NASA's Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (ALSJ)[1] records the details of each mission's period on the lunar surface as a timeline of the activities undertaken, the dialogue between the crew and Mission Control, and the relevant documentary records. Each photograph taken on the mission is catalogued there and each photographic sequence is also recorded. This page tabulates the Apollo 16 panoramas and, where appropriate, provides updated representations of the panoramas blended using more recent technologies than the originals.
Apollo 16 was the second of Apollo's "J Missions[2]" using an enhanced Lunar Module that was capable of supporting a 3-day stay on the lunar surface *and* the delivery of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV or "Rover") to the surface to allow the crew to extend the range of their exploration and to provide remote TV coverage.
In terms of photography, Apollo 16's crew surpassed their predecessors on Apollo 15 in no short measure. 1800 frames were captured whilst on the lunar surface resulting in around 100 panoramic sequences. An interesting point that arises in the subsequent tables is the ratio of panoramas taken by the Commander (John Young) and the Lunar Module Pilot (Charlie Duke) - Duke takes around four times as many as his colleague and this 4:1 ratio is the highest across all the missions.
The Lunar Module (LM), Orion, landed with its door and ladder leg (AKA "+Z strut") pointing approximately due west. The Sun's elevation[3] was around 22°-25° for EVA 1, 34°-38° for EVA 2, and 46°-49° for EVA 3.
The higher elevations of the Sun across the EVAs can be seen through the improvement in the quality of the panoramas; the Sun itself, and any resulting lens flair, is barely noticeable whereas it featured prominently in the earlier missions.
Charlie Duke is credited with inventing a new procedure during EVA 2; the "LRV Pan" or "Rover Pan" (also known as a "360").[4] The process of getting onto and off of the rover was protracted due to the bulky suit and backpack that the astronauts wore, but Duke realised that by having Young drive the rover in a tight circle he could snap a panoramic sequence simply by pointing the camera straight ahead and continuously pressing the shutter button from his seated position ("click - click - click - click - click -click"[5])
Although efficient in terms of time and effort, the approach presented some issues:-
Panoramic sequences are best shot from a single position - in these cases the camera was moved for each shot
Every shot contains foreground items (the rover's TV camera and antenna) that impact on as much as 50% each of image
The camera is subject to the movements and orientation of the rover
Camera settings have to be changed "On the fly"
The first noted LRV Pan was the sequence AS16-115-18503 to 18511 - see "Timestamp 148:41:11" below. Empirical analysis suggests that the sequence is limited to AS16-115-18107 to 18711 and the result is shown below:-
First recorded "LRC Pan" - Apollo 16 - AS16-115-18503-18511.jpg
By this, the fifth landing, the need for contingency photos taken from the Lunar Module was greatly reduced, so low in fact, that only one panorama was taken through each of the windows (and subsequently combined). No panoramas were taken from the LM between the EVAs or after the final return.
Somewhere between EVAs 2 and 3, the Reseau Plate on one of the cameras was smeared and all of the pictures on magazine 116 were impacted.[6][7] Note the example shown below:-
Example of smearing on all photos in Magazine 116.
Table 16.4 EVA 3 panoramas
Mission
Time (MET)
EVA #
Titel
Astronaut
Magazine
Typ
Start Frame
End Frame
Source
Reference Panorama
Sourced Alternate
Updated Panorama
Notes
XVI
165:50:58
EVA 3
Start of EVA-3, 500mm Stone Mountain Portrait
Young
105
Monochrome
17053
17116
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
165:57:02
EVA 3
Charlie's Plus-Z Pan at the Start of EVA-3
Duke
116
Colour
18563
18691
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
165:57:02
EVA 3
Charlie's Plus-Z Pan at the Start of EVA-3 HR
Duke
116
Colour
18574
18679
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
165:57:02
EVA 3
Charlie's Plus-Z Pan at the Start of EVA-3 HR LPI
Duke
116
Colour
18565
18591
LPI
K.A.
JSC2007e045380
XVI
165:57:02
EVA 3
Apollo 16 Landing Site
Duke
116
Colour
18573
18582
LPI
K.A.
