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From Gizmodo's There's Poop on the Moon list of things left on the moon:

  • This gold-plated telescope that was the first tool used to make astronomical observations from the surface of another planetary body:

The article links to the Air and Space Museum page APOLLO 16, Viewing Earth from the Moon, Dr. Carruthers' Telescope and one of the images there shows much better detail. Was it "point and shoot" or semi-autmoatic? Film-only or some video or electronic measurements as well? Did it do any data collection after the astronauts left?

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Source

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"George Carruthers (right) and William Conway (left) with the gold-plated ultraviolet camera/spectrograph invented by Dr. George Carruthers." Source

uhoh
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    That photo of the scope in the LM's shadow looks so incredibly fake that I'd date it to the early 21st century and become a moon landing denier if it weren't for it being reproduced in the contemporary A16 Preliminary Science Report. – Russell Borogove Sep 05 '23 at 21:33
  • @RussellBorogove the only thing holding you back from becoming a moon landing denier is the contemporary A16 Preliminary Science Report? Why don't you go ahead and ask a new question, something like "Why does this image look unrealistic - is it real?" I can't work out the shadows, but this extremely shiny object is certainly well lit by reflected light from the lunar surface and reflection from the photographer's white space suit. cf. Which Apollo "mystery" was said to be finally solved by a better rendering engine? – uhoh Sep 05 '23 at 22:03
  • @RussellBorogove I'm certainly open to the possibility of it being enhanced but here's a link for the image https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/5492640jpg where it's identified as ID#: AS16-114-18439 See also https://www.nasa.gov/feature/remembering-the-first-moon-based-telescope Note that the metal surfaces more facing the lander and shadowed areas are dark, and those surfaces facing bright lunar surface are bright. – uhoh Sep 05 '23 at 22:09
  • @RussellBorogove see also https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AS16-114-18439_(21683979945).jpg and https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/21683979945/ and especially https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS16-114-18439 which puts at least my mind to rest on the subject. – uhoh Sep 05 '23 at 22:13
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    I think "Which Apollo mystery" answers the question you propose pretty well. – Russell Borogove Sep 05 '23 at 22:28
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    @RussellBorogove - I had the same reaction, I had never seen this photo before and my first thought was that it looked fake. I assumed it wasn't for nefarious reasons but just to create a cohesive image with the telescope, rover, flag, and conveniently posed astronaut all in the frame. On closer inspection I began to realize that it appeared to be real, and my next thought was oh no, I hope the landing deniers don't get a hold of this one or we'll have to go through another round of debunking. I suspect that the additional brightness comes from being within a few inches of the lighted surface. – Steve Pemberton Sep 11 '23 at 13:40

1 Answers1

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The instrument is described in the Apollo 16 Preliminary Science Report document as "the far UV camera / spectrograph".

The whole of Chapter 13 of this document is dedicated to a description of the instrument, its use during the mission, and preliminary results from it.

I am having difficulty copying text out of the pdf, so here is the page with the description.

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The device used film which was returned by the crew, so there were no observations done after they left.

Here is the page with the preliminary science results.

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Organic Marble
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