A dignified champion of the Moon hoax conspiracy has indeed poured over those Aldrin photos, and he is highly qualified to do so. His name is Dr. David Groves. Dr. Groves is a physicist and photo imaging expert. The most well-known hoax claims have always included copious references to the shadows in the Aldrin photos, and Dr. Groves has touched on that issue; however, in his research, Dr. Groves has not overemphasized the role of those shadows. In other words, this research is not another tiresome analysis concerning parallel shadows and vaguely scientific explanations. His ideas are fresh. This article only touches on one of his ideas (the gleaming boot), but you can find his videos on the internet if you are interested in more.
Dr. Groves noticed a very peculiar thing about one of the Aldrin photos: a heavy reflection of light on one of Aldrin's boots. Dr. Groves claims that only a specially placed spotlight could have created such an intense reflection on the boot.
NASA explains that the Lunar surface, Earth, and light reflections off of the Lunar module combined to illuminate Buzz in the photo above. Well, if the Lunar module reflects light so well, then why is it pitch black underneath it? The Lunar surface doesn't reflect enough light to illuminate the backs of nearby rocks, because the backsides of those rocks always appear to be pitch black in these NASA photos. As an example, take notice of the rocks to the side of Aldrin in the picture (first picture) with the illuminated boot problem.
Clearly, we have a dilemma here. On the one hand, we are supposed to assume that the Lunar surface is highly reflective. We are supposed to also assume that the Earth is shining down light on the Astronauts. Think about it, though. When was the last time that the full Moon provided you with enough light for a night photo of your friends? That just doesn't happen. So why should the Earth be any different? It is bigger, but not exactly more reflective. Now, those nearby rocks are casting thick shadows. Neither the light from the Earth nor the light shimmering off of the Lunar surface is enough to illuminate those dark spots. So, why should we believe that Buzz has been illuminated by light reflecting off of the Earth, the Moon, or the lander? It just doesn't seem to add up.
Let's take another look at Buzz' backpack. We know that there is a bright flash of light coming from his boot in this picture, but let's take a closer look at his backpack. Notice how the bottom of his backpack is brightly illuminated, and is possibly the brightest part of his body (aside from those curiously bright feet). Both the feet and the bottom of the backpack are not facing the ground. In fact, his body is directly in the path of light coming from both the ground and the lander! So, the bottom of that backpack should not be so brightly lit! The yellow circle shows this brightly lit area, and you can see his body positioning in the photo at the top of the article.
It seems likely that a direct spotlight would be needed to create this lighting effect. This would explain why the top (upper portion) of the backpack fades away into shadow. The blue circle shows this shadowy part of the backpack. The sharp contrast between the brightly lit bottom of the backpack and the shadowy upper portion is a curious dilemma. The presence of a spotlight explains this dilemma perfectly. Apollo Astronauts did not have a spotlight on their missions, by the by.
Moon hoaxers are spending a lot of time analyzing these photos. Some of their findings are quite interesting. The above information finds itself rooted mostly in scientific reasoning, but there are some rather interesting things in the photos themselves too (aside from the Coke bottle and the Disney cartoon character, which you can read about in another article here). We'll get to some more interesting photo problems at a later date.
It seems likely that a direct spotlight would be needed to create this lighting effect. This would explain why the top (upper portion) of the backpack fades away into shadow. The blue circle shows this shadowy part of the backpack. The sharp contrast between the brightly lit bottom of the backpack and the shadowy upper portion is a curious dilemma. The presence of a spotlight explains this dilemma perfectly. Apollo Astronauts did not have a spotlight on their missions, by the by.
Moon hoaxers are spending a lot of time analyzing these photos. Some of their findings are quite interesting. The above information finds itself rooted mostly in scientific reasoning, but there are some rather interesting things in the photos themselves too (aside from the Coke bottle and the Disney cartoon character, which you can read about in another article here). We'll get to some more interesting photo problems at a later date.
