NASA lunar image has what looks like a signpost on the horizon?

Now there is already a thread discussing this picture here, but the gist of that thread was disussing the possible doctoring of the images and tampering.

However as I was looking over the OPs image I noticed something that may just deserve its own thread.

Take a look at the enlarged view, all the way to the left, just above the rock, on the horizon, there is a white object, which looks remarkably like a signpost!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c448be70dd02.png[/atsimg]

Now, a little closer.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2618589e4942.png[/atsimg]

Now, it looks a little too distant to be more equipment, and I don't see any tracks leading to it.

It really does look like a signpost to me, whatever it is it cannot be a natural feature.

Could it be a film issue?

What do you all think?

(Apologies of this anomaly has been discussed previously on ATS, I did a search but couldn't find anything)

[edit on 12-9-2009 by kiwifoot]

Originally posted by kiwifoot

Take a look at the enlarged view, all the way to the left, just above the rock, on the horizon, there is a white object, which looks remarkably like a signpost!

It is actually sort of a "signpost", it is one of the flags marking the locations of the "geophones" during the "Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment", a component of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package.

You can see such a "signpost" to the right in this photo:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/06bfd6fa188c.jpg[/atsimg]
Lunar Surface Experiment equipment

Two experiments, the Active Seismic Experiment on Apollo 14 and 16 and the Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment on Apollo 17, were performed to determine the detailed structure of the upper kilometer of the lunar crust. Both experiments involved detonation of a series of small explosives. The seismic waves or ground motions caused by these explosions were measured by a network of geophones. On Apollo 14 and 16, up to 19 explosions were detonated by an astronaut using a device called a "thumper" along a 90-meter-long geophone line. On Apollo 16, three mortar shells were also used to lob explosive charges to distances of up to 900 meters from the ALSEP. On Apollo 17, eight explosive charges were positioned during the three EVAs at distances of up to 3.5 kilometers from the LM. These charges had masses of 57 grams to 2.7 kilograms. Both the Apollo 16 mortar shells and the Apollo 17 explosives were detonated by radio control after the astronauts left the lunar surface.

www.lpi.usra.edu...

(This is a high res version AS17-147-22590, which is one of the source photos for the large Apollo 17 panoramic image. In this photo you can see the flag more clearly.)