Re: Telescope photos of the moon?
- From: "dsa" <a@xxx>
- Date: Sun, 02 Jul 2006 12:20:23 GMT
"Osiris88" <zz99z@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1151830554.790974.200890@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
We have powerful telescopes that can see astonishing detail. Let's
have some shots of the US flag standing on the moon and that should put
to rest the conspiracy theories that say we didn't go there.
Besides, it would make an awesome photo in its own right.
"Hubble can resolve features as small as 280 feet across."
It doesn't sound like Hubble has enough resolution to see a teeny tiny flag
from here and since it is the most powerful optical telescope ever built, we
would probably need one of the CIA's spy sattelites orbiting the moon to get
the the smoking gun pics you want.
And even then, the pixel police aka "tin foil hat" crowd would be arguing
over whether we are "actually seing a flag" or not.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/solar/mooncrater.html
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was aimed at one of the Moon's most dramatic
and photogenic targets, the 58 mile-wide (93 km) impact crater Copernicus.
The image creation date is listed as April 16, 1999 and the instrument was
the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. The image was taken while the Space
Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) was aimed at a different part of the
moon to measure the colors of sunlight reflected off the Moon. Hubble cannot
look at the Sun directly and so must use reflected light to make
measurements of the Sun's spectrum. Once calibrated by measuring the Sun's
spectrum, the STIS can be used to study how the planets both absorb and
reflect sunlight. The Moon is so close to Earth that Hubble would need to
take a mosaic of 130 pictures to cover the entire disk. The upper left
picture is a ground-based one from Lick Observatory. It shows the area
covered in Hubble's photomosaic with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. In
the center image, Hubble's crisp bird's-eye view clearly shows the ray
pattern of bright dust ejected out of the crater over one billion years ago,
when an asteroid larger than a mile across slammed into the Moon. Hubble can
resolve features as small as 600 feet across in the terraced walls of the
crater, and the hummock-like blanket of material blasted out by the meteor
impact. The lower right image is a close-up view of Copernicus' terraced
walls. Hubble can resolve features as small as 280 feet across. This
description is excerpted from NASA's original picture captions. Further
image credits listed: PHOTO NO.: STScI-PRC99-14 Credit: John Caldwell (York
University, Ontario), Alex Storrs (STScI), and NASA.
.
- References:
- Telescope photos of the moon?
- From: Osiris88
- Telescope photos of the moon?
- Prev by Date: Re: Iraq is worth it
- Next by Date: Re: Sheehan suing Bush ranch over parking?
- Previous by thread: Re: Telescope photos of the moon?
- Next by thread: Liberalism Is a Dangerous Mental Disorder.
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
