It is always very difficult to debunk conspiracy theories because the claims made by the conspiracists need no justification at all and are often based on an actual ignorance of the science.
Debunking their claims requires an understanding of basic...
Now look closely at his shadow. The red line runs right through the shadow, but, nevertheless, it is extremely thick from his front to back. This is, of course, correct because it is an astronaut in an extremely bulky suit with a huge backpack sticking out behind him. It is shorter than it should be because of the lateral compression (squeezing) caused by the shape of the faceplate.
We already know that the geometric closest point to the photographer is the black-spot half-way up his chest. What is that? It is the lens of the camera which is strapped to Schmitt's chest. The reflection is of Schmitt – the second astronaut who has the camera attached to the top of the front of his chest to make it easy to use in pressurised gloves.
Look how difficult it is to explain that and notice that it needs a knowledge of physics and the science of convex mirrors. It is hard to explain these things, yet the conspiracist starts it all off with a stupid, uneducated comment about a man standing 'off to one side' which looked a bit odd. So easy to start these rumours off.
I am not going to deal with very piece of conspiracist's evidence in detail, but I can give you a broad idea of some of the pictures the conspiracists use. You'll recognise them if you have visited their websites or seen their YouTube videos.
· One picture they use, shows the Earth in the sky and it is supposed to be only a third as big as it should be – not true. If you take a 50mm picture on Earth of the moon, like the example below, it is much tinier than you expect. The image of the Earth in the 50mm moon pictures is EXACTLY the correct size. Again, the claim took seconds to make but it takes time to prove it is incorrect and knowledge of how 50mm lenses work.
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· Another pair of images shows the Earth missing in a shot of an astronaut in the moon buggy at a distance, but clearly visible above him in a closer shot. In fact, if the close-up is shrunk to match the distance shot then laid over the other image, lining up the mountain, the Earth can clearly be seen to be above the frame of the distance picture which explains why it is not present. Again, a conspiracist has claimed fake because NASA has forgotten to insert the Earth in the distance picture. It takes a lot of work and superimposition to show why it was not faked. Clavius.org have the detail for this one. It is the same with almost all of this stuff, but please don't skip any – it is all important to show the damage these conspiracists do to real science, not to mention the lies many have accepted and possibly passed on to others.
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