

Apollo Moon flags still standing, images show - cskau
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19050795

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CWIZO
I always wondered what kind of telescope one would need to look at the stuff
we left on the moon (flag, cars, what was left of the rocket, ...). Anybody
know or tried that? Is equipment like that even accessible to a regular joe
like me?

~~~
ColinWright
Not possible because of optical resolutions. If you web search that question
you'll get more details.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=can+I+use+a+telescope+to+see...](https://www.google.com/search?q=can+I+use+a+telescope+to+see+the+lunar+lander)

Here are some responses:

[http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100906195045AA...](http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100906195045AA3oIe7)

<http://stupendous.rit.edu/richmond/answers/lunar_lander.html>

<http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=134/>

[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/08/12/mo...](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/08/12/moon-
hoax-why-not-use-telescopes-to-look-at-the-landers/)

~~~
CWIZO
I was sure you could use the Hubble at least. Shows how much I know about this
stuff :) Thanks for the links, they are quite informative.

~~~
bgentry
Actually, I remember reading somewhere that the Hubble was in fact pointed at
the Lunar landing sites at one point, but that even its resolution was too low
to produce any conclusive images of the landing sites.

~~~
smallblacksun
We just need to get the NRO to let us borrow one of their satellites :)

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jedberg
If going back to the moon to examine the condition of the flags is the excuse
we need to go back, then I'm all for it! I just hope they do some real science
while they are there.

~~~
dwc
If we ever plan to have an extended presence in space then examining artifacts
left on the moon would be very informative. We left a lot of machinery up
there, exposed to the vagaries of space for 40 years. There's a lot to be
learned from the state of that equipment.

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dredmorbius
This reminds me of a passage from Arthur C. Clark's _Imperial Earth_ , set in
2276, in which a retrospective video on the first flight to the moon segues to
a shot showing Tranquility Base at the (then) present time, complete with
fallen flag and space tourists waving to cameras in the background.

There's an ongoing preservationist debate over whether or not to re-plant the
flag or leave it where it is.

Other than UV bleaching and depolymerization of plastics (including the nylon
the flag is made from), and slow micrometeorite ablation, these relics should
stand for billions of years.

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newbie12
I would love to visit these sites someday in person.

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squarecat
Based on the lighting from the rest of the image, shouldn't the flag shadow be
longer and falling the other direction??

~~~
jgrahamc
Looking at the illumination of the craters it looks like the Sun is on the
right hand side of the picture in the BBC article (craters are dark on the
right hand side, light on the left hand side). The shadow of the flag appears
on the left hand side of the flag itself so it looks correct to me.

~~~
squarecat
I wasn't seeing craters but mounds which, of course, is improbable for lunar
geology. (Strangely, even after this revelation, my mind still processes the
lighting as falling on objects the rise above the surface...)

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tocomment
Why does the flag look rippley in the picture at the top? Had he just planted
it?

~~~
emmelaich
(hope you're not trolling)

It's rigid, but made to look like it's in a breeze.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Flag_Assembly>

I

~~~
tocomment
I can see how a bar would hold it stretched out, but what is giving the
appearance of motion? And making the bottom corner look somewhat lifted up?

~~~
mseebach
It looks to me like it's still crumbled and creased from being packed up
tightly.

~~~
tocomment
Maybe with 1/6 gravity the creases stay folded up more than they would on
Earth?

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dwc
For those interested, here are some of the underlying posts on the LROC site
itself...

1\.
[http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/620-Questi...](http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/620-Question-
Answered!.html)

2\.
[http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/619-A-New-...](http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/619-A-New-
Tool-For-Exploring-NAC-Images!.html)

We have a huge amount of interesting images.

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Uchikoma
1\. One half of my brain thinks: Why shouldn't they?

2\. Other half thinks: Amazing!

~~~
astrodust
Until they're crushed by an impact, or the material somehow erodes by solar
wind, they'll probably be there for a long time.

Many huts in the Antarctic from the earliest days of exploration are still
standing despite being considerably older and those conditions are far harsher
than on the moon.

