What's this then...?

[Peter B]

A high-res version of the image is available at: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/apollo/apollo12/hires/as12-46-6790.jpg

Anyway, over on Dr Karl's Self Service Science Forum, a hoax believer by the name of L_D has asked about an object about half way down the right hand edge of the picture, roughly level with the astronaut's right hand. It's a grey horizontal cylinder, seemingly about 10cm long, with a small silvery dome on its left end, a larger grey dome on its right end and a black oval shape on the side nearest the photographer.

The SSSF thread is at http://www.abcforums.com/showthread.php?3184-mystery-object, and includes a cropped picture of the object in question.

I've had a look at a few other pictures in that part of the magazine but can't see it.

Anyone know what it is?

[Tanalia]

Looks to me like one of the joints in the landing gear which is mostly just out-of-frame.

The Lunar Module Structures Handout for LM-5 (5MB PDF), page 1-2 has a decent diagram which is almost the right orientation for the gear on that side (it's from a bit higher and to the left compared to the photo).  Most likely the joint between the secondary strut (out-of-frame) and the deployment truss & lock roller truss (immediately above the item, covered in foil, as show on page 1-19).

[ka9q]

I concur. You can also see this hinge device in AS12-46-6777.

[Peter B]

Brilliant, thank you both of you.

I'd already said I thought it was part of the landing gear, but I wasn't sure.

[Glom]

What's he asking about it?

If no-one was quite sure, was he going to yell fake on that basis?

[Peter B]

What's he asking about it?

If no-one was quite sure, was he going to yell fake on that basis?

Well, he said he simply didn't know what it was, so on the face of it it could have been simple curiosity.

However, he has form on the SSSF as a hoax believer (9/11 plus Apollo). He started a thread making claims about the A16 Grand Prix footage being fake, and getting all his physics tangled up (I started a thread about it here). I responded by saying that the rocks and communications demonstrated Apollo had to be real, and he chucked a bit of a hissy fit, saying that he didn't know anything about those issues and saying he thought my questions were silly.

I'm curious to see how he responds, and whether he continues to push the fakery line. One of the facets of denialism which interests me is people who continue to push a particular argument but ignore inconvenient lines of evidence which have previously been brought to their attention.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

I posted this pic on reddit and got the following reply:

This is photo AS12-46-6790, showing Al Bean removing the fuel element for the ALSPEP's RTG from its transit cask.
This cask was extremely resilient (the fuel element so enclosed on Apollo 13 survived reentry and is currently at the bottom of the ocean) but had a minor engineering issue: in vacuum, it got very hot, and two retaining rings expanded due to this heat. The fuel element, so constrained by these rings, got stuck inside the cask. This is the problem that Al Bean is encountering as this photo is taken.
To resolve the issue, Pete Conrad, the second EVA astronaut, ends up hitting the cask with a hammer, which jolts the fuel element loose from the rings and allows Al Bean to extract it.
The relevant Apollo Surface Journal extract starts here at about 116:43:10. Al Bean and Pete Conrad are probably the most entertaining duo ever put on the Moon, and in retrospect this is one of their more funny moments.

It seems more likely than Al detaching part of the landing gear, to me at least.

[Peter B]

I posted this pic on reddit and got the following reply:

This is photo AS12-46-6790, showing Al Bean removing the fuel element for the ALSPEP's RTG from its transit cask.
This cask was extremely resilient (the fuel element so enclosed on Apollo 13 survived reentry and is currently at the bottom of the ocean) but had a minor engineering issue: in vacuum, it got very hot, and two retaining rings expanded due to this heat. The fuel element, so constrained by these rings, got stuck inside the cask. This is the problem that Al Bean is encountering as this photo is taken.
To resolve the issue, Pete Conrad, the second EVA astronaut, ends up hitting the cask with a hammer, which jolts the fuel element loose from the rings and allows Al Bean to extract it.
The relevant Apollo Surface Journal extract starts here at about 116:43:10. Al Bean and Pete Conrad are probably the most entertaining duo ever put on the Moon, and in retrospect this is one of their more funny moments.

It seems more likely than Al detaching part of the landing gear, to me at least.

G'day ICR

Pardon my confusion, but what are you talking about?

My question wasn't about what Al Bean was fiddling with. It was about a small object on the extreme right hand edge of the picture, which to most people's satisfaction has been identified as part of the landing gear.

In fact, I even found it in Armstrong's first photo from the surface on Apollo 11: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11pan5850remapped.jpg

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

Pardon my confusion, but what are you talking about?

My mistake. I thought the thing being handled in the photograph was what was being talked about, and assumed that it was part of the landing gear.

I really must think more before I post.

[Echnaton]

The object seen as a blurry but sometimes recognizable image is in a number of A11 photos showing the landing struts connected to the LM body.   My (uneducated) first guess is that it is a tensioner or locking mechanism of some kind on the hinge of the landing gear.