APOD: Apollo 12 Visits Surveyor 3 (2018 Oct 22)

[APOD Robot]

Apollo 12 Visits Surveyor 3

Explanation: Apollo 12 was the second mission to land humans on the Moon. The landing site was picked to be near the location of Surveyor 3, a robot spacecraft that had landed on the Moon three years earlier. In the featured photograph, taken by lunar module pilot Alan Bean, mission commander Pete Conrad jiggles the Surveyor spacecraft to see how firmly it is situated. The lunar module is visible in the distance. Apollo 12 brought back many photographs and moon rocks. Among the milestones achieved by Apollo 12 was the deployment of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, which carried out many experiments including one that measured the solar wind.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[Guest]

This is actually pretty cool...

[heehaw]

I bought my first television set specifically for Apollo 12, wanting to see action on the Moon from my own apartment. Sigh! The first thing they did with their TV camera was accidentally point it at the Sun, completely and permanently ruining it. And then there was Apollo 13. And after that I was hitchhiking around the world, and no TV in Africa, or even in American Samoa...

[isoparix]

Did this mission have a rover? Did he walk or drive to Surveyor 3?

[JohnD]

isoparix, are you referring to the apparent tread marks in the regolith, bottom left?
Nasa Moon Rover first used on Apollo 15, and subsequent missions, so not on 12.
That imprint certainly looks unlike the many other foot prints. The absence or not of Rover tread marks is a frequent tool of Monn Lnading deniers. Here's one they will enjoy!
John

[Any]

It looks like someone altered the picture. Astronaut shaking hands with a sock puppet? You have been trolled.

[Chris Peterson]

It looks like someone altered the picture. Astronaut shaking hands with a sock puppet? You have been trolled.

Is he tickling Kermit under the chin?

[De58te]

Something about the picture puzzles me. Is the terminator between day and night so abrupt on the Moon? Being an amateur photographer I know that they didn't use a flash bulb to light up the Surveyor. The shadows would turn away from the camera. So the surveyor must be lit up brightly by the Sun. Then why is the Apollo 12 lander which appears to be maybe 1,000 meters away, not just as lit up by the sun? Did they build the Surveyor out of really reflective material but build the Apollo lander with really light absorbing material? I would think the two space "ships" would be built with similar material.

[cintune]

If this was scanned from a darkroom print of a film negative it could be that whoever made the print adjusted the exposure through dodging or burning.

[neufer]

---

Something about the picture puzzles me. Is the terminator between day and night so abrupt on the Moon? Being an amateur photographer I know that they didn't use a flash bulb to light up the Surveyor. The shadows would turn away from the camera. So the surveyor must be lit up brightly by the Sun. Then why is the Apollo 12 lander which appears to be maybe 1,000 meters away, not just as lit up by the sun? Did they build the Surveyor out of really reflective material but build the Apollo lander with really light absorbing material? I would think the two space "ships" would be built with similar material.

If this was scanned from a darkroom print of a film negative it could be that whoever made the print adjusted the exposure through dodging or burning.

Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century

[neufer]

I bought my first television set specifically for Apollo 12, wanting to see action on the Moon from my own apartment. Sigh! The first thing they did with their TV camera was accidentally point it at the Sun, completely and permanently ruining it. And then there was Apollo 13. And after that I was hitchhiking around the world, and no TV in Africa, or even in American Samoa...

How does one hitchhike to American Samoa

[Chris Peterson]

I bought my first television set specifically for Apollo 12, wanting to see action on the Moon from my own apartment. Sigh! The first thing they did with their TV camera was accidentally point it at the Sun, completely and permanently ruining it. And then there was Apollo 13. And after that I was hitchhiking around the world, and no TV in Africa, or even in American Samoa...

How does one hitchhike to American Samoa :?:

What do you call hitching a ride on a freighter or some other ship not intended for the commercial transportation of people? (I know people who have traveled this way.) Hitchcruising? Hitchfloating?

[BDanielMayfield]

Something about the picture puzzles me. Is the terminator between day and night so abrupt on the Moon? Being an amateur photographer I know that they didn't use a flash bulb to light up the Surveyor. The shadows would turn away from the camera. So the surveyor must be lit up brightly by the Sun. Then why is the Apollo 12 lander which appears to be maybe 1,000 meters away, not just as lit up by the sun? Did they build the Surveyor out of really reflective material but build the Apollo lander with really light absorbing material? I would think the two space "ships" would be built with similar material.

The lander wouldn't have been anywhere near the terminator, for they needed these landings to be in full sunlight.

I don't wish to stoke the faked moon landings crowd, but on earth distant objects appear dimmer due to atmospheric extinction caused by dust in the air. But on the moon there is no air, so De has raised a good question.

Bruce

[Chris Peterson]

Something about the picture puzzles me. Is the terminator between day and night so abrupt on the Moon? Being an amateur photographer I know that they didn't use a flash bulb to light up the Surveyor. The shadows would turn away from the camera. So the surveyor must be lit up brightly by the Sun. Then why is the Apollo 12 lander which appears to be maybe 1,000 meters away, not just as lit up by the sun? Did they build the Surveyor out of really reflective material but build the Apollo lander with really light absorbing material? I would think the two space "ships" would be built with similar material.

It's just a badly processed version of the image. Go to the image in the master catalog and it looks much better.
_

AS12-48-7134HRsm.jpg

[Paul Becker]

Salesman said this vacuum's guaranteed
It could suck an ancient virus from the sea
It could put the dog out of a job
Could make traffic stop so little thoughts can safely get across

It's the rules
It's the rules
Guaranteed or not
It's the rules

[MarkBour]

So, the oldest profession ... on the moon ... appears to be spare parts salvage.

I suppose that if they had landed next to Luna-9 and vandalized it, instead of Surveyor-3, that would have sent a different message.

[JohnD]

Gosh, it does look different, in the distance.
And in the foreground. It's been cropped for the APOD, and the slightly wider view removes the appearance of a tyre track.
Suspicion often creates what it suspects (CS Lewis)

JOhn

[BDanielMayfield]

Gosh, it does look different, in the distance.
And in the foreground. It's been cropped for the APOD, and the slightly wider view removes the appearance of a tyre track.
Suspicion often creates what it suspects (CS Lewis)

JOhn

Then, that being the case, why use a version of this historic photo that gives moon landing denighers more reasons to denigh when much better versions like the one Chris has shown are readily available?

Bruce

[JohnD]

No idea, presume that APOD got the image via another source. But anyone can go to the Apollo 12 webpage and the Images, especially magazine No.48. Lots of images of the Surveyor from AS12-48-7098 (OF300)
See: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/images12.html#Mag48

It's obvious that Al Bean carefully took pics as he approached the probe, before he stepped around it. The place where I thought there were tyre tracks is clearly free of any imprint in an early one: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/AS12-48-7119.jpg

John