3
$\begingroup$

In the Apollo photographic record there are dozens of duplicated and distorted fiducials. They mostly occur on color images and when the camera is pointed directly at the sun or the sun is just out of the frame but it's flare is still visible on the image. Often you'll have a beautifully framed and composed image without duplicated fiducials followed by a mess of an image then a return to normality!

What causes this, isn't the reseau plate pressed close to the film? There are many examples but I'll just post snips from 3, thanks!

EDIT

It is generally confined to the brightest areas but there are inconsistencies. For example, this one from Apollo 13 where the sun is reflecting of the CM. There is a duplicated and askew fiducial above the centre of the reflection but the one below and closer the centre of brightness is normal. I don't know what those 2 curving parallel lines are to the right but they appear on half a dozen images in that magazine. Then there's this image from A14. The left fiducial is doubled and distorted but the right one appears unaffected. The antistatic electrode appears flipped and duplicated but smudged.

How did the flare surrounding the sun get that neat horizontal cut in its lower third? Why is the sun bulging (a common feature of sun up images, this is not the most extreme) beyond the borders of the frame? I don't think it's inter-reflections in the reseau plate or off the rear lens. I'm leaning more towards sloppy handling during processing and duplication. enter image description here enter image description here

enter image description here enter image description hereenter image description here

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
6
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Interesting, but not a question. StackExchange is for questions and answers. (You can self-answer questions if you want to introduce the community to something interesting, but you still have to hew to the question-and-answer format) $\endgroup$
    – Erin Anne
    Commented Oct 24, 2022 at 1:16
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ According to apollohoax.net/forum/index.php?topic=1917.0, the duplicates are reflections of the original fiducial marks or the rear element of the lens. What isn't mentioned (probably because it was thought to be "obvious") is that it occurs when a really bright light source is in or near the view, like the Sun :-). $\endgroup$
    – JohnHoltz
    Commented Oct 24, 2022 at 2:55
  • $\begingroup$ I was once a keen silver halide photographer Is there a some document or paper describing the effect? There are so many different examples of this in all missions except 11 and it seems strange they didn't fix the problem. Why the down votes too? Shouldn't this be a place of open enquiry! $\endgroup$
    – Bruffy
    Commented Oct 24, 2022 at 4:10
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @ErinAnne ... "What causes this?" sounds like a question to me. $\endgroup$
    – Woody
    Commented Oct 24, 2022 at 15:37
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Woody that was edited in after my comment. Funny thing: I checked back later, saw the same thing, and assumed I'd overlooked it until I checked the edit timestamp $\endgroup$
    – Erin Anne
    Commented Oct 24, 2022 at 19:08

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2
$\begingroup$

Have a look to the Apollo Image Library:

AS14-66-9306HR.jpg

AS14-66-9306HR.jpg

AS17-147-22579HR.jpg

AS17-147-22579HR.jpg

AS14-67-9387HR.jpg

AS14-67-9387HR.jpg

If you enlarge the images, the double crosses are visible within overexposed areas only. The double crosses are caused by reflection within the reseau plate.

Developing of the film could not cause such duplicated fiducials. Duplication faults would not be restricted to fiducials only, there should be other errors at the Lunar Module.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
$\begingroup$

Here is a higher resolution image of AS14-66-9306 and a collage of the four fiducial crosses closest to the sun glint. These factors point to (no pun intended) a reflection of the crosses within the camera:

  • The duplicate crosses only appear near the glint. No other duplication is apparent in other crosses or the image.
  • All the duplicate crosses are located radially outward from the glint. (Zoom in on the full resolution image to better see the arrows I have drawn from the duplicates through the originals.)
  • The color of the duplicates is different: bluish versus reddish-brown for the originals.

higher resolution

Close-up of 4 crosses surrounding the glint. The line starts at the duplicate cross and passes through the original cross. close up of 4 crosses

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.