<![CDATA[There are a number of conspiracy theories which state that the Apollo moon landings were a major ruse. These theories point to a famous photo of Buzz Aldrin, and claim that the image could only have been captured with the help of an artificial source of light. These theorists were later proved right however, a new digital reconstruction of the Apollo 11 landing site created by popular graphics giant Nvidia proves that this artificial source of light was not obtained from a movie studio, but from Neil Armstrong's spacesuit. Despite the hype surrounding the 21st July 1969 NASA expedition, many believe that the entire set up was a ruse created by NASA on a Hollywood stage. What is more surprising is that even the photographic evidence taken by Apollo 11 astronauts while they were on the moon has been termed a hoax by countless conspiracy theorists across the world. Most of these theorists point to the full colour photograph of Buzz Aldrin as he descends the ladder of the Eagle. The theorists argue that the photograph was too brightly illuminated to be real, particularly because of the fact that the sun was hidden on the other side of the spacecraft. Nvidia has finally laid rest to these conspiracy theories with the help of its cutting edge technology, which is usually used to design beautiful, realistic and fast paced video games. According to Mark Daly, the senior content development director of Nvidia, the company actually wanted to prove that a single light source (the sun in this case) was more than enough to offer sufficient light for the Buzz Aldrin photograph, even when he was in the shadow of the spacecraft. Nvidia used its technology to simulate the real time properties of light and created a 3D lighting model of the Apollo 11 site. According to reports, the project team studied satellite imagery of the Apollo 11 site as well as all other videos and photos of the mission. They measured and researched the reflective properties of light on all sorts of materials - from moon dust to the fabric of the spacesuits and the Eagle's rivets. The graphics company then used this knowledge to create an exact 3D simulation of the landing site and replicated the sun as the only source of light. They then integrated the light that was reflected by the Eagle and the surface of the moon. Daly says that despite this exact recreation, something still seemed to be missing. As they researched further, they finally found proof of an artificial source of light, but it wasn't something that would please the conspiracy theorists. They found that the artificial source of light originated from Armstrong's suit. On top of this, many people have overlooked the fact that Neil Armstrong's white spacesuit was also reflecting sunlight off him and directing it towards Buzz Aldrin. The study proves that Neil Armstrong was the "artificial source of light" in the much debated photograph. ]]>
Lighting Simulations Provide Greater Proof About Moon Landings
