# can you see the american flag in the moon through a telescope? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324 "2003-12-06T05:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324/21 "2003-12-06T15:13:40Z")
As others have said, the flag or the LEM base unit cannot be seen with any current Earth-based or Earth-orbiting telescope. But they did plant laser reflectors at those sites which can be “seen” by bouncing a suitable laser off of them. The challenge for any semi-sensible person is that once the conspiracy loonies have planted doubts in your mind, what will it take for you to become convinced of the truth? Suppose in 5 years I show you a shot taken by the not-yet-in-orbit super-Hubble which NASA is currently building. That shot shows the LEM and some other equipment. What’s to say that’s not faked too? Any evidence a layman might ever see has to be provided through high-tech channels and is potentially subject to fakery by the forces of evil, assuming such exist. So in essence it becomes a contest of faith. if you trust the conspiracy nuts, then you can’t trust anything you don’t have direct personal experience of. If you trust the system and your common sense, you’ll recognize this conundrum and not fall prey to the conspiracy nuts. Has anyone ever been to the South or North pole? How do you know? Answer: you don’t, except by taking other folks’ words for it. I’ve never seen Singapore with my own eyes, and for all I know, every purported photo of the place is really Bankok. But you know what? I trust that Singapore really exists. Just like I trust the Apollo 11 really occurred as NASA said. I watched the live video that day as a kid and I saw men walking and dust flying & falling in low-G conditions. Conditions not simulatable on Earth and far beyond the computer technology of the era to generate as a video special effect. One of the fascinating side effects of the internet is that real news and facts by real reputable agencies, be they government or academia, or industry, or media, tend to not have long lives, whereas the pet theories of crackpots live forever. You can’t retrieve the 1969 headlines and engineering studies, but you can retrieve the nutcases’ rantings. So Google would have you believe that 9 out of 10 sites that have an opinion think it’s fake. But that’s only because the thousands of examples of real data have fallen off the back of the history curve. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324/22 "2003-12-06T17:25:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DreadCthulhu \* > Also, the hull of the craft would have easily stopped alpha or beta radiation, leaving only gamma to deal with. Well, that might explain why Aldrin “hulked out” on Sibrel. Then again, if I’d been there, I’d have considered myself _priveleged_ to help Buzz whale on Bart, and I’ve never been in space. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324/23 "2003-12-06T18:31:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LSLGuy \* > **Just like I trust the Apollo 11 really occurred as NASA said. I watched the live video that day as a kid and I saw men walking and dust flying & falling in low-G conditions. Conditions not simulatable on Earth and far beyond the computer technology of the era to generate as a video special effect.** I was around then too, but to play Devil’s Advocate, such visual effects could have been simulated in 1969, assuming that the broadcasts were pre-taped and not really live. The dust effects would be a cell animated overlay. With a modicum of image degradation, it would fit in with the video image. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324/24 "2003-12-06T19:00:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pixelfreak \* > **"We uncovered some mislabeled, unedited, behind-the-scenes footage from NASA that shows the crew of Apollo 11 clearly staging a shot of being half-way to the moon."** Except [it doesn’t.](http://www.redzero.demon.co.uk/moonhoax/Sibrel.htm) Conspiracy theories sell. If you’re wanting to buy them there will always be people out to make money from them. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324/25 "2003-12-06T21:06:45Z")
Here’s the definitive proof that the moon landings happened (although I don’t know why I bother)… Look at the footage of one of the rovers driving around. Watch the behaviour of the lunar dust kicked up by the back wheels. You will not that it travels in a perfect parabolic arc, with all particles moving at the same speed. This is proof that they were in a vacuum. In air, the lighter particles fall slower, and a residue of fine suspended dust is left behind. In 1969 there were no vacuum chambers big enough to build a moon set and drive a rover around. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324/26 "2003-12-06T21:12:45Z")
Oh, I forgot to mention that you can calculate the gravity by measuring the number of frames it takes for the particles to hit the surface from the top of the arc. And guess what? It turns out to be 1/6 gravity. And the film can’t be slowed down to show that, or everyone else would be moving in slow motion. You can figure out that if the film were only running at 1/6 speed, the moon rover would have to be going hellishly fast to have the same apparent speed in the film. Something like 40 miles per hour. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324/27 "2003-12-06T21:33:42Z")
I do think that’s a good idea, and it probably would be conclusive, but the time it takes a projectile to fall goes as 1/sqrt(g). So in order to simulate 1/6 gravity you’d only have to slow down the film by a factor of sqrt(6), or 2.45. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324/28 "2003-12-06T22:44:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*Well, that might explain why Aldrin “hulked out” on Sibrel. > > Then again, if I’d been there, I’d have considered myself _priveleged_ to help Buzz whale on Bart, and I’ve never been in space. \*\* Please. That video of Aldrin punching Sibrel is clearly a fake. Or do you expect me to believe that a 72 year old man could punch out a guy in his mid 30’s?? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324/29 "2003-12-06T23:41:44Z")
Have you seen his interview on _The Daily Show_? 'cause I think they said almost that exactly. I can’t believe how many people think they’re going to be taken seriously on that show. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Striss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@Striss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Striss)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324/30 "2003-12-07T13:39:56Z")
As an aside, a little know fact the NASA’s not exactly proud of is when the Eagle lifted-off from the moon (Apollo 11) the flag fell during the take-off of the lunar module. The boys had quite a problem planting the flag pole in the hard soil of the landing sight. Oooops… 😉 Hey, “A” for effort… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-the-american-flag-in-the-moon-through-a-telescope/217324.md?page=1)