Comments on: Why are there no telescope pictures of the USA flag on the Moon? http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/ Thu, 17 May 2012 22:01:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: arbiter007 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/comment-page-1/#comment-1440 arbiter007 Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:03:10 +0000 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/#comment-1440 Sorry, you're simply wrong. With an aperture of 2.4m, the diffraction blur of the Hubble cannot allow the resolution of anything less than about 97 m across. Even with the suggested long baseline telescope with an effective aperture of 300 m, the blur spot would be about 31 inches, which is not enough to see a flag. As shown in, the planetary camera's resolution is comparable to the blur spot. Do the math, 46 milli-arcsec * distance to Moon to get the sampling resolution of Hubble. Sorry, you’re simply wrong.

With an aperture of 2.4m, the diffraction blur of the Hubble cannot allow the resolution of anything less than about 97 m across.

Even with the suggested long baseline telescope with an effective aperture of 300 m, the blur spot would be about 31 inches, which is not enough to see a flag.

As shown in, the planetary camera’s resolution is comparable to the blur spot.

Do the math, 46 milli-arcsec * distance to Moon to get the sampling resolution of Hubble.

]]> By: Gary H http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/comment-page-1/#comment-1439 Gary H Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:50:03 +0000 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/#comment-1439 To the rest of the very good answers, I'd like to add... The Keck twins in interferometric mode, at 90m aperture, are pretty close to being able to resolve a lunar lander or rover, but not quite even on a perfect night. The LBT, maybe. I'm wondering if the CHARA array, at an effective aperture of what, about 300m(?) might be able to despite the small size of the individual mirrors? To the rest of the very good answers, I’d like to add…

The Keck twins in interferometric mode, at 90m aperture, are pretty close to being able to resolve a lunar lander or rover, but not quite even on a perfect night. The LBT, maybe. I’m wondering if the CHARA array, at an effective aperture of what, about 300m(?) might be able to despite the small size of the individual mirrors?

]]> By: secretsauce http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/comment-page-1/#comment-1438 secretsauce Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:34:48 +0000 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/#comment-1438 "Don't tell me the telescope's can't see that far!" Uhm ... sorry ... the telescopes can't see that far. Sorry, but that's the truth. It's not about seeing "far" ... telescopes can see thing millions of light years away. It's about how small an object you can see at a certain distance. "Hubble can for sure!" Nope. Sorry. It can't see things that small. And what difference would it make to you anyway? If you're the type of person who believes that tens of thousands of NASA engineers, astronauts, technicians, scientists, etc. would perpetrate a massive hoax of the general public ... and have the coordinated ability to maintain this secret for 40 years ... then why wouldn't they have the capacity to fake a few photos? In other words, if you already believe the "moon-landing hoax" idea, then you're too far gone into La La land to be persuaded by ANY kind of evidence. Sorry, but it's true. “Don’t tell me the telescope’s can’t see that far!”

Uhm … sorry … the telescopes can’t see that far. Sorry, but that’s the truth. It’s not about seeing “far” … telescopes can see thing millions of light years away. It’s about how small an object you can see at a certain distance.

“Hubble can for sure!”

Nope. Sorry. It can’t see things that small.

And what difference would it make to you anyway? If you’re the type of person who believes that tens of thousands of NASA engineers, astronauts, technicians, scientists, etc. would perpetrate a massive hoax of the general public … and have the coordinated ability to maintain this secret for 40 years … then why wouldn’t they have the capacity to fake a few photos?

In other words, if you already believe the “moon-landing hoax” idea, then you’re too far gone into La La land to be persuaded by ANY kind of evidence.

Sorry, but it’s true.

]]> By: bldudas http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/comment-page-1/#comment-1437 bldudas Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:59:25 +0000 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/#comment-1437 No telescope, no matter how powerful or where it is, can resolve something as small as a flag on a moon or planet or any other object. No telescope, no matter how powerful or where it is, can resolve something as small as a flag on a moon or planet or any other object.

]]> By: LeAnne http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/comment-page-1/#comment-1436 LeAnne Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:23:24 +0000 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/#comment-1436 That's a legitimate question. For the answer, please click on the link below. That’s a legitimate question. For the answer, please click on the link below.

