[Ahithophel]

Nice picture. Just wondering: where’s the shadow of the flag and flagstick?

[Mmogamer]

It’s been said NASA was at it’s best when the Germans ran it...

[fr_freak]

Nice picture. Just wondering: where’s the shadow of the flag and flagstick?

Funny you should ask that. I remember a Mythbusters episode a while back that went over this very kind of thing. They demonstrated how the uneven ground, given a point light source (the sun) can cause a number of optical illusions with regard to the shadows, especially when the ground appears flat in the picture. If we use the picture I posted as an example, a small bump in the ground by the astronaut's feet, from the vantage point of the photographer, would appear as flat ground because the photographer can't see the depression behind it, although the depression could contain the shadow of something like the flag pole. Or something like that.

With regards to this picture, I'd say the shadow of the flag pole is to the right of the pole, but has the appearance of going to the 2 o'clock position rather than the 3 o'clock position of the astronaut's shadow.

[Lees Swrd]

Its there just going the wrong direction look to the left