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

Let’s talk about something called Angular Size.

Angular Size is basically a measure of how big a thing appears to be based on both how big it is and how far it is away. For example, a quarter held at arms length might appear to be a similar size to the sun in the sky, and that is because they’re the same angular size.

Some quick googling because I’m lazy to do the math gives me this…

https://www.highpointscientific.com/astronomy-hub/post/night-sky-news/can-we-see-the-flag-on-the-moon

A flag on the moon has an angular size of ~0.002 arcseconds (an arcsecond is 1/60 of an arcminute, and an arcminute is 1/60th of a degree). In comparison, the Hubble telescope can do about 0.03 arcseconds of resolution. So even the hubble telescope cannot make out a flag on the moon.