[amsat-bb] Christmas 1968: Apollo 8

[B J]

On 12/25/18, saguaroastro <saguaroastro at cox.net> wrote:
> And here is an interesting video about the taking of this most iconic photo:
>
>
> https://youtu.be/dE-vOscpiNc

Thanks for the URL.

That Apollo 8 photo actually wasn't the first earthrise that was seen.
During the Lunar Orbiter program, one of the spacecraft took a rather
fuzzy and indistinct picture of that same view.  The lack of detail
led to some people thinking that it was a hoax.

A few years ago, some amateur enthusiasts decided to take some of the
Lunar Orbiter data tapes and reprocess them with up-to-date equipment
and filtering methods.  The result was that the first earthrise
picture turned out to be almost as good as what the astronauts took
with their Hasselblad cameras or what more recent lunar spacecraft
observed.

One unexpected benefit of doing that was that it provided valuable
data for lunar scientists.  It gave them a basis by which to compare
more recent views of lunar terrain and seeing what might have changed
since the late 1960s.

73s

Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL