While ISS astronauts do a spacewalk this Christmas eve, I thought that this would be the best tribute I could make for them, and for all of my readers, contributors, and moderators.
Audio and some stunning new video follow.
![480px-NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/480px-nasa-apollo8-dec24-earthrise1.jpg?quality=83)
They recited:
Bill Anders
“We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.
‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.'”
Jim Lovell
“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”
Frank Borman
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.’
And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.”
Here is the historic audio clip of the text above:
That happened 45 years ago today, when the Apollo 8 astronauts suddenly noticed the Earth “rising” over the lunar horizon. Despite all of the planning for the mission, this event was a complete surprise, and they scrambled to load color film and get cameras ready.
NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio has created a marvelous recreation of the event, using 3D modeling, original audio from the onboard recorder, and the actual photographs of the moment on December 24, 1968, when the astronauts on the Apollo 8 mission orbiting the moon were unexpectedly confronted with an “Earthrise” and worked together to snap some of the most viewed photography in history. This is an excerpt from the full public-domain video, narrated by the Apollo mission historian Andy Chaikin:
The full visualization is here.
In 2007, an HD camera aboard Japan’s Kaguya satellite videotaped earth ‘rising’ and ‘setting.’ Set to music by Peter Rundquist, the images bring home the lonely, extraordinary nature of this “pale blue dot.”
h/t to Andrew Revkin for that video
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Martin A: Perhaps Barbara should do an experiment, put a Christmas candle in the middle of her room, and take an old fashioned paper globe. She should keep the globe tight in her hands and walk around the candle. All time the same part of the globe faces the candle. This may invite her to think that the globe does not spin, but she made one rotation in the room and so did the globe. She can also make that the globe does not spin with respect to the chamber. While she walks around the candle, she has to counter-rotate the globe and may note that the candle light now produces one day and night cycle.
Actually it was squirrels, not chipmonks. In Missouri people there bred dogs who would tree a squirrel. Many a pot was filled with squirrel stew thanks to boys like my grandfather.
Ah, but Pamela, does not even that example demonstrate my tongue-cheek observation?
Remember, his bolstorous stories were not told WHILE shooting sharp-eyed squirrels and evil chipmuncks in the woods, but, rather, they were told AFTER hunting those squirrels WHILE entertaining the well-fed and warm mothers (potential mothers) of potential children and future grandchildren back at the warm house and in front of a roaring fire? A well-entertained grandchild IS a survival trait, because it makes the seldom-entertained, often-suffering mother and grandmother feel better about the often-missing hunter.
Ain’t nobody happy unless mama’s happy ain’t just a slogan. 8<)
For remember too, that the silent-but-deadly sharp-eyed squirrel shooter MUST – at the end of the successful hunt – come back to the fire and advertise his success and his talents, must he not? Does not the meek, silent and submissive and never-speaking little pipsqueak get squeezed out of that night's companionship (and its potential future children) with those chatty, talkative women who had not the chance to see any of the that day's or that weeks' hunt? A story-telling "hero" IS as important to survival (after the hunt) as the silent hunting is before the kill.
Boasting around the fire (in the bar) or after the fighting is a man's survival trait for the same reason that marketing works: Sales and presentation to the potential customers of the hunt MUST support the manufacturing and design. But mere talk without the production are also a waste.
Yep. The pile of antlers out by the barn had to match the stories told round the hearth. As for being quiet when hunting, that was hard for me to learn. I couldn’t even talk while we were fishing!
With regards to the spinning moon, or lack thereof, over a period of a single month, we may see almost the same thing from earth whether the moon spins on its axis once a month or if it does not spin at all. And the reason is simple. We only see what is reflected from the sun and visible on earth.
We need to check what full moons looks like 6 months apart. If the same side more or less faces the earth at all times, a full moon in December looks like a full moon in June.
On the other hand, if the moon does not spin relative to the North Star for example, then a full moon will look very different in June than in December.
