# "spike" on the Moon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781 "2016-09-24T23:43:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/21 "2016-09-26T00:26:58Z")
[Long Range Anomolies](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=82431) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/22 "2016-09-26T00:28:21Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > It would be interesting to discover whether the on-ground recorded image data exists. Probably difficult to recover now if it has net bee transcribed. It doesn’t seem to be listed anywhere. There is an ongoing [Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Orbiter_Image_Recovery_Project) that aims to generate better quality images from the magnetic tape recordings of the signal. But I haven’t found a recovered image that corresponds to the image in question. ---
**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:** [September 26, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/23 "2016-09-26T01:55:48Z")
Finally took a look at the link in the OP. What credulous crap. No part of the artifact matches anything of how the whole rest of the photo looks. Contrast, grain, scan artifacts are all totally different in the “spike” versus the rest of the picture. Idjits. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/24 "2016-09-26T02:27:20Z")
It looks to me like the black bit is actually a ditch or crevice. There’s a light stripe to the right of it and then a grey shadow to the right of that. The the spot between the light and grey it the top of a long ridge. The dark black to the left is a deeper bit shadowed by its left bank. It’s not uncommon for the eye to mistake a dark line for a raised image but it’s far more likely to indicate an indentation. In this case, shadowed by the rise to the left of it. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/25 "2016-09-26T02:39:43Z")
It looks to me like the black bit is actually a ditch or crevice. There’s a light stripe to the right of it and then a grey shadow to the right of that. The spot between the light and grey is the top of a long ridge. The dark black to the left is a deeper bit shadowed by its left bank. It’s not uncommon for the eye to mistake a dark line for a raised image but it’s far more likely to indicate an indentation. In this case, shadowed by the rise to the left of it. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/26 "2016-09-26T03:25:03Z")
The story says that this “antenna” would be about 3.6 _miles_ tall (c. 19K’). Then, one sees that it is _curved_ (not arrow straight). Seriously? Something that tall is not going to be stable with that much bow in it. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/27 "2016-09-26T04:45:14Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The story says that this “antenna” would be about 3.6 _miles_ tall (c. 19K’). Then, one sees that it is _curved_ (not arrow straight). Seriously? Something that tall is not going to be stable with that much bow in it. But it’s _alien_ technology. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/28 "2016-09-26T05:02:56Z")
Only a sixth the gravity, so that’s the equivalent of 3000’ on Earth or only 500’ on Zeta Gemini C … ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/29 "2016-09-27T13:47:57Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Haven’t more recent orbiters imaged the same site in better resolution? Yes. The LRO has far, far better resolution. I’ll go off and have a look… ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/30 "2016-09-27T14:11:30Z")
Here is the location on the LRO Quick Map. The exact location is just within the high-res area (4m per pixel at the linked zoom level) although conspiracy theorists will note that there’s a thin sliver that hasn’t been covered by the high-res imagery. [http://bit.ly/2dgXbsW](http://bit.ly/2dgXbsW) ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/31 "2016-09-27T14:33:10Z")
Wow, those NASA engineers are getting good with Photoshop these days … ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/32 "2016-09-30T05:21:22Z")
Ah, I see now. It was Mary Whitehouse did that, pixelating the moon’s genitalia. Dirty, dirty moon. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781/33 "2016-10-02T00:53:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > My guess is a hair or speck of dust on the photograph, or possibly on the negative the photograph was made from. We used to spend hours scouring negatives of prints of negatives of transparencies to find anomalies. I still remember the day we brought in an outside pro who announced “After careful examination, my determination is that it’s a … mustache hair.” Everyone slowly swiveled to face me, the only guy with a 'stache. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spike-on-the-moon/766781.md?page=1)