Greetings,

Here is a mystery that has puzzled me for many years. Perhaps one of you can
enlighten me, and the rest of the list.

At the height of the US space program, the National Geographic published a
photo of someone on the moon. In the photo was a tripod-mounted device which
the caption described as a gnomon to determine the orientation of the photo.
I guess that it cast a shadow, and the clever bees at NASA then analysed
this against sun angle or whatever, to determine the orientation of the
photo. I tried many times to get more information from NASA, but met a blank
wall every time. They simply weren't interested in looking in their
archives. I sent them a xerox of the photo, but got nothing from them.

Does anyone know of the photo? Or, more importantly of the device? Where are
plans for it? etc.

As I am far from my office and home, I can't retrieve my copy of the
National Geographic article easily, but it would be of great interest to
diallers. I have never seen any other reference to it.

Cheers, John

Dr John Pickard
Senior Lecturer (Environmental Planning)
Graduate School of the Environment
Macquarie University NSW 2109 Australia

Sabbatical leave July - December 1998.
You can't contact me by phone or fax as
 I am on sabbatical leave in arid and semi-arid
Australia. Please contact me via email or
post material to the above address. It will
be forwarded regularly.


Reply via email to