Why does the flag on the moon appear to be waving during the Apollo 13 mission?

[stefan r]

...then there would be dust flying all over the Moon's surface. Did you ever notice any on the films?...There must be fairies at the bottom of their gardens.

There is dust flying over the moon's surface.

Here is a picture from clementine with Venus in the background:

The Apollo astronauts who saw it first were not sure what to make of it.

 

[russ_watters]

I would like to also state that, my line of questioning behind the math, stems from the origin of having an answer to disprove peoples ideas of the moon landing being fake due to the flags motion.

I'm sure everyone is aware of where the question comes from...

Hmm, that definitely makes sense, there are many unknown measurements in this case. I guess in the future, when we create a base on the moon we will be able to conduct more practical experiments such as these.
Is there any way to make a rough estimate, of the unknown variables leading to a vague hypothetical mathematical answer?

I don't know why you'd even bother. It's obvious that the violent shaking of the astronaut is making it move. The damping time really doesn't matter unless you're trying to argue against a silly idea like that a gust of wind occurred just as the astronaut was violently shaking the flag, and then the wind completely stopped. It's a silly/convoluted idea that should not be worthy of debunking.

Regardless has enough research been done into this topic to determine with absolute certainty that it is indeed "impossible" to create a hypothetical analysis?

No, I'm quite certain no serious researcher would bother with this.

People seem to be interested in the topic, so why would we stop discussing it? Engaging the mind can never be considered to be a waste of time.

Well, for one, it violates PF rules. From a practical standpoint, people have only finite brain power, so if they are working on this silly problem they aren't addressing the many better problems that are out there to be answered. PF is about quality, not quantity.

Thread locked.