JSC2011e118363
XVI
166:53:20
EVA 3
North Ray Crater Interior, 500-mm Pan
Duke
105
Monochrome
17117
17181
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
166:49:06
EVA 3
John's Station 11 Pan
Young
116
Colour
18592
18614
ALSJ
XVI
166:49:06
EVA 3
John's Station 11 Pan - Rover
Young
116
Colour
18597
18607
ALSJ
K.A.
Sub-Panorama
XVI
166:49:06
EVA 3
John's Station 11 Pan - Rover 2
Young
116
Colour
18606
18609
ALSJ
K.A.
Sub-Panorama
XVI
166:49:06
EVA 3
John's Station 11 Pan - LPI
Young
116
Monochrome
18594
18613
LPI
K.A.
Sub-Panorama. JSC2007e045381
XVI
166:58:00
EVA 3
North Ray Crater, 1st Polarization Pan
Duke
106
Monochrome
17239
17248
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
166:58:00
EVA 3
North Ray, 2nd Polarization Pan
Duke
106
Monochrome
17249
17262
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
166:58:00
EVA 3
North Ray, 3rd Polarization Pan
Duke
106
Monochrome
17263
18276
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
167:04:40
EVA 3
North Ray, 4th Polarization Pan
Duke
106
Monochrome
17277
17286
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
167:04:40
EVA 3
North Ray, 5th Polarization Pan
Duke
106
Monochrome
17290
17303
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
167:04:40
EVA 3
North Ray, 6th Polarization Pan
Duke
106
Monochrome
17304
17317
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
167:43:21
EVA 3
Base of House Rock
Duke
106
Monochrome
17341
17344
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
167:54:20
EVA 3
Base of House Rock 2
Duke
106
Monochrome
17349
17354
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
168:09:26
EVA 3
Traverse Photos - Station 11 to Station 13
Duke
106
Monochrome
17357
1738
ALSJ
K.A.
K.A.
Traverse, images omitted
XVI
168:21:49
EVA 3
Station 13 Pan
Duke
106
Monochrome
17386
17404
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
168:21:49
EVA 3
John and the Rover at Shadow Rock
Duke
106
Monochrome
17390
17393
ALSJ
K.A.
First alternate sourced from LPI - JSC2007e045382
XVI
168:35:48
EVA 3
Portrait of Shadow Rock
Duke
106
Monochrome
17413
17417
ALSJ
K.A.
XVI
168:51:31
EVA 3
Second LRV Pan
Duke
117
Monochrome
18746
18750
Original
K.A.
This Rover Pan is "accidental" in the sense that the composite images were taken whilst seated in the rover, but weren't part of a formalised procedure.
XVI
169:01:30
EVA 3
LRV Pan - Palmetto Crater
Duke
117
Monochrome
18765
187771
Original
K.A.
Both of these updated images are identical in content, but differ in their brightness and contrast levels. The black areas are where the rover's TV camera has been masked out.
XVI
169:08:50
EVA 3
LRV Pan - Big Sag or Doodlebug Hole
Duke
117
Monochrome
18786
187788
Original
K.A.
Both of these updated images are identical in content, but differ in their brightness and contrast levels. The black areas are where the rover's TV camera has been masked out. Location name(s) referenced in ALSJ at time reference 169:08:50.
These tables catalogue the panoramic photos captured during the Apollo 16 mission. Entries in the 'Updated Panorama' column have been created using panorama blending software working on the High Resolution scans of the original frames held as the "Project Apollo Archive" on Flickr.[9] Where a Reference Panorama is pre-existing, that has been used in preference to creating a new variant, unless there is additional value to be gained by regenerating it. Apart from some source image masking, all such new variants have been created using the minimum of processing, relying on the software package's inherent blending and optimisation capabilities - typically, such panoramas have been created within 3–5 minutes as they are intended to be 'representations' rather than 'definitive' examples. Consequently, brightness and contrast levels, as well as the removal of some frame-edges, have not been adjusted.
All 5-digit image references relate to the last 5 digits of the image names. The full image names follow the format AS16-MMM-NNNNN, where MMM relates to the Magazine number and NNNNN is the identifier.
EVA images include the overlaying of Réseau plate "crosses" to assist in their post-mission evaluation.
Almost all tabular data, such as time and image identifiers, has been extracted from the source location such as the ALSJ or LPI. The entries in the 'Title' column relate to the term used for the panorama as listed in the source's 'Assembled Panoramas' section.[10]