If we have the largest telescope in the world, can we see the flag on the surface of the moon?

Question

I recently found this reel on instagram that we have captured a little image/video of the sun.

Given how far the earth is to the moon, could it be possible for us to see the flag on the surface on the moon then if man actually landed on the moon?

In: 1074

Answer 1

Not even close. Call the flag 1 m across and 400 000 km away. So the ratio between those distances is 400 million. Now there are about 2 million wavelengths of light per metre so the telescope would need to be 200 m across to have any chance just of seeing that there was an object there. Seeing any details would need a much bigger telescope than that.