In this installment, we will continue to discuss the prehistoric lunar dome contained in frame AS12-47-6890 which was published in Carl Sagan’s book Cosmos and first brought to the public’s attention in March of 1995 by Jason Cook on the late Michael Corbin’s radio program, Paranet U.F.O. Continuum. ¹⁾For the complete story start here.

For our continued reference of this important picture it has already become obvious, and frankly necessary, to refer to a number of features as a sort of nomenclature for our better understanding of what part of the lunar landscape or area above it that we are describing. I have already presented some of these such as the “Sunglint” and “Hexagonal Refractions” etc.²⁾See parts 5 and 6 of this series Various names I have given are only that, “names”. They are not meant to literally be what the name says in every instance as they are mostly for reference.

As I am a proponent of allowing the viewer to make up his or her own mind when looking at these types of images, I am not usually big on labeling anomalies on the imagery itself. I think this tends to over influence the viewers perception of what to expect, thus, many of the images I have already published, as well as the following ones, are without labels. This allows the viewer to make their own assessment of what it is I am describing.  However, it  is unavoidable that I have to point them out at some time.

Therefore, the full dome with labels:

For the official names of the various sub-craters within the Pasteur crater area, we will refer to the following image map which has already been labeled and is provided by Wikimedia commons (for our continued examination, this map should be opened in a seperate window for reference):

And, for the area map of some of my own “nicknames” of the various features, I will label an alternate image of the Pasteur crater area which is also provided by Wikimedia commons (Note below on this particular image map, on the viewers left of the crater itself, an incredible array of intelligently-designed-looking geometric morphologies can be discerned due to the albedo. This continues around the lower end of the crater and additional interesting features can be seen in sub-crater “Pasteur D” near the lower right):

A more particular and specific treatment of individual anomalies of the Pasteur area, and the Moon in general, is just simply outside the scope of this article series, and for that we will pursue a seperate set of articles. It is only possible here to briefly go over the various features, as there really are quite a few. Our main objective is to demonstrate, from a number of different missions to the Moon, a full array of indications of a lunar dome over Pasteur, not just one or two examples.

Below is an oblique view image of Pasteur. This is Apollo 17 frame AS17-M-1597 which is also available from Wikimedia commons (Here, we see Richard Hoagland’s classic “venetian blind” effect draping the area):

In the following process of the same Apollo 17 frame, I have applied a gamma adjustment to enhance the “wavy shower glass” effect that can be easily seen from trapped light on the viewers right, to the untrapped light on the viewers left. Again, this is a classic shifting of light. If the image were in color, the right side would be blue shifted on the spectrum and the left side would be red shifted.

There are many images would could pick from various Apollo missions to the moon, but for now, let’s look at some Apollo 14 images that I initially noticed in the late 1990’s. The frames I am speaking of are, specifically, from the sequence over the Pasteur area which run from frame AS14-75-10278, to frame AS14-75-10294.  The images presented here are provided through the Lunar and Planetary institute’s Apollo Image Atlas. ³⁾There is also additional imagery available from the National Archives Catalog.  The view presented in the frames is one of looking back and down towards Pasteur as the CM is going past the crater itself. For the moment, we will only look at a few of them. ⁴⁾This Apollo 14 sequence of frames has the same numbers from it that I provided to Steve Troy in early 2003, as I mentioned in part 5 .

AS14-75-10283:

AS14-75-10284:

Note what I call the “Flying Citadel” on the center right of the following Apollo 14 frame AS14-75-10285:

If the “Flying Citadel” is stuck in a “matrix” of rebar, or something similar as Richard Hoagland has often suggested about similar structures above various other areas of the Moon, and if its at the top of a tower or similar structure, the footings for the tower would probably be not far from the upper outside or western part of “Pasteur U”. Perhaps not more than 20 or 30 miles from the western edge of the main Pasteur crater. The geometry of the “Flying Citadel”is obvious. In fact, the center “module” of the “Flying Citadel” is well preserved enough that its dodecahedral like shape is retained. The other parts of the citadel are in much worse shape. It is clear that this is not a scratch or some sort of defect or crud on the negative. It has 3-D volume morphology and appropriate ambient lighting and shadow on its surfaces which are consistent at the images’ current sun angle and it’s appearance is consistent with similar anomalies that have been discovered, by myself and others, and which are suspended above the lunar surface. ⁵⁾In future articles we will examine more of these suspended artifacts above the lunar surface.  Its just another example of one of the many “boulders” mentioned by the Apollo 10 astronauts when they were “down among ’em”. There are other bits of material with a similar greyscale to the “Flying Citadel” itself in these images but, much smaller, and are almost certainly other flying “boulders”. Some of these might not even be the remnants of architectural features built into the upper parts of the lunar dome, but solidified bits of melted glass from impacts in the glass dome itself over the ages which would at particular times locally re-consolidate the aging material aspect of the glass itself at the point of impact when those meteors strike the various areas of the dome. This would be true of the domes on the Moon in general and explain why some of this material, in the form of inexplicably formed boulder morphologies, is still above the lunar surface. Or, some of these features are protected because of the glass like material acting as a shield. To the extent that architectural structures survive the incessant impact of meteoric and micrometeoric impact, they would be better preserved. Its possible that some of these have survived because various layers of glass were originally intended by the builders of the domes themselves to protect from such impacts. Although, those of us in the “Exploded Planet” camp, tend to think that the very proliferation of such impacts are due to an intentionally exploded planet. However, accretion disk debris would still have to be a factor, even long ago, to those who may have constructed these vast engineering works on the moon.

The “Flying Citadel” in a bit closer:

In 2003, at Richard Hoagland’s now (apparently forever) closed Enterprise Mission private forum, I provided the following labeled image from Apollo 14 (frame AS14-75-10286) to the conference membership. I was, at that time, attempting to describe the light reflecting off of the Sagan dome. The view is almost zero phase to the glass over what I call the “Complex”:

In these particular Apollo 14 images, the various morphologies of the landscape appear to have a marked altered appearance compared to other images of the area, not only because we are looking at the landscape as the command module is passing over and looking back at the area, but also due to light refraction from the surface. Such an altered appearance cannot, in my estimation, be simply explained by different orbital parameters.

Below, an higher resolution of frame AS14-75-10286 with labels:

In fact the “Complex” or “Pasteur U”, in the following high contrast process of the same frame number, has such an refracted appearance that it looks almost vertical:

It appears that we are looking at the complete opposite type of refraction that we were examining in the previous installment of this series, except now, we are looking “down” and “into” the dome. Indeed, if there were a refractive medium here consistent with a dome like structure at this particular point going over the dome and looking down on that particular part of Pasteur crater, the effect would be very similar to looking down into a basin of water and the objects at the bottom refracted wildly incident to the viewers eye.

We will now examine additional features of the “Sagan Dome”.

There are many examples of glass refraction phenomenology above the lunar surface that cannot be explained by some sort of out of focus bead of water stuck to the inside of a spacecrafts window. One of my favorite examples of hexagonal light refraction occured on an Apollo 11 image that I first discovered back in 1999. Although this particular frame is not from the Pasteur area, it is yet another example of the kind of refractions that are being found in widely seperate areas of the moon:

Now, from a completely different mission and area (Crater Pasteur–over the Sagan Dome) is an example of what I have called the “Hexagonal Refraction 1”:

The following image has the area of the “hexagonal refraction” blurred intentionally so that the area described is more easily demonstrated:

Here is how the Hexagonal Refraction 1 appears in the printed version on page 84 of Dr. Sagan’s Cosmos:

“Hexagonal Refraction 1” maintains its position relative to the lunar landscape as evidenced by the following Apollo 12 images (one of which occured in Lawrence Allen’s Mans greatest adventure):

Additionally, the following Apollo 12 images have the “Hexagonal Refraction 1” continuing to maintain its position relative to the surrounding landscape in different frame numbers: ⁶⁾It might prove interesting to note that some frames in the sequence, from magazine 47 of the Apollo 12 mission, appear to be out of sequence during frames 6874, through 6878, as see here. Is this evidence of the deletion from the original catalog of some of the frames? Also, the images in question might have been entered into the catalog sideways. If so, is this evidence of a negligent cover-up of certain images?

