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Apollo Discussions => The Hoax Theory => Topic started by: onebigmonkey on July 05, 2013, 02:22:27 PM

Title: Lunar terminator anomaly, Apollo 11 - any thoughts?
Post by: onebigmonkey on July 05, 2013, 02:22:27 PM
So, I've been looking at the position of the lunar terminator during missions as yet another piece of corroborating evidence for emmissions, and it's been very interesting and useful so far.

Having just completed Apollo 11 I came across an oddity.

In Magazine O, photograph AS11-38-5683 is the last of a series of post-TEI photographs of the moon before images of Earth begin to appear, and has a terminator consistent with about 08:00 on the 22nd - a couple of hours after TEI.

The next image of the moon I used has a terminator that has barely moved compared with what it should be, despite being taken almost 22 hours later, which can be verified using satellite images of Earth's weather to pinpoint the date and time.

My argument is that the use of photographic settings that allow photography of Earth are causing under-exposure of the moon, making regions near the terminator seem much darker than they should.

Rather than clog up the page, the Apollo 11 bit is here http://onebigmonkey.comoj.com/obm/termx2.html (http://onebigmonkey.comoj.com/obm/termx2.html)

Does this sound reasonable, or is there another explanation?
Title: Re: Lunar terminator anomaly, Apollo 11 - any thoughts?
Post by: Mag40 on July 05, 2013, 03:08:38 PM
I may be mistaken here.....but the terminator has moved exactly as it should. The C/SM has come around the Moon a few degrees on its return ellipse.....the craters to the right are clearly several degrees around to the edge. All we are seeing is a different area of the Moon lit as you would expect.
Title: Re: Lunar terminator anomaly, Apollo 11 - any thoughts?
Post by: onebigmonkey on July 05, 2013, 05:17:17 PM
I know what you're saying, and it's something I've used elsewhere on my site to explain (for example) why the curvature of the Earth's terminator looks different compared to what eg Stellarium predicts.

What is visible has changed slightly because, as you rightly point out, the CSM's viewing perspective has altered, but the position of the terminator is fixed regardless of where you are viewing it from. What the photograph I've identified shows is a terminator that is not in the same place that software such as Virtual Moon Atlas, Lunar Terminator Viewing Tool and Stellarium all predict. For example, the Apollo image shows the terminator just west of Plato 3 crater, whereas the software predictions show that it should be on Plato B some 100 km further west at 05:30 GMT on July 23 1969.