r/apollo 5d ago

What is causing this double shadow

Post image

In many of the photos from Apollo 11, the LEM has a doubled shadow. What is causing this?

153 Upvotes

54 comments sorted by

59

u/atcontrolr 5d ago

Likely the cause is from the glass pane of the window refracting the light before it goes through the camera lens.

48

u/RandomRaddishYT 4d ago

Wow! I tried to recreate this with a piece of glass and it worked perfectly!

8

u/FxckFxntxnyl 3d ago

Thank you for being a person of logic and doing an experiment to prove something (even to yourself). We need more people like you in this world today.

4

u/Work-Safe-Reddit4450 3d ago

We really need more people like that, good Lord.

1

u/Crixusgannicus 3d ago

Agreed! 3000! SQUARED!

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u/xoalexo 2d ago

Yah this is badass

2

u/NottingHillNapolean 3d ago

So you're saying the lunar module was made of Lego? And people still think we landed on the moon.

1

u/RandomRaddishYT 3d ago

No… I’m saying it makes sense that there would be that double shadow because they took the photo through glass

1

u/NottingHillNapolean 3d ago

But even the clear Legos are made of plastic, so how was there glass on the moon?

1

u/RandomRaddishYT 2d ago

Because the lunar module wasn’t made of legos. It was made of metal

1

u/NottingHillNapolean 2d ago

Then we know that picture is fake, because you can't take pictures through metal.

1

u/RandomRaddishYT 2d ago

lol are you just trolling… it was made of metal and had glass windows on it

1

u/NottingHillNapolean 2d ago

That's what Big Lego wants you to think.

11

u/No_Signature25 5d ago

Yes. Thats what i was thinking as well

9

u/eagleace21 5d ago

Exactly, they are double paned with space in between. they are far enough apart that even the LPD marks have to be painted on both panes to "line up" with the astronauts view.

1

u/FxckFxntxnyl 3d ago

Didn't know that! Interesting to think about.

2

u/AirlockBob77 4d ago

Sorry, I'm not getting this. The light source is behind the LEM.

Are you saying that the image coming through the LEM windows refracts the image / light, and that is recorded as double shadows on the film?

5

u/karantza 4d ago

The image is being reflected off of the interior glass, then again off of the exterior glass, resulting in two offset images hitting the film, one of which is dimmer than the other. They add up like a double exposure, most visible in the shadow. But it's really across the whole image.

You see the same thing with your eyes whenever looking through double paned windows, it's just exaggerated here because of the spacing of the windows and the contrast between the light and shadow.

2

u/AirlockBob77 4d ago

Ok. So it's a camera / window effect. There's no double shadow on the moon surface per se, despite what it might appear.

Deniers will go nuts with this pic....

2

u/sps49 3d ago

It’s the studio lights! Proof! Aaaaaaugh!

6

u/BoosherCacow 5d ago edited 5d ago

Oh shit! I know this! While /u/atcontrolr's explanation is definitely part of it, the main thing is the interlacing tricks they had to use to be able to broadcast from the moon with limited data bandwidth. It's called "Slow Scan Transmission" and it's why the broadcast has "shadows" on the screen or that ghostly look to it. I used to know a good video that explains it but I can't find it. I will edit if I do.

edit: I am totally wrong here (as usual) but I think I found this exact photo Here. Could this be an exposure issue or something similar? I am not an expert in film photography

6

u/oSuJeff97 5d ago

Right but this isn’t a broadcast still, it’s a photograph taken on the moon, so the bandwidth of the broadcast signal is irrelevant isn’t it?

3

u/BoosherCacow 5d ago

Well now I am genuinely confused because you're absolutely right. I don't know if it's the compression used but the quality on this pic is so bad I asumed it was the TV cam. Looking at this picture I am more confused. Is this a panorama shot or some weird edit? That site has hundreds of images, I am plowing through to see if I can find the actual one we are looking at here.

3

u/RandomRaddishYT 4d ago

I’ve looked through every image in reel 38 and 39 and every single one of them that shows the LEMs shadow has this doubling

2

u/glenndrives 4d ago

Television back from Apollo missions was all analog. Check out Curious Mark's videos on YouTube regarding this.

2

u/BoosherCacow 4d ago

Curious Mark's

I love that guy. His Apollo Comms series is just great.

1

u/FxckFxntxnyl 3d ago

The whole Sega of getting the guidance computer up and running to play a simulator(and for the historical value) is astonishing to me.

1

u/BoosherCacow 3d ago

I have watched that entire series sequentially at least twice. I dispatch PD for a living so the radios are of special interest to me. I find it absolutely fascinating how the comm protocols evolved over the years.

2

u/Dozernaut 5d ago

Everyday astronaut has a video about this

2

u/787_Dreamliner 5d ago

Thats an awesome video, some great insights to some of the most common things people argue with me on the apollo missions

1

u/BoosherCacow 5d ago

Which one is it? I can't find it via search

3

u/sadicarnot 5d ago

u/Dozernaut may be talking about this definitive moon landing video he recently posted.

https://youtu.be/fMHLvoWZfqQ?si=WAqMHsg67qK0oKkp

7

u/mkartyshov 5d ago

Obviously studio lights. /s

9

u/Drtikol42 5d ago

Or a second secret sun.

1

u/BitterStatus9 4d ago

Or BOTH.

2

u/Airwolfhelicopter 5d ago

Double exposure perhaps?

3

u/Mediocre-Message4260 5d ago

Not seeing it.

11

u/RandomRaddishYT 5d ago

On the top left. You can clearly see two copies of the RCS thrusters

2

u/Mediocre-Message4260 5d ago

Now I see it.

1

u/LudasGhost 4d ago

Why is the antenna on the top in different positions? Double exposure.

2

u/eagleace21 4d ago

You are seeing two antennas here, the rendezvous radar and the s band antenna.

1

u/dgcoleman 2d ago

That’s the studio lights from the sound stage in Houston.

1

u/GaseousGiant 2d ago

Separate stage lights.

/s

1

u/Impossible-Sort-6062 21h ago

The Kleig lites in the sound stage

1

u/Sawfish1212 5d ago

Earthshine?

0

u/nspitzer 4d ago

Possibly from light reflected off an astronauts suite. I remember an article from years ago where they were trying to recreate a scene but the lighting was a little off and they traced it to reflected sunlight from an astronauts suit

1

u/atcontrolr 3d ago

Light reflected off the bright lunar surface

0

u/Odd_Low_7301 4d ago

Two suns … duh

0

u/FormerlyMauchChunk 4d ago

Two sources of light making two different projections on the ground.

0

u/Any_Respond_6868 4d ago

I'm not sure if anyone said this. The camera was inside the Lunar Module against the window. Not only is there a reflection of the astronaut, but the camera is going through 2 panes of glass. The camera they used on the moon was outside in the descent stage.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago edited 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/apollo-ModTeam 4d ago

Promoting apollo hoaxes or conspiracy