Lunar Panoramic Photography - Apollo 12
NASA's Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (ALSJ)[1] records the details of each mission's time on the lunar surface as a timeline of the activities undertaken, the dialogue between the crew and Mission Control, and the relevant documentary records. Each photograph taken on the mission is catalogued there and each photographic sequence is also recorded. This page tabulates the Apollo 12 panoramas and, where appropriate, provides updated representations of the panoramas blended using more recent technologies than the originals.
Context
[edit]Having proven that the viability of landing on the Moon with Apollo 11, NASA extended the objectives of Apollo 12 in two key areas; executing a precision landing close to a known target, and extended surface EVA activities. The first was achieved when the Lunar Module, Intrepid, touched down within sight of Surveyor 3 that had landed on the Moon over 2 years previously. Whereas the Apollo 11 crew only had up to 150 minutes during their EVA, the Apollo 12 crew more than tripled that amount over two Moonwalks, which included a visit to the Surveyor craft.
In terms of photography, almost four-times as many photos were taken compared to its predecessor, with a similar proportion being used for panoramas. Unlike Apollo 11 though, a higher proportion of these were taken whilst on the surface rather than inside the LM before or after the EVAs.
The post-mission Preliminary Science Report[2] indicates that the crew took 23[3] panoramas whereas the ALSJ records 29 examples. In some cases, the complete, 360° panoramas were impacted by the low Sun angle and greater detail can be gained by omitting the down-Sun exposures from the panoramic sequences. The report also indicated that the original panoramas were analysed "with high precision, from measurements of glass-plate reproductions of the photographs", whereas modern panorama technologies have rendered such approaches as obsolete.
To assist in gaining bearings, the Lunar Module (LM) Intrepid, landed with its door and ladder leg (AKA "+Z strut") pointing about 25° north of due west. The Sun's elevation[4] was between 7.5° and 9.5° for EVA 1, and 15.8° and 17.8° for EVA 2.
Panoramas taken from inside the Lunar Module
[edit]Following the successful landing of Apollo 11, the emphasis on collecting contingency photos and samples was greatly reduced for Apollo 12. The flight plan simply states "Describe & Photograph Lunar Surface" as the first action after the immediate post-landing activities (Page 133 Apollo 12 Flight Plan[5]). Subsequently, there are 4 non-EVA panoramas taken from the LM on Apollo 12.
Mission | Time (MET) | EVA # | Location | Astronaut | Magazine | Type | Start Frame | End Frame | Alternate Panorama | Source | Reference Panorama | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
XII | 111:58:43 | Pre-EVA | CDR Window | Conrad | 48 | Mono | 7023 | 7027 | ![]() |
ALSJ[6] | ![]() |
Alternate panorama included to illustrate how stitched panoramas may vary according to their original content. The Reference panorama (immediately to the left of this text box) omits the 7027 image but results in poor blending between the component images in the centre. The Alternate (furthest to the left) includes 7027 which resolves the poor blend, but now includes the Landing Point Designator that was etched on the surface of the glass. |
XII | 111:58:43 | Pre-EVA | LMP Window | Bean | 48 | Mono | 7028 | 7033 | N/A | ALSJ | ![]() |
|
XII | 120:10:34 | Post-EVA-1 | CDR/LMP Windows | Conrad/Bean | 46 | Colour | 6853 | 6867 | N/A | ALSJ | ![]() |
This Reference Panorama has been manually arranged. Due to the source photos being taken from different locations (namely, the CDR and LMP windows) creating a full panorama requires a fair degree of image manipulation to render, hence the unblended representation of the result. The two following sub-panoramas show the individual views through the windows. |
XII | 120:10:34 | Post-EVA-1 | CDR Window | Conrad | 46 | Colour | 6853 | 6859 | ![]() |
ALSJ | N/A | Sub-panorama - Blended representation of image above. |
XII | 120:10:34 | Post-EVA-1 | LMP Window | Bean | 46 | Colour | 6860 | 6867 | ![]() |
ALSJ | N/A | Sub-panorama - Due to overlapping coverage and movement by the photographer, this image is made up of AS12-46-6863, 6865, 6866, and 6867 only. |
XI | 135:45:48 | Post-EVA-2 | CDR/LMP Windows | Conrad | 48 | Monochrome | 7153 | 7171 | N/A | ALSJ | ![]() |
This Reference Panorama has been manually arranged. Due to the source photos being taken from different locations (the CDR and LMP windows) creating a full panorama requires a fair degree of image manipulation to render, hence the unblended representation of the result. The two following sub-panoramas show the view through each of the windows. |
XI | 135:45:48 | Post-EVA-2 | CDR Window | Conrad | 48 | Monochrome | 7153 | 7158 | ![]() |
ALSJ | N/A | Sub-panorama - Blended representation of image above. |
XI | 135:45:48 | Post-EVA-2 | LMP Window | Bean | 48 | Monochrome | 7159 | 7171 | ![]() |
ALSJ | N/A | Sub-panorama using a subset of 7159-7171 |
EVA Panoramas
[edit]Almost every historical reference on Apollo 12 notes the congeniality of the crew towards each other. This comes through in the dialogue between Pete Conrad and Al Bean during their EVAs (which was peppered with chuckles and giggles throughout), and also within the photos, with both taking "Tourist Shots" of the other at various points.
Despite Bean's issues with the TV camera, the standard of photography taken on the stills cameras is particularly strikinig - especially in the monochrome images.
See Also
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]These tables catalogue the panoramic photos captured during the Apollo 12 mission. Those thumbnails in the "Reference Panorama" and "Notes" columns have been included from 'official' NASA resources such as ALSJ and LPI. Entries in the 'Panorama' column have been assembled using panorama-blending software using the High Resolution scans of the original frames held within the "Project Apollo Archive" on Flickr.[7] Where a Reference Panorama is pre-existing, that has been used in preference to creating a new variant, unless there is a additional value to be gained by regenerating it. Apart from some source image masking, all such new variants have been created using the minimum of processing, relying on the software package's inherent blending and optimisation capabilities - typically, such panoramas have been created within 3-5 minutes as they are intended to be 'representations' rather than 'definitive' examples.
All 4-digit image references relate to the last 4 digits of the image names. The full image names follow the format AS12-MM-IIII, where MM relates to the Magazine number and IIII is the identifier.
All tabular data, such as time and image identifiers, has been extracted from the ALSJ. The entries in the 'Location' column relate to the term used for the panorama as listed in the ALSJ's 'Assembled Panoramas' section
References
[edit]- ^ "Apollo Lunar Surface Journal". www.nasa.gov.
- ^ "Apollo 12 Preliminary Science Report (SP-235)" (PDF).
- ^ "Page 113" (PDF).
- ^ "Sun Angles". www.nasa.gov.
- ^ "Apollo 12 Flight Plan". www.nasa.gov.
- ^ "Apollo 12 Image Library". www.nasa.gov.
- ^ "Project Apollo Archive". Flickr.