Another one:

Another example:

The “Hexagonal Refraction 1” is also evident on multiple missions from a variety of orbital views and geometries .

Apollo 8:

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter:

Here the area is intentionally blurred, from the same image from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, so that we can more easily demonstrate what it is we are examining:

The “Hexagonal Refraction 1” is also visible in the Apollo 14 images at the bottom of this article installment.

Next example is what I have labeled as the “Hexagonal Refraction 2”:

How the “Hexagonal Refraction 2” appears on the printed page itself from Sagan’s book Cosmos:

Now, “Hexagonal Refraction 3”:

The following is what I first dubbed in 1995 the “Complex” or officially “Pasteur U”.  Through what appears to be an refractive medium, we can discern a complex geometric morphology in the crater itself. The “D” shaped nature of the eastern floor of this crater is extraordinarily odd and inexplicable. Perhaps a collapsed crater floor might explain part of it, but how did the “L” shape feature then emerge in the middle of the “D” shaped area? There is not a hint of a central peak common to such craters, and indeed, the wall running tangent to the lunar North and South (viewers right and left) has above it what seems to be an embankment of some sort and something that almost looks like a ramp is evident thereon. At best, geologically speaking, this area is a collapsed landscape of some sort, and the “ramp” is nothing more than the north wall of a smaller sub-crater, although perusal of recent panoramic camera scans from the later Apollo Missions might undoubtably prove more enlightenening on the matter.

“Complex” with “D” shaped crater floor and “L” shaped feature therein:

The following image from Apollo 8 is a straight down perspective over what I have called the “Complex” or what is officially known as “Pasteur U”.  Note that the “L” shaped feature easily discerned down in the floor of “Pasteur U” in the color image above is not visible in this black and white Apollo 8 image. This may be due to the intervening medium of glasslike material which apparently is trapping light at this perspective angle.

“Maltese” or “Pasteur Y”: (The Sunglint was examined briefly in part 6). The term “Maltese” is coined due to the bi-laterally symmetric nature of the “crater”–which is probably not a crater at all. The two prominent depressions which lend themselves to the maltese shape have identical morphology to them and are amazing.

“Crack 1”:

“Luminous Debris”:

The following Apollo 14 images will assist in further demonstrating the refraction effect we detailed in our previous installment. It should be kept in mind, that the Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 orbital parameters around the Moon were similar, but not identical. There is an opportunity here for a great stereo imaging analysis of the dome itself. See here, and also here, for additional details of the similarities of the Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 orbits. ⁷⁾Also, read this page from the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal

First, lets quickly review one of the best examples from the Apollo 12 imagery that I applied the refracted perspective process explained in detail in our previous installment:

Now, we will examine Apollo 14 imagery with some of this perspective process applied, but first, here is a sectional of frame AS14-66-9224 without the perspective view applied (the main “Sagan Dome” is blue shifted here, creating a greenish hue to the landscape beneath the glass):

Now, a labeled example of frame AS14-66-9224 with perspective applied:

AS14-66-9225 sectional without perspective:

Now, AS14-66-9225 with perspective applied (note the color shift of the light also):

AS14-66-9226 without perspective applied:

AS14-66-9226 with a perspective applied:

AS14-66-9227 without perspective process:

AS14-66-9227 with perspective applied:

There is so much intriguing evidence in support of the “lunar artifact” model of Dr. Sagan, (specifically explained in parts 3 and 5 of this series) that it’s no wonder why he would select Pasteur crater as his choice to tacity prove his hypothesis, and by doing so acknowledge that he knew all along about what he predicted as early as 1962, namely, that there are “artifacts” on the moon.

To be continued…

Go to part 8

Back to part 6