John A
People who believe that the moon spins are a troubled people and always have been that way despite its persistence as mainstream policy and it comes from the same group who will announce to the world that all the effects within a 24 hour cycle such as daily temperature rises and falls are not due to the rotation of the Earth by virtue that they insist that there are more rotations of the Earth in a year than there are days –
” It is a fact not generally known that,owing to the difference between solar and sidereal time,the Earth rotates upon its axis once more often than there are days in the year” NASA /Harvard
It is an intractable problem for the necessary intellectual and interpretative talent is not available at the present time to square away the 24 hour AM/PM system with the Lat/Long system which keeps the Earth turning at a rate of 15 degrees per hour is being obscured by a bunch of cretins who can’t seemingly begin with the fact that when you wake up tomorrow you not only wake up to another day but also another rotation of the planet and they never,ever fall out of step.
All I can see are bluffers with a lot of voodoo thrown in. People think the ‘climate issue’ is the problem but it is much,much bigger than that – it is a uniquely human problem that started a few centuries ago.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Gerald: “You are amazing people,a concept that is fit for April fools day….”
Well apart from repeating yourself, you have not managed to advance you argument one iota since you came in,despite all the philosophy and literature quotations.
If you want to insist the the moon is not “spinning” you need to start by defining clearly what you mean that term. Clearly the moon does not maintain the same orientation with respect to the fixed stars, neither is it non rotating with respect to any inertial frame of reference.
It maintains the same face towards the Earth about which it revolves on in about 27.5 days. Thus a line from its centre to a fixed point on its equator describes a vector which changes direction by 360 degrees in that same period.
So now you have to define “spinning” as something it is not doing whilst changing it’s angular orientation in a periodic fashion.
You clearly have a profound understanding of the history and philosophy of science, so I’m sure you will be able to explain that in one line without diverting to Zen Buddhism or two more screen-fulls of quotations.
Mindert Eiting…. ??
Why are you telling
MartinJohn A. how to explain something to Barbara S. which she has never disputed? She only criticized his sneering at the reading of Genesis 1 by the crew of Apollo 8. I could find nowhere where Barbara asserted the bizarre position that the Moon does not rotate. Intriguing Q: Why were you so eager to teach her and not Mr. Kelleher who has repeatedly argued for that position, hm? There’s a creepy “Barbara” in your life, isn’t there — heh, heh. Hope that one is long gone, now. Take care. J.Merry Christmas to you — good for you to stand up for the truth, even so.
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@ur momisugly Barbara — lol. #(:))
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@ur momisugly Pamela, yes, I remember about that other. Glad the ice is starting to melt. Take care. J.
Greg
You insisted that Kepler asserted a rotating moon when clearly he didn’t so I am dealing with the same convictions that are driving human control over planetary temperatures and a ‘spinning moon’ no less.The quotations certainly substantiate the huge problems that have always existed when some men get hold of notions and run with them to the point where they would rather become ill than change their views regardless of what imaging is brought before them and the issue of the orbital motion of the moon and its monthly phases indicating an orbiting moon and not a rotating one .
For $17 billion the wider public has an organization that once landed men on the moon yet has the population believes the far side of the moon receives sunlight due to rotation –
“Misconception: The same half of the Moon is in darkness all the time-i.e. that there is a dark side of the Moon.
Reality: The Moon has no side that is constantly dark; the front and back are alternately lit as the Moon rotates.”
http://moon.nasa.gov/moonmisconceptions.cfm
You don’t like quotations from people who were not weakminded and that I can understand but their commentaries are definite and pointed and more relevant now than they ever were .It is easy to be a noisebox and express indignation with graphs and whatnot,but terrestrial sciences and astronomy are visual sciences and that is what has been missing for so long.
Every single quote I used is directed to both the idea of a ‘spinning moon’ or human control over planetary temperatures as both defy common sense but I can show people where are the bluster is coming from and even the great Humboldt couldn’t do that –
“This assemblage of imperfect dogmas bequeathed by one age to another— this physical philosophy, which is composed of popular prejudices,—is not only injurious because it perpetuates error with the obstinacy engendered by the evidence of ill observed facts, but also because it hinders the mind from attaining to higher views of nature. Instead of seeking to discover the mean or medium point, around which oscillate, in apparent independence of forces, all the phenomena of the external world, this system delights in multiplying exceptions to the law, and seeks, amid phenomena and in organic forms, for something beyond the marvel of a regular succession, and an internal and progressive development. Ever inclined to believe that the order of nature is disturbed, it refuses to recognise in the present any analogy with the past, and guided by its own varying hypotheses, seeks at hazard, either in the interior of the globe or in the regions of space, for the cause of these pretended perturbations. It is the special object of the present work to combat those errors which derive their source from a vicious empiricism and from imperfect inductions.” Von Humboldt ,Cosmos
Greg says:
December 25, 2013 at 1:06 pm
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/AS17-134-20466.jpg
Another one where the lighting does not match the sun position indicated by the crescent of the Earth.
