Questions about the moon

An why would it not be possible to see the flags even with the most powerful
telescopes?


"Martin Lewicki" wrote in message
...
"Paul Gauthier" wrote in
:

Hello,
reading a post earlier today someone mentioned that the other side of
the moon will be visible to us in a week or so, is this true? Will we
see it in north america and can you really see the american flag on
the moon, if so where is it located?

I would really apreciate it if someone could enlighten me on the above
questions.
Thanks



I think what you might have heard was that a small part of the far side
will be visible due to a phenomenon called libration. While the moon
generally keeps the same side facing earth we can often see a bit beyond
the limb because the moon has a slight "wobble" that tips various portions
of is limb towards us during its revolution around the earth. This allows
us to see 9% of the "far side" (ie 59% rather than 50% of its surface).

It so happens that in the last week of this month when the moon is between
last quarter and new moon the (celestial) eastern edge of the moon will
have a strong tilt (9 degrees) and will show a feature on the far side
called Mare Orientale that is normsally out of view. However you will need
a telescope to this feature.

But you can actually track libration with the naked eye. Just what the
naked-eye circular feature called Mare Crisium near the (celestial)
western
edge of the moon. You will observe that during a lunar cycle as the moon
librates M.Crisium wanders slightly in and away from the edge of the moon.

The flags on the moon are not visible even with the world's larges
telescopes.

Martin Lewicki

