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Non Gaming Discussions => Off-Topic => Topic started by: THX on November 26, 2002, 06:42:14 PM

Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: THX on November 26, 2002, 06:42:14 PM
Link (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/24/1037697982142.html)

Quote
Operated by European astronomers in the Chilean Andes, the VLT has four mirrors eight metres across linked by optical fibres. It can see a single human hair from 16 kilometres away.


Trained on the moon, such astonishing resolution should enable it to see the base of one or more of the six lunar modules that NASA insists landed on the moon between 1969 and 1972.

Supporters of the conspiracy theory welcomed the news that astronomers were to photograph the landing sites. But Marcus Allen, the British publisher of Nexus magazine and a long-time advocate of the theory, said photographs of the lander would not prove that the US put men on the moon. "Getting to the moon really isn\'t much of a problem - the Russians did that in 1959," he said. "The big problem is getting people there."

According to Mr Allen, NASA was forced to send robots to the moon and faked the manned missions because radiation levels in space were lethal to humans.

The Telegraph, London
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: videoholic on November 26, 2002, 07:49:38 PM
I was wondering why no one took a pic of the flag before.  That would be cool if they could see it.

But then people would say the pic was fake.
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: Kurt Angle on November 27, 2002, 02:18:25 AM
I look forward to seeing some images from this.
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: kopking on November 27, 2002, 07:50:13 AM
yeah will be cool, we be very cool to see the pics, and finally put the its fake/ not fake thing to rest
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: Titan on November 27, 2002, 10:06:09 AM
I hate the fact that people don\'t believe we landed on the moon. They have no real evidence. But hey, it\'s got to be true that we didn\'t because it was on FOX :rolleyes:
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: Samwise on November 27, 2002, 10:33:20 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Titan
They have no real evidence.
You, on the other hand, do? :)
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: THX on November 27, 2002, 05:31:59 PM
Well to be fair the people making the accusations should be the first to support their thoughts with evidence.
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: GmanJoe on November 27, 2002, 05:34:11 PM
They have some device up on the moon that sends signals to Earth the distance the Moon is pulling away each year from its average orbit. That device had to be installed by....HUMANS. Yes. Way back in the early 70s. I forgot what it was called but I do recall posting the article here...in the Off Topic Forum about 6 months ago.
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: GmanJoe on November 27, 2002, 05:44:40 PM
Copied and pasted from my saved documents. Wish I had the link to where I got this info from.

***************************

APOLLO 11 EXPERIMENT CONTINUES TO RETURN VALUABLE DATA

An experiment left on the lunar surface 30 years ago by the Apollo 11 astronauts continues to return valuable data about the Earth-Moon system to scientific centers around the world, including NASA\'s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Scientists who analyze the data from the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment have measured, among other things, that the Moon is moving away from the Earth and that the shape of the Earth is changing. They have also used the experiment to test the validity of several predictions of Einstein\'s Theory of Relativity.

The lunar laser ranging reflector is designed to reflect pulses of laser light fired from the Earth. The idea was to determine the round-trip travel time of a laser pulse from the Earth to the Moon and back again, thereby calculating the distance between the two. Unlike the other scientific experiments left on the Moon, this reflector requires no power and is still functioning perfectly after 30 years.

The reflector consists of a checkerboard mosaic of 100 fused silica half cubes (roughly the size of the average computer monitor screen), called corner cubes, mounted in a 46-centimeter (18-inch) square aluminum panel. Each corner cube is 3.8 centimeters (1.5 inches) in diameter. Corner cubes reflect a beam of light directly back toward the point of origin; it is this fact that makes them so useful in Earth surveying.

"The Lunar Laser Ranging project cuts across disciplinary and international boundaries, measuring characteristics of the Earth, the Moon and gravitational physics," said Dr. James Williams, a research scientist at JPL. "Data analysis has been conducted around the world, including Germany, France and the U.S."

The McDonald Observatory Laser Ranging Station near Ft. Davis, Texas, and the Observatoire de la Cote d\'Azur, operated by the Centre de Recherche en Geodynamique et Astrometrie near Grasse, France, regularly send a laser beam through an optical telescope and try to hit one of the reflectors. The reflectors are too small to be seen from Earth, so even when the beam is correctly aligned in the telescope, actually hitting a lunar reflector is quite challenging. At the Moon\'s surface the beam is roughly one mile wide; scientists liken the task of properly aiming the beam to using a rifle to hit a moving dime two miles away.

Once the laser beam hits a reflector, scientists at the observatories use sensitive filtering and amplification equipment to detect any kind of return signal. The reflected light is too weak to be seen with the human eye, but, under good conditions, one photon -- the fundamental particle of light -- will be received every few seconds.

