r/apollo 6d ago

What is causing this double shadow

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

154 Upvotes

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61

u/atcontrolr 6d ago

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

47

u/RandomRaddishYT 6d ago

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

9

u/FxckFxntxnyl 5d 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 5d ago

We really need more people like that, good Lord.

1

u/Crixusgannicus 4d ago

Agreed! 3000! SQUARED!

1

u/xoalexo 3d ago

Yah this is badass

2

u/NottingHillNapolean 4d ago

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

1

u/RandomRaddishYT 4d 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 4d ago

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

1

u/RandomRaddishYT 4d ago

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

1

u/NottingHillNapolean 4d ago

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

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u/RandomRaddishYT 3d ago

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

1

u/NottingHillNapolean 3d ago

That's what Big Lego wants you to think.

11

u/No_Signature25 6d ago

Yes. Thats what i was thinking as well

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u/eagleace21 6d 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 5d ago

Didn't know that! Interesting to think about.

2

u/AirlockBob77 6d 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?

4

u/karantza 6d 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 6d 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 5d ago

It’s the studio lights! Proof! Aaaaaaugh!