What we know so far about planets and moons.

NO MAN’S SKY CARTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

Precedence: Bulletin #1 Date: 08/18/2018

Title: What we know so far about planets and moons.

While developing the No Man’s Sky Map for Planet Coordinates[i] a number of unexpected discoveries were made regarding the surface navigation of planets and moons. Discoveries are being made on a daily bases as we continue to conduct additional surveys and experiments to share with the No Man’s Sky community.

The most interesting discovery, and one that caused the most frustration until it was uncovered, was that the latitude and longitude lines on NMS planets use degree numbers in an opposite way than here on Earth. 180 degrees for North and South instead of 90 degrees, and 90 degrees for East and West instead of 180 degrees. This results in the latitude lines coming together to form poles at the East and West ends of the planet in the same way longitude lines come together at the North and South Poles on earth.

Another unpredicted result of creating a surface map was the discovery of the “front side” and “back side” of planets. This phenomenon is caused by the continued increase of the latitude line degree numbers past +90 at the North Pole and past -90 at the South Pole. The +90 to +180 degree latitude lines designate the northern hemisphere of the “back side” of the planet. The -90 to -180 designate the southern hemisphere of the “back side”. This also creates an equator with two different degrees of latitude depending on your location. If you are on the “front side” of the planet, the equator is at +/-0 degrees latitude. On the “back side” of the planet the equator is at +/-180 degrees.

Despite these major differences mapping planets and navigating their surfaces using the coordinates on your scanner is possible. We plan to do a number of additional surveys and experiments especially in the areas around the poles to gain a better understanding of the effect those locations have on distance and grid coordinates.

[i] https://7ozenamatin.wixsite.com/nmscs/blog/deciphering-your-current-location-on-planets-using-the-coordinates-from-your-scanner