http://youtube.com/watch?v=e6c60m3JbKw\

Why are the HB's critizing this video now??? whats wrong with him, something about he should be blind from the sun? im confused haha

For some reason, some people think if you don't have the gold visor down, you'd be immediately blinded. Dunno why they think that. The visor is just basically big sunglasses, not some life-or-death thing.

This is Apollo 17, and the astronaut shown is Dr. Jack Schmitt. Unfortunately he scratched his gold visor part-way through the mission and so spent a lot of time with it up because he couldn't see very well through the scratches.

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

ooo, well that explains that. man these people will go after the smallest little things that are so easily anwered by you guys, haha

Yeah, pretty much.

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

No, he'd be instantly fried to a crisp by the ultraviolet radiation - didn't you see Armageddon??

Wasn't that Deep Impact? Amazing how $2 sunglasses can stop over 99% of UV radiation but a space suit helmet don't do a thing.

And why did they send up an astronaut with such a severe neurological condition? When most people accidently look at they sun they shut their eyes and look away. Most people don't continue to stare into it while screaming, unlike in that movie.

My understanding, in that scene, was that the comet was much closer to the Sun at the time, near perihelion.

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"Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures - in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together." St. Exupery

for some reason that link didn't work, it redirects you to the youtube main page. Anyone else have that problem, or is it just me?

Can you repost the link, Gary?

the correct link is: http://youtube.com/watch?v=e6c60m3JbKw

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You don't plan sincerity. You have to make it up on the spot. -Denny Crane

I never make predictions, and I never will. -some footballer

Oh, yeah, you're right... it was Deep Impact. The one of the pair that was supposed to have actually listened to its science advisors.

He was screaming because the UV radiation was burning his face to a crisp. Finding materials that absorb UV light is easy. To make his space suit helmet transmit the UV, enough to burn his face, they'd have to go out of their way to make the helmet out of a UV transmitting material.

Funny, *I* thought the gold visors were to mask the true identities of the actors standing in for the real "flight crew"

[ducks and runs out of the room]

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

"A long time ago, yet somehow in the future"

and THAT is why you never insult an engineer (or a parachute packer). They will get you back.

The fully-transparent visors in space helmets are made from optical Lexan, a very tough polycarbonate material that is essentially opaque to ultraviolet. The gold visor doesn't significantly reduce the amount of ultraviolet that strikes the astronaut's face. The gold visor is meant to attenuate light in the visible wavelengths, the same way dark sunglasses do.

The sun glinting off the surface was probably very bright, but not in a way that would immediately blind you. I used to think Arabs wore sunglasses mostly to look cool until I started spending significant time in the world's deserts, whereupon I learned that you can get along without sunglasses, but you don't want to.

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

I wonder if the HB'ers that claim he would have been instantly blinded have ever been outside on a snowy day? Even if the sky is clear and the sun is out, your eyes don't bake in your skull. I don't care to look it up but I'd imagine that more light reflects off of the white snow than off of the lunar surface.

Oh well, false logic always makes sense when you ignore the facts.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

"A long time ago, yet somehow in the future"

Note to self: never have my space suit visors made by engineers who specialize in magnifying glasses and telescope optics.

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[Dr. Horrible]___________________________[Penny]
Listen close to everybody's heart________And you believe there's good in everybody's heart
And hear that breaking sound_____________Keep it safe and sound
Hopes and dreams are shattering apart____With hope you can do your part
And crashing to the ground_______________To turn a life around

Fazor, the supposed difference is the supposed protective power of the Earth's atmosphere.

Ah, yes, forgot that aspect of the argument.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

"A long time ago, yet somehow in the future"

Yep.
Direct sunlight is around 100,000 lux at sea-level on Earth, and 130,000 lux above the atmosphere. There are various indices of reflection quoted for the lunar surface, but representative chunks seem to reflect 10-20% of the incident light, as compared to 80% for fresh snow. So the lunar surface should look maybe a third or a quarter as bright as fresh snow on a clear day: more if the astronaut looks towards the antisolar point, less if he looks off sideways.

Grant Hutchison

You should meet my five year old.

No, waitaminute, that's not quite right...

Actually, that was me when I was five, staring into the sun on a hot summer morning.

For about ten minutes, just because I could.

Fortunately, no permanent damage.

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Mine: "Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that."

Heinlein's: "Staying young requires the unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." "Freedom begins when you tell Ms. Grundy to go fly a kite."

Well that's what Issac Newton did. Maybe the solar energy has supercharged your brain so you're now as smart as him? If you haven't stared into the sun since then that's evidence that you've become smarter.

Ha! Good one! But I strongly doubt it.

Can't doubt that - I was seeing a spot in front of my vision for several days. Have avoided both the sun and bright, oncoming headlights ever since.

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Mine: "Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that."

Heinlein's: "Staying young requires the unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." "Freedom begins when you tell Ms. Grundy to go fly a kite."