly good enough for casual visual use, but breaks down when any semblance of accuracy is needed.

Edited December 15, 20205 yr by talshiarr
Typo

3 hours ago, IanHarrison said:

Maybe " when the moon is in the 7th house and Jupiter aligns with Mars then...."

Groovy, man, groovy!

@talshiarr, very good observation picking up the fact the moon isn’t inverted when viewed from the Southern Hemisphere. I guess they just use a standard 2D image and shade it accordingly.

On a slightly related topic the first time I visited my cousin in South Africa in Jan 2008 I had to tilt my head so I was looking at the heavens almost upside down so I could recognise Orion. Bizarre seeing it upside-down.

Yeah, it seems to be just a static image. There's no rotation from rising to setting, either. It sets in the same orientation. And I know what you mean with things being bizarre in other places. I haven't been in the southern hemisphere, but was in Hawaii in winter when the full moon was far enough north in declination to actually appear in the northern half of the sky at midnight. Seeing it upside down from there was very odd indeed!

@talshiarr, things were different with FS98 and earlier because the earth was a flat model. I can remember trying to fly close to the North Pole in Concorde but I was just sliding sideways at Mach 2. That was weird.

The Earth is a sphere in MSFS but physics aren’t that straightforward I guess. Weird things happen. 😁

36 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

On a slightly related topic the first time I visited my cousin in South Africa in Jan 2008 I had to tilt my head so I was looking at the heavens almost upside down so I could recognise Orion. Bizarre seeing it upside-down.

It took me now 7 years to realize the bright spot in the night is our beloved Saturn. Jupiter is also close by sometimes. Fascinating to watch.

10 minutes ago, BigDee said:

It took me now 7 years to realize the bright spot in the night is our beloved Saturn. Jupiter is also close by sometimes. Fascinating to watch.

The two planets currently appear very close and are at their closest on 21 December. Rare event.