A conspiracy theorist reckoned the absence of stars from this Artemis II photo blows the whole thing wide open and it was an intergalactic self-own

There’s nothing like actually flying to the moon to encourage a certain type of person to insist that we’ve never actually flown to the moon.

We say this after the latest pictures from Artemis II prompted this American dude who appears to be some sort of life coach and much else besides to seize on one particular aspect of these photos to suggest have somehow blow the whole thing wide open.

Well, yes and no. By which we surely mean, no, absolutely not. 100% nada. Because, well, look …

1.

One word… Aperture.

You've engagement farmed me this last time. I'm out.

— Drew Wash (@drewwash) April 7, 2026

2.

I love the idea that nasa created this huge conspiracy involving thousands of people but forgot to put the stars in https://t.co/OAVgKtMrZZ

— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) April 7, 2026

3.

If you are photographing something that is lit up by a bright object then that object will cause faint lights to be washed out.

It’s basic photography Google camera exposure

— ChucktownTiger (@Chucktown_Tiger) April 7, 2026

4.

It absolutely makes sense why there are no stars. As someone who takes photos, the explanation is very reasonable, and why you don't see stars is very explainable. It isn't conspiracy, it's photography. https://t.co/5GmzoqCTk6

— John Greenewald, Jr. (@theblackvault) April 7, 2026

5.

Sports games are fake not one star!!!! pic.twitter.com/EPR4hbhLUo

— ChucktownTiger (@Chucktown_Tiger) April 7, 2026

6.

That’s because of aperture. Are you an astrophotographer? I’ve been photographing the night sky for a number of years, and in order to capture the moon, you can’t have too much light entering into the camera lens, to prevent the moon from looking like an orb of light with no… https://t.co/lBmEmTOB9y pic.twitter.com/oMT6Uvkbg9

— (@BasedZillenial) April 8, 2026

7.

When you’re that close to something that bright, you have to make a decision about what you want to show up clearly.

The surfaces of the highly reflective moon and the highly reflective planet, or the stars in the background? You can't really have both from their current…

— Drew Doss (@drew4worldruler) April 7, 2026

8.

Aperture and exposure, super fundamental stuff.

— Baba Booey (@x980ux89hx8h) April 7, 2026

9.

That’s because you’re an idiot Jordan https://t.co/Kg8SVACm3K

— Lee Bojangles (@osgamer74) April 7, 2026

But because we are never less than fair and balanced, @digijordan later said he wasn’t actually denying Artemis II had gone to the moon …

Get your feet back on the earth and ground yourself.

We sent humans to the moon.

It’s pretty neat. https://t.co/6NwlEEYa6Q

— Daniel Miller – SiCcOp (@SicCoP1) April 7, 2026

Yup…not disputing that at all

— Jordan Crowder (@digijordan) April 7, 2026

… but having listened to as much of this as we could handle, appears to be questioning pretty much everything else.

To conclude …

Love it when community notes schools these people. https://t.co/9BpkzSxkzT

— Tony Polanco (@Romudeth) April 7, 2026

READ MORE

A troll suggested the Artemis mission to the moon was faked and it was an epic own goal for the ages