Here' one I took with a Nikon D3000 and an 80 mm refractor telescope.*



*I live in a large conurbation, and there is no point to having anything larger. In fact, the Moon is about the only thing I can see without driving for hours!

Originally posted by johnrobca
what sort/model/type of telescope would you need to get pictures of the moon that would give enough detail to see something say 10 foot high sat in a crater? and how much would it cost?

Apparently, the angular resolution of a telescope is determined by the equation
sin(theta) = 1.220 * (L/D)
theta is the angular resolution in radians,
L is the wavelength of light,
and D is the diameter of the lens' aperture.

10 foot resolution for the moon 384,399 km away is 7.9293x10-9 radians,
so for yellow light, 580nm, works out to be a telescope with a diameter of 89 meters.
Not sure I'm right - I thought it would be larger.

Cost: One Million Dollars.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by johnrobca
what sort/model/type of telescope would you need to get pictures of the moon that would give enough detail to see something say 10 foot high sat in a crater? and how much would it cost?

Apparently, the angular resolution of a telescope is determined by the equation
sin(theta) = 1.220 * (L/D)
theta is the angular resolution in radians,
L is the wavelength of light,
and D is the diameter of the lens' aperture.

10 foot resolution for the moon 384,399 km away is 7.9293x10-9 radians,
so for yellow light, 580nm, works out to be a telescope with a diameter of 89 meters.
Not sure I'm right - I thought it would be larger.

Cost: One Million Dollars.

right then santa .... Ill have one of those ..... and the land to put it on ...

cheers alfa1 ... was hoping for something I could afford ... looks like its Plan B ... build a spacecraft out of wine bottles ...

Here is a Moon pic taken around 30 yrs ago on a 6 inch refracting telescope mounted equatorially with a clockwork drive.The camera was a 35mm SLR mounted on the telescope at prime focus using 100 asa film.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by johnrobca
what sort/model/type of telescope would you need to get pictures of the moon that would give enough detail to see something say 10 foot high sat in a crater? and how much would it cost?

Apparently, the angular resolution of a telescope is determined by the equation
sin(theta) = 1.220 * (L/D)
theta is the angular resolution in radians,
L is the wavelength of light,
and D is the diameter of the lens' aperture.

10 foot resolution for the moon 384,399 km away is 7.9293x10-9 radians,
so for yellow light, 580nm, works out to be a telescope with a diameter of 89 meters.
Not sure I'm right - I thought it would be larger.

Cost: One Million Dollars.

I think the cost is way out ! a 292 ft wide telescope would be hundreds of millions.

Hey, i want to brag too.
Not a great resolution, but i like the effect hdr created. Mun. Or Soon?