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I suggest that on your next, clear, crescent moonlit night, you try to imagine where that light source might be that illuminates the moon as you see it.
That light source is 93 million miles (8 light- minutes) away, it is so far away that it can play tricks on the human ability to comprehend the angles.
It always blows my mind.
Dear Janice Moore, my Dutch name does not need question marks because it is not a pseudonym. I responded to Martin and did not check all the details. It does not matter who does the little experiment in the tradition of Martin Gardner. Because you do not know me, the rest of your comment is nonsense. Also merry Christmas to you.
Dorian Sabaz says: “This is my last comment, I can see this will deteriorate into something stupid.”
Too late, Dorian.
.
Thanks Anthony, Great Story , I remember this 1968 Apollo 8 Christmas very well.
We were hooked on the TV at the time, just as we were half a year or so later with Apollo 11 “small step”, in the middle of our night.
I see Afrikaans in your Christmas Wishes (Geseende Kersfees) but sadly no in Dutch : so : Gezegend Kerstfeest.
[Thank you for the reply, and tried to add the phrase, but, nope, the messages are in a single graphic image, your Dutch greeting cannot be easily inserted above. 8<( Mod]
I was lucky enough to work on the Saturn S-IVB early in my career. It was an education. i worked with some fine people and learned a lot of ground-level science and methodology, and how the smartest people can make the most egregious blunders. I left the industry when it was time to move on; it couldn’t last forever.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/AS17-134-20466.jpg
Greg says: “Another one where the lighting does not match the sun position indicated by the crescent of the Earth.”
You’re assuming the sun is the only lighting source. Wrong. Surface objects, including the lunar lander, have a high albedo and can light up this side of the flag.
The Earth Rise photo taken around 16.30 hrs U.T. on December 24th, 1968 was actually 4.30 a.m. on Christmas Day for us in New Zealand. What a great Christmas present when we saw the picture days later on our news casts.
Some comments on “the Conspiracy Theorists” who have emerged here.
Dorian Sabaz shows his calibre in his second paragraph at 4.21 a.m.
“And much of the time the Sun would be in opposition, that is, the Earth would be between the Moon and the Sun, it would make it perfectly large, clear and beautiful.”
In the first sentence the sun would be in “opposition,” and in the next “the Earth would be between the between the Moon and the Sun.” Firstly the Sun nor any other celestial object can ever be in “opposition,” as the term is used in astronomy from the Moon as that body does not rotate in such a way that the side facing us ever faces away from the Earth. Dorian’s description is of a conjunction of the Sun and Earth. This only occurs around the lunar phase seen from Earth known as Full Moon.
Interestingly the lunar phase for Christmas 1968 and for the initial period of the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972 were both a few days before First Quarter. Remember whatever the lunar phase as seen from Earth, from the Moon the Earth would be in opposite phase. This is exactly what we see in both the Apollo 8 & 17 images that show the Earth, a waxing crescent moon just shy of First Quarter is matched by a wanning gibbous Earth just shy of Last Quarter. Rick Werme has kindly linked us to many images from the Apollo 17 mission that nicely show the transition of the Earth from slightly gibboous to slightly crescent.
Greg at 10.05 a.m.The gibbous Earth shows that it is slightly more than 90 degrees from the sun which is exactly what the shadows on the astronaut & the flag tell us. Any other interpretation is delusional at best.
The flat, evenly black background is what anyone with basic photgraphic knowledge would expect with an exposure designed to capture the brilliant white highlights on the sun lit Lunar Suit and the flag. The exposure is so short and most likely with a very fine, slow speed film that the sky is effectively ‘un-exposed!’
