# Moon Photos! On The Moon. Of The Duke Of The Moon. Newslink

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-photos-on-the-moon-of-the-duke-of-the-moon-newslink/650447>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 15, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-photos-on-the-moon-of-the-duke-of-the-moon-newslink/650447 "2013-02-15T23:29:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-photos-on-the-moon-of-the-duke-of-the-moon-newslink/650447/1 "2013-02-15T23:29:04Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> A family photograph has been on the moon’s surface for more than 40 years.
> 
> Charles Duke - an astronaut on the Apollo 16 - left behind the picture on April 23, 1972 on his final mission.

> **[Family photograph discovered on the moon](https://www.digitalspy.com/fun/a459240/family-photograph-from-1972-discovered-on-the-moon-pictures/)**
>
> Astronaut Charles Duke left behind a personal picture in April 1972.

Will they be ruined by the Sun, or preserved by vacuum?

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**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-photos-on-the-moon-of-the-duke-of-the-moon-newslink/650447/2 "2013-02-16T00:34:45Z")

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Probably faded to white from intense UV. Not sure what the physical condition of the paper would be, but I’d bet it would be crumbled to dust by now from the temperature changes alone. If he’d tucked it into a rock’s permanent shadow, it could have lasted hundreds of years or more. But exposed to the sun… it’s toast.

Wasn’t a letter or a book or something left behind on a lunar mission the maguffin in _Space Cowboys_? Or was that Homer Hickam’s novel?