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Flag on the moon?

N

noelister

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 15, 2005
275
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I was curious if it is possible to see the American Flag with a telescope? I know that there has been a lot of controversy about the whole moon landing and what not but if one could see the flag on the moon wouldn’t that end the whole hoax? I know this is random but I was just curious….
 
grapes911 said:
It's not possible. Even the most powerful telescopes can't see it.
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Ahhh, I did not know this... Just seems like we would have the tech now of days.:confused:
 
You'd think, but we don't. It's not the distance but something to do with seeing through the atmosphere. Equipment was left up there that is much larger than the flag and we can't see that either.
 
grapes911 said:
You'd think, but we don't. It's not the distance but something to do with seeing through the atmosphere. Equipment was left up there that is much larger than the flag and we can't see that either.
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none of our satalites have telescopes? what about the ISS?
 
noelister said:
none of our satalites have telescopes? what about the ISS?
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I have no idea if our satellites or the space station are capable of looking at the moon. But...satellites and the space station are generally (not always) controlled, regulated, or associated with the government. My guess is that those who don't believe in the moon landing wouldn't take the government's word on this one either.
 
grapes911 said:
My guess is that those who don't believe in the moon landing wouldn't take the government's word on this one either.
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Yeah, I never thought about that... They would pick apart the pictures like they have done with the video :eek:

Thanks grapes911 for putting up with my foolishness. :)
 
noelister said:
Thanks grapes911 for putting up with my foolishness. :)
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No problem.



Another thought about the ISS. There are 16 (or so) countries involved in the station. Assuming the moon's surface can be seen from ISS, wouldn't one of those counties have made it public if the flag wasn't there? I'm sure that at least one of them would love to rub it in our noses that we lied.
 
grapes911 said:
No problem.



Another thought about the ISS. There are 16 (or so) countries involved in the station. Assuming the moon's surface can be seen from ISS, wouldn't one of those counties have made it public if the flag wasn't there? I'm sure that at least one of them would love to rub it in our noses that we lied.
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I think you still would need a pretty powerful telescope, and to know exactly where geographically the flag had been placed to try to find it.

I'm not sure what they're sitting on up there, and even if they have the equipment, I'm not sure it'd be top priority to scan for flags on the moon. :p
 
If Hubble can see light years away shouldn't it in theory be able to focus close enough to see the moon.
 
Wasn't there news a few years ago about Japan sending a satellite to search moon, did that ever happen.
 
MacNut said:
Wasn't there news a few years ago about Japan sending a satellite to search moon, did that ever happen.
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It kept getting pushed back and I don't think they ever did it. Last I heard, they are going to send an unmanned mission in 2008, and a manned mission in 2025.
 
The only thing on earth I think that can see the Moon debris (including flag) directly is

Very Large Telescope In Chile.

But i guess at the cost of it they have better things to do with it and point it at:p

Shut up the conspiracy theorists though:rolleyes:
 
A private group is launching a satellite to orbit the moon and take hires imagery - they're planning on taking a ton of pics of the all the Apollo landing sites - so when this finally happens, I'm sure you'll have your image of the flag on the moon :D

D
 
I do think it is kind of surprising that we don't have the technology to see it considering all of the images we get on the NASA site.

If someone had asked me off hand, I would have said that I was pretty sure it could be seen.

I never cease to be amazed at how little I know.

Woof, Woof – Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
noelister said:
I was curious if it is possible to see the American Flag with a telescope? I know that there has been a lot of controversy about the whole moon landing and what not but if one could see the flag on the moon wouldn’t that end the whole hoax? I know this is random but I was just curious….
Click to expand...

No chance. Those pesky aliens cleaned it up a long time ago.
 
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