]]> By: scythian1950 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/comment-page-1/#comment-1435 scythian1950 Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:08:44 +0000 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/#comment-1435 The best military spy satellite cameras today are now just about able to resolve foot prints on dirt. And that's from only about 100 miles up. The moon is about 240,000 miles away. The Hubble Telescope, in spite of opinions to the contrary, is not 2,400 times as acute as our best spy cameras. One reason is that resolution is fundamentally limited by the aperture size, so that if the aperture of the spy cameras is about a foot (yes, they're that big), that'd mean the Hubble Telescope would have to be half a mile across to be able to see footprints on the moon. Now, but not all is lost. ESA's SMART-1 probe, orbiting the moon, is now conducting comprehensive photographic surveys of the surface of the moon, presently at medium resolution, before going to high resolution. It's expected that photographs of the early moon landing sites will be obtained, and presumably released to the public. The best military spy satellite cameras today are now just about able to resolve foot prints on dirt. And that’s from only about 100 miles up. The moon is about 240,000 miles away. The Hubble Telescope, in spite of opinions to the contrary, is not 2,400 times as acute as our best spy cameras. One reason is that resolution is fundamentally limited by the aperture size, so that if the aperture of the spy cameras is about a foot (yes, they’re that big), that’d mean the Hubble Telescope would have to be half a mile across to be able to see footprints on the moon.

Now, but not all is lost. ESA’s SMART-1 probe, orbiting the moon, is now conducting comprehensive photographic surveys of the surface of the moon, presently at medium resolution, before going to high resolution. It’s expected that photographs of the early moon landing sites will be obtained, and presumably released to the public.

]]> By: baron_von_party http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/comment-page-1/#comment-1434 baron_von_party Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:19:57 +0000 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/#comment-1434 We should be able to get images of that stuff in the next 4-5 years or so with some orbiters the we and Japan are sending up there. Hubble can't get it because the moon moves too fast for it and isn't set up for things as close as the moon, plus the moon is too bright for it. Hubble is for dimmer things in deep space, not 250,000 miles away, that's like shoving a piece of paper in your face and trying to read it at the end of your nose. We were there, sonny, don't you worry about it. Go ahead and call Neil Armstrong a liar to his face! We should be able to get images of that stuff in the next 4-5 years or so with some orbiters the we and Japan are sending up there. Hubble can’t get it because the moon moves too fast for it and isn’t set up for things as close as the moon, plus the moon is too bright for it. Hubble is for dimmer things in deep space, not 250,000 miles away, that’s like shoving a piece of paper in your face and trying to read it at the end of your nose. We were there, sonny, don’t you worry about it. Go ahead and call Neil Armstrong a liar to his face!

]]> By: eri http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/comment-page-1/#comment-1433 eri Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:48:28 +0000 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/#comment-1433 No, Hubble can't. Hubble can resolve a field on the moon the size of a football field - that means every pixel of the image is the size of a football field. The lander and the flag are MUCH smaller than that, and thus unresolvable. No, Hubble can’t. Hubble can resolve a field on the moon the size of a football field - that means every pixel of the image is the size of a football field. The lander and the flag are MUCH smaller than that, and thus unresolvable.

]]> By: tentofield http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/comment-page-1/#comment-1432 tentofield Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:30:52 +0000 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/#comment-1432 Hubble can't resolve something as small as a flag on the Moon. Nor can it see the other stuff left behind by the six manned Moon missions and the various Russian unmanned missions. The laser reflectors left behind on the Moon can be seen by firing a laser at them from the Earth. They reflect the laser beam back to the Earth. Hubble can’t resolve something as small as a flag on the Moon. Nor can it see the other stuff left behind by the six manned Moon missions and the various Russian unmanned missions. The laser reflectors left behind on the Moon can be seen by firing a laser at them from the Earth. They reflect the laser beam back to the Earth.

]]> By: CelticFairy http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/comment-page-1/#comment-1431 CelticFairy Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:53:20 +0000 http://www.telescopebuyingguide.com/blog/why-are-there-no-telescope-pictures-of-the-usa-flag-on-the-moon/#comment-1431 Cause it never happened! Thats the one thing I can truly say you will never make me beleive happened. You will never convince me of that. Cause it never happened! Thats the one thing I can truly say you will never make me beleive happened. You will never convince me of that.

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