It is always very difficult to debunk conspiracy theories because the claims made by the conspiracists need no justification at all and are often based on an actual ignorance of the science.
Debunking their claims requires an understanding of basic...
As I said, conspiracists can come up with unsubstantiated claims almost instantly, while using science, evidence and logic to knock them down takes much longer as you'll see here. This is a simple example, but it carries with it, all the convoluted nonsense imparted by conspiracists. In this case, their lack of knowledge, of photography, physics and common sense is brought into sharp relief.
The visor reflection proof of a moon hoax
The claim is that a stage-hand wearing jeans has wandered onto the set where they were faking the landings and can be seen reflected in John Young's helmet. It took only seconds for a conspiracist to claim it is a long-haired (sixties) man in jeans who has been caught "off to one side" (remember that quote) while they were faking the photographs in a studio. Literally seconds and it went viral, even becoming a major article in the national British Daily Express newspaper. The headline in the Daily Express about the picture below was "MOON HOAX PROVED".
Nothing could be further from the truth, but "Moon Hoax Exposed" would sell fewer copies.
Shame on the Daily Express for not getting one of their professional photographers to expose this for what it is!
To understand what has happened here requires a tiny amount of scientific knowledge – nothing fancy – any kid working with a convex mirror in the Physics laboratory at school, could work this out quite adequately. Thanks to clavius.org for the image below.
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Young is wearing a convex faceplate, which behaves exactly like a convex mirror when it reflects something. You can check this yourself with any convex mirror. Go and have a look at one opposite someone's difficult driveway entrance. You can see for yourself what has happened here.
For the lazy among you, here is the explanation:
If any photograph is taken of a convex mirror (or reflective convex faceplate), the closest point of the faceplate in the image tells you where the camera was. It is ALWAYS the closest point on the mirror. It is a known convex mirror fact. A law of physics for convex mirrors. Now look at the picture.
Which part of that faceplate is nearest the camera? The man is not standing "off to one side" in the background but is actually the man taking the photograph. No part of that visor is closer to us than the circled man. Look at it. Examine it. It is quite clear the man is standing at the closest point. The visor left of the man is bending away from us, same with the bottom, right and top. So, the closest part MUST be where the camera was positioned.
First let's dispose of the obvious stupidity of the conspiracist's claim. Would NASA, while creating elaborate fakes, allow someone to wander onto the set? So, why do we see a long-haired man with jeans taking this picture of John Young as he walked around the moon? Anyone with any knowledge of convex mirrors and lighting will tell you that the man taking the picture is laterally compressed (squeezed) and therefore appears thinner than he really is. So, when you look at the blonde, long-haired man in jeans who took the picture, you now realise that his head is a space helmet and the hair is the white of the helmet. The impression of jeans is because his legs are in shade and compressed left to right.