Three more reflectors have since been left on the Moon, including two by later Apollo missions and one (built by the French) by the unmanned Soviet Lunakhod 2 lander. Each of the reflectors rests on the lunar surface in such a way that its flat face points toward the Earth.

Continuing improvements in lasers and electronics over the years have lead to recent measurements that are accurate to about two centimeters (less than one inch). Scientists know the average distance between the centers of the Earth and the Moon is 385,000 kilometers (239,000 miles), implying that the modern lunar ranges have relative accuracies of better than one part in 10 billion. This level of accuracy represents one of the most precise distance measurements ever made and is equivalent to determining the distance between Los Angeles and New York to one- hundredth of an inch.

During the course of the last 30 years, scientists have been able to use the orbit of the Moon and the data they received through lunar ranging to study events happening on Earth.

There have been major scientific advances derived from lunar ranging:
The familiar ocean tides raised on the Earth by the Moon have a direct influence on the Moon\'s orbit. Laser ranging has shown that the Moon is receding from the Earth at about 3.8 centimeters (1.5 inches) every year.
Lunar ranging, together with laser ranging to artificial Earth satellites, has revealed a small but constant change in the shape of the Earth. The land masses are gradually changing after being compressed by the great weight of the glaciers in the last Ice Age.
Predictions of Einstein\'s theory of relativity have been confirmed using laser ranging.
Small-scale variations in the Moon\'s rotation have been measured. They result from irregularities in the lunar gravity field, from changes in the Moon\'s shape due to tides raised in the Moon\'s solid body by the Earth and from the effects of a fluid lunar core.
The combined mass of the Earth and Moon has been determined to one part in 200 million.
Lunar ranging has yielded an enormous improvement in our knowledge of the Moon\'s orbit, enough to permit accurate analyses of solar eclipses as far back as 1400 BC.
The atmosphere, tides and the core of the Earth cause changes in the length of an Earth day -- the variations are about one thousandth of a second over the course of a year.
Researchers say that lunar reflectors will remain in service for years to come, because of the usefulness of continued improvements in range determinations for further advancing our understanding of the Earth-Moon system and the need for monitoring the details of the Earth\'s rotation.

At JPL, this lunar ranging analysis, sponsored by NASA\'s Office of Space Science, is conducted by Drs. James G. Williams, Dale Boggs, J. Todd Ratcliff and Jean O. Dickey. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA.


#####
JGW 7/19/99
#99-059
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: GmanJoe on November 27, 2002, 05:50:04 PM
Here\'s a link to thwart nearly every skeptic\'s question regarding the Lunar landing.

http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html#stars
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: videoholic on November 27, 2002, 06:39:46 PM
Here\'s a pic for kopking.  It\'s the first pic from the satelite.  Looks like the flag to me anyway.....
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: Event Horizon on November 28, 2002, 08:19:21 AM
If the lunar landing was faked, the Soviets would have known about it along with most of the scientific community and would not hesitate to tell the rest of the world. Instead, the only proponents of the conspiracy theory are a bunch of net rats and a handful of crackpot scientists.
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: kopking on November 30, 2002, 12:38:16 PM
cool very cool , though i dunno why, maybe its cos im rdrunk, the flag just looks a bit weird
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: PS2_-'_'-_PS2 on November 30, 2002, 05:03:08 PM
yeh that flag looks very fake, too bright =]
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: Samwise on December 01, 2002, 02:06:07 AM
:laughing:

Oh Kopking, perhaps you really should try and drink less. :)
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: kopking on December 01, 2002, 02:31:14 PM
lol, i only drink weekends now......lol

was soooooooooo drunk on fri, dont remeber getting home, remeber doing cartwheels on way home, something about a kebab....lol
its mainly all fuzzy
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: fastson on December 01, 2002, 03:34:46 PM
What a waste of time and money.. Everybody knows they were there.

There is no way NASA could fabricate all those rocks (what was it, 500kg something?) they took back from the moon that have been studied all over the world.


First images are in.. So can everybody STFU now pliz? You can clearly see they have been people on the moon.. Hmm, seems they left a few behind. :eek:
(https://psx5central.com/community/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fw1.480.telia.com%2F%7Eu48019550%2Fmoon.jpg&hash=a58129c6bd839b838a67c7071e61027f67cb8b76)
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: Titan on December 01, 2002, 04:54:47 PM
WTF? Did you take that?
Title: Faked? That would be tragic!
Post by: jiggs on December 01, 2002, 08:17:56 PM
But if so my question would be......Why? What would that acomplish? U.S. never landing on the moon would be the biggest cover-up of all time.

If they did fake it someone else would know namely the Russians.
They would never let the U.S. get away with that.
________
Club Royal Condo (http://pattayaluxurycondos.com)
Title: European Astronomers use new telescope to look at moon landings
Post by: Titan on December 02, 2002, 01:17:35 PM
That and someone who was working on the hoax would have came forward.