lunar conspiracy

8/8/2019 Lunar Conspiracy

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Lunar ConsipiracySkepticism Gone Crazy

Philosophy and Skepticism

BRENT SILBY

Unlimited (UPT)


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Lunar Landing

Skepticism is rational, but only if evidence is taken seriously

Many people are skeptical about the missions to the moon thattook place during the late 1960s and early 1970s

They think these missions were hoaxes

Are they right? What are their reasons for holding this view?


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Lunar Landing

Lets look at their reasons and assess against scientific evidence


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The flag is waving, but there is no wind on the moon

When you watch footage, it appears that the flag is waving in

the wind. But there is no atmosphere on the moon. How canit be waving?

Does this mean that the whole thing was filmed in a studio on

Earth?


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Its difficult to believe that such a mistake would be made. Surely if

it was filmed on Earth, the producers would ensure that the flagdid not move

The flag is moving a lot. I do not know any studios that are that

windy. The producers would need a huge fan to make the flagmove like that.

And with a fan that big, surely the dust would be blowing around

too.

It is unlikely that a hoaxed moon landing would have a moving

flag. They would try to make it motionless.


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Try this explanation

In low gravity with no no friction, things keep moving. For example: when aspace walking astronaut spins an object in space, it keeps spinning.

To spread the flag in a zero wind environment, it was attached to a wire frame.

The astronaut twisted the flagpole to plant it in the ground. This motion caused

the flag to move back and forwards. With low gravity and no atmosphere it keptmoving until the astronaut stopped it manually.

Is there another explanation? Discuss


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Check this clip from myth busters

[not embedded, load from folder with VLC]


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Shadows incorrect

Conspiracy theorists complain that shadows of astronauts are inconsistent.

This can only be explained if there are two sources of light, as in a studio.

One shadow is much longer than the other

But is this convincing? The photo is very blurred. If we could see the unblurred

photo, we might understand why the shadows look this way.

Why do you think the shadows look like this? Discuss.


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Shadows incorrect

Lets add the contour lines of the area they are running in

One astronaut is heading down a slope

Try this experiment yourself. If you have the sun behind you, and you are

going downhill, your shadow is long. If the sun is behind you as you head

uphill, your shadow is short.


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Shadows incorrect

Consider another lighting problem

Why is the astronaut so brightly lit? The spacecraft is dark, so the sun is

obviously on the other side. Surely the astronaut should be dark and in shadow.

He is lit up as if there is another source of light.


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Shadows incorrect

Well, there is another source of lightThe Moon

It is very white and is reflecting the light from the sun back towards the

astronaut. Its like being surrounded by snow. It is a very bright environment.


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Camera Evidence

Who took the pictures and footage of Neil Armstrong stepping out to become

the first person on the moon?

Easy answerthey filmed it with the space crafts external camera


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Camera Evidence

But look at this photographic anomaly. See the crosshair on the left side of the

image appears to be behind the item in the photograph. Does this mean these

pictures are bad fakes?

No! The crosshairs are reference points. The pictures were transmitted back toearth in blocks and then reassembled later.

The crosshairs gave a reference point for where to assemble the pictures.

The crosshairs were part of block A, and block B was pasted over the top.

No big mystery here.


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The problem of radiation

On Earth, we are protected from the suns radiation by our atmosphere. There

is no such protection on the moon or on board a space craft.

Some theorists suggest that when moving beyond the International

Space Station, a space craft would need several inches of lead shielding to

protect the astronauts on board.

They conclude that the astronauts should have been radiated to death!

Problem is that these theorists are denying the possibility of falsification of

their theory. They are stating, without experimental evidence, that the astronauts

would die.

When presented with the possibility that astronauts didsurvive, these theorists

do not recheck their theories. Instead, they declare the whole thing a hoax.

Thats not the way science works.


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The idea that no-one can survive out there can only be confirmed or denied

by actually sending someone up there.

Since these theorists do not believe that anyone has been out there, they

have no grounds upon which to assert the truth of their claim.


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The idea that radiation would kill astronautsbetrays a misunderstanding of radiation in

space.

True, the sun releases bursts of radiation, but not all radiation is harmful.

Low energy particles can be stopped by a spacecrafts hull or by the

astronauts suit.

High energy particles can pass right through the ship and through people without

actually interacting with their body cells.


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The most dangerous energy level sits in the midrange. These are produced

by solar flares. Luckily solar flares do not happen every day, and they do not

shoot particles in all directions.

Furthermore, exposure to harmful radiation does not guarantee death. It just

raises the probability of early death. It is possible for an astronaut to live a long

life after exposure to solar flare radiation.


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Common Sense

Think about the political state of the time.

It was the Space Race!

The Russians were watching the US very closely. They would know if it had

been faked, and they would have been very quick to alert the rest of the world.

But that did not happen. Conspiracy theories originated within the US itself by

people who were not trained in science.

Skepticism is good, but we have to be rational about the evidence.


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For the rest of the session

Go to youtube and watch clips from the moon landing.

In particular, see if you can find a way to solve this conspiracy claim:

The astronauts are movingasifthe film is beingplayed backinslowmotion.

Thatis howtheyfakedthe lowgravity environment.


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Powerpoint by BRENT SILBY

www.def-logic.com

Produced at UPT

Christchurch, New Zealand

www.unlimited.school.nz

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