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Chinese Moon Photo Doctored, Crater Moved

mytrip writes "A controversy over last week's photo of the lunar surface, allegedly from China's lunar spacecraft Chang'e, appears to be resolved. It's real but it isn't. An expert says the photo's resolution shows that it is of recent origin. However, for some inexplicable reason, someone on Earth edited the photo and moved a crater to a different location. 'In the week since the picture was released amid much fanfare in Beijing, there have been widespread rumors that the photo was a fake, copied from an old picture collected by a U.S. space probe. The photo from China's Chang'e 1 orbiter is clearly a higher-resolution view, with sunlight streaming from the northwest rather than the north. The mission's chief scientist, Ouyang Ziyuan, told the Beijing News that a new crater had been spotted on the Chang'e imagery — a crater that didn't appear on the US imagery. Lakdawalla determined that the crater in question wasn't exactly new — instead, it appeared to be a crater that had been moved from one spot on the picture to another spot slightly south.'"

3 of 272 comments (clear)

  1. Bad summary by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Doctored" suggests deliberate fiddling with the data to mislead.

    It seems here that this is actually just a result of a vanilla screw-up.

    "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity". Though instead of "stupidity" I'd substitute "error".

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    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  2. Re:Feng Shui by stoolpigeon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here's the issue - your sense of humor is broken. Retardation is not funny - but my joke is.

    Let's hit wikipedia real quick: Today's Feng Shui schools teach that it is the ancient Chinese practice of placement and arrangement of space to achieve harmony with the environment. Fen Shui originated in China. The picture came from China. See the connection? That my statement is absurd is what makes it funny. That Feng Shui would be banned by the Chinese government makes the joke that much funnier. This does not 'diss' (why do you diss english with this lame slang?) Taiwanese culture in the least. Taiwan doesn't even enter the picture - unless you are running around with some kind of chip on your shoulder.

    Oh and as far as our supporting Taiwan - I personally took part in operations like this that have been a part of Taiwan remaining free from Chinese control. But I'm wandering now - the issue is your inability to get a joke. Pointing fingers at Christians and laughing at Allah could be funny too in the right context.

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    It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
  3. All scientific photos are doctored by kindbud · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's called post-processing. You should go to the STSCI site and download some raw Hubble frames if you want to see some sources images that were "doctored" in the extreme to create those iconic images that adorn your calendars and desktops. The unprocessed frames are barely recognizable and contain huge amounts of visible noise from cosmic ray hits and all sorts of instrument artifacts.

    The Chinese screwed up mosaicking their imagery. Big deal. Now that they know how far up their ass the scientific community will be looking, I am sure they will strive for more rigor. Their desire to be a contributing member of the scientific community appears genuine to me.

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    Edith Keeler Must Die