I find that if I have say, a phobos dreadnaught wreck floating out in space, as I approach it with my ship it does not become visible until the "center" of the ship enters the screen, causing that half of the ship to suddenly pop into sight. even if I approach slowly, one moment it is not there, then when I move a LS closer, half of the ship is there.
Basically, I think, the graphic for the ship is bigger than the code for the ship.