reply to post by blocula
The astronauts should have seen a beautiful star-filled sky above them, yet they never mention it.
Even though there was a black sky above them, the astronauts still had to contend with the glare of a brightly lit lunar surface. The bright landscape
prevented the astronauts' eyes from becoming dark adapted, thus making it nearly impossible to see faint stars. It would be like trying to see stars
at night on Earth while someone is shining a flashlight directly into your eyes. Some astronauts reported that, while inside the LM, they could see
stars through the upper rendezvous window. Also, astronaut Gene Cernan said that, while standing in the shadow of the Apollo 17 LM, he could see some
stars while he was outside.
There are several photographs of objects that are in shadows, yet they appear lighted and with surprising detail. Objects located in shadows should
appear totally black.
The problem with this statement is that it fails to consider reflected sunlight. Next to the Sun, the largest source of light on the Moon is the lunar
surface itself, which reflects large amounts of sunlight. At the Earth-Sun distance, maximum solar illumination is about 10,000 lumens per square
foot; however, if the Sun is not directly overhead its rays will strike the surface obliquely. This decreases the intensity of sunlight per unit area.
A typical Sun elevation during the Apollo landings was about 20 degrees, thus the illumination per square foot was about 3,400 lumens. Since the
Moon's surface reflects about 10% of the light it receives, each square foot of surface reflected about 340 lumens. This is equivalent to the
luminosity of a 35-watt light bulb. This amount of light easily explains the illumination observed in the Apollo photographs.
In many photographs the shadow side of the astronauts appear illuminated, while the shadow side of rocks appear totally black.
This Apollo 17 photograph

is a good example of the above hoax claim. The explanation is apparent from the photo
itself. Look at the astronaut's feet and you will see that the shadow in this area is just as dark as that of the foreground rocks. The lunar surface
acts as a reflector to illuminate the shadow side of the astronaut. At the elevation of the astronaut's feet, and the foreground rocks, this reflector
surface is mostly covered by the adjacent shadows. However, at the elevation of the astronaut's head and torso, the shadows cover a much smaller
percentage of the surface. For example, on a flat surface the angular distance from horizon to horizon is 180 degrees. At an elevation of five feet, a
one-foot wide shadow subtends an angle of 11.4 degrees, or only 6% of the distance from horizon to horizon. At two inches above the ground, this
shadow subtends an angle of 143 degrees, or nearly 80% of the surface. Furthermore, the rocks are darker and less reflective than the astronaut's
white space suit.
Shadows cast on the lunar surface should be parallel. Some shadows in the Apollo photos are not parallel indicating more than one light source, thus
the photos are fakes.
Again there is a sound explanation; it is a simple a matter of perspective. A photo is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional world,
hence parallel lines may not appear as such on film. We all know how lines on a highway appear to diverge as they approach the observer, yet we know
they are parallel. Another important factor that comes into play here is the slope of the ground. Let's consider two shadows - one cast on an upward
slope and the other on a downward slope. If viewed from the side, these shadows would appear to go off in different directions. However, if viewed
from high above, they would be seen as parallel. In other words, looks can be deceiving. There is no evidence of NASA trickery here. This photograph

, taken on Earth, is an excellent example illustrating how perspective causes shadows to
appear non-parallel when seen on film. In this example

the astronaut on the right is standing on a small rise. The sloping ground has caused
his shadow to elongate and appear at a different angle than the shadow of the astronaut on the left. Also note, if two spotlights produced the shadows
then each astronaut would have two shadows.
Here you go bloc some educational 101 facts for you to get your noodle around .

edit on 24 4 2012 by denver22 because: (no reason given)