THE STRANGE / THE TV PICTURE
Why the moonwalkers look see-through.
RECORD / AT A GLANCE
FALSE
The ghosting came from the slow-scan camera’s image lag and the optical conversion to broadcast TV. The white spots were defects in the conversion equipment on Earth.
THE EVENTS / THE CLAIM / THE RECORD
20 July 1969
Slow-scan TV from the Moon is converted at Goldstone, Honeysuckle Creek and Sydney.
September 2017
Discover explains the conversion artifacts.
READ THE FILE
You can see through them.
A camera tube and a camera pointed at a screen.
Open an article for its evidence, labeled AI assessment and numbered sources. Read the complete static edition ↗
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE
2 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.
Ghosting came from scan conversion of slow-scan TV.
Who says it: Viral videos.
They came from scan converters on Earth.
Who says it: Viral videos.
OPEN THE RECORD
Numbered citations in each article identify the relevant sources. These records have different purposes and evidentiary weight.
Popular-science explainer on slow-scan TV conversion.
Technical analysis by John Sarkissian and colleagues of white spots and “ghostly” effects in the Apollo 11 TV.
Primary institutional record. Carried from the first edition and re-listed 23 October 2026; cited for the specific point in the text.
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You can see through them.
In parts of the Apollo 11 broadcast, the astronauts look semi-transparent, and background features show through their bodies. That is what you would expect if separate images were layered together. [1]
Popular-science explainer on slow-scan TV conversion.
A camera tube and a camera pointed at a screen.
The lunar camera sent 10 frames per second in a non-standard format. To broadcast it, stations pointed a regular TV camera at a monitor showing the lunar picture. Moving figures left trails, giving the ghostly look. [1]
The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal traces the white spots to the scan converters at Goldstone, Honeysuckle and Sydney, likely defects in the vidicon camera tubes. Different stations’ pictures show different spots, which points to equipment on Earth, not on the Moon. [2]
NASA’s 2009 restoration cleaned up much of this. [3]
Popular-science explainer on slow-scan TV conversion.
Technical analysis by John Sarkissian and colleagues of white spots and “ghostly” effects in the Apollo 11 TV.
Primary institutional record. Carried from the first edition and re-listed 23 October 2026; cited for the specific point in the text.
Approved reader comments and ratings appear here when JavaScript is on.