I've just watched the documentary recently posted on this forum about Area 51, in which they used a special camera with a pretty big lens to veiw Area 51 from what i think they said was about 26 miles.

The pics were ok, but nothing amazing.

So my mind starts thinking about what kind of viewing equipment can see things from extremely long distances, and the most extreme examples i can think of is astronomy equipment.

Please know that i have no idea about cameras and telescopes, so this is just an idea that i am curious about.

If a novice backyard astronomer can buy telescopes with camera facilities on them that can view the heavens, why can't/haven't the same kind of thing be used to view Area 51 from just a few miles away?

CX.

No reason really, if they do any testing there, it's conventinal aircraft these days.

What you need to do is find the new Area 51 and take pictures of that! lol

You can use astronomy gear to photograph land based objects but the problem is heat haze or pollution. The further away the object the less clarity you will have especially in the desert.