Interstellar telescopes

Hi, I have no idea how the physics works in a telescope, other than it has special lens that are able of a high magnification. I was just wondering is it possible to build a telescope so powerful you could see into another star system light years away in clear detail? Is it simply a case of increasingly the magnification a trillion fold, or are there serious physical limitations that makes it impossible to do that?

its about the amount of light being collected that is the problem

tecnicaly possible, but a waste of time .. would be so huge you may as well go vist the place yourself LOL

reply to post by Indigo_Child


Interesting question. It may be a combination of technologies working in tandem that give us a better picture. Perhaps one day we'll build massive lenses in zero gravity that supersede current lenses by a large magnitude. I'm sure someone will have a sound scientific answer for you.

IRM

Here's a couple of interesting articles about the future of space telescopes:

www.space.com...

www.space.com...

Already looming large in the astronomical world is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It is to be launched in 2011. This powerful observatory features a 20-foot (6.5-meter) mirror made up of 18 hexagonal-shaped segments. The large-sized mirror could fit seven Hubble Space Telescope mirrors within its surface area.

JWST will be an infrared observatory, deployed for duty with a large sunshade attached at the second Lagrange point (L2) of the Sun-Earth system, a semi-stable point in the gravitational potential around the Sun and Earth. It will be positioned some 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from the Earth and enable astronomers to observe the formation of the first stars and galaxies in the universe billions of years ago.

[edit on 8/4/09 by Chadwickus]

infact, the idea is not so new.. you could have an array of loads of tiny ones.. and tryangulate the light into one point ect.

We do this on earth and nasa's new telecope is based on this very theory..

But to make one big supper dooper huge mirror would a massive headache.

hope that helps