For those who believe that the Earth appears too small in the photos consider this, it is often quoted that the earth is 4 times larger in the sky than the Moon because it is 4 times the diameter. In reality the Earth covers an area that is on average 13.45 tiimes greater than the Moon! Some may say that this backs up their claims even more. Not so. Their claims were and are still flawed because they haven’t taken into account what the image scale of the Moon would look like with the using the same cameras and lenses here on earth. I have been doing just that for over 35 years and even with a standard film lens with a field of 33 x 25 degrees the moon is very small and assuming a very correct exposure their is very little detail to be seen on the surface above what can be seen with the unaided eye The cameras alledgedly had a field of 55 degrees which would mean that the moon would cover less than 1% of the diameter of the field of view. The Earth in the Apollo 17 views is easily 4% of the field of view just by eyeballing it
RACookPE1978 says: “Ne’er fear – Us engineer-science-focused-silent-but-deadly-analytical types DID read it, sympathize and empathize, but did not communicate either…Uncomunicated silence during troubles comes with the nature of the beast. Ah, but such a vital difference is but a survival trait. An essential survival trait.”
That essentially sums it up, though it barely scratches the surface of evolutionary gender differences. Well done.
My wife once said to me, “Did you ever notice when there’s a man and a woman walking together, it’s usually the woman who is talking?”
I replied, “Yup.”
John A says (December 25, 2013 at 1:49 pm): “Gerald,
If I put you on a geostationary satellite, then you would find that mysteriously the Earth has stopped rotating.”
Ouch! Well said.
Only here can a simple “Merry Christmas” post lead to arguments about whether the government is lying about the moon landing or whether the moon rotates.
@Greg at 1:06 pm
RE: jorgekafkazar at 3:48 pm
Jorge is right. The flag is being lit up by difuse light from the lunar ground.
But it is also being lit up by the sun. Just looking at the flag, where would you put the sun?
The flag itself is partially back lit. Note well the upper edge of the flag where there is a round opaque rod supporting the flag. A Very bright top edge in direct sun then darkest red (no backlight, in direct shadow, only diffuse light). That puts the sun left of vertical consistent. Furthermore the projection of the top rod must be pointing below the sun. That puts the Sun at about 10:30, consistent with the Earth.
What I find interesting is that the white stripes as seen by the camera are much brighter than the stars. This is consistent with the stripes are more backlit than the stars sewn onto a one piece dark blue field.
http://www.openculture.com/2013/01/moon_hoax_not_short_film_explains_why_it_was_impossible_to_fake_the_moon_landing.html
Ask Stanley Kubrick why Hollywood couldn’t fake it.
Bill 2 says:
December 25, 2013 at 4:08 pm
Only here can a simple “Merry Christmas” post lead to arguments about whether the government is lying about the moon landing or whether the moon rotates.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well, the mere mention of the moon tends to bring out the lunatics.
Bill 2 says:
December 25, 2013 at 4:08 pm
Only here can a simple “Merry Christmas” post lead to arguments about whether the government is lying about the moon landing or whether the moon rotates.
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Ain’t it great, it certainly challenged my mind about orbits.
Good stuff everyone.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all 🙂
The audience of this website tends to be an educated and critical one. I have 3 questions which, if answered satisfactorily, might deliver me from being an ignorant “moon denier”, which I would certainly appreciate:
1) How come the Apollo Ascent Module clearly exceeds its maximum theoretical acceleration within the first second of flight as seen in e.g. the Apollo 17 footage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HQfauGJaTs)? To elaborate: The publicized data — 4.7 t of gross mass and 16 kN of maximum thrust — would allow for 1.78m/s^2 of upwards acceleration, leaving the vehicle at 0.89m of height after 1s, at best. The footage shows a height in excess of twice that.
2) How come there are pictures of the moon rover showing tire prints neither in front nor behind the vehicle, all the while foot prints are clearly visible (e.g. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Apollo15LunarRover.jpg)?
3) Why did NASA go to the lengths it did in order to create perfectly realistic scale models of the moon and an equatorial section of it at the Langley Research Center (see http://apolloreality.atspace.co.uk/)?
Thank you. And of course merry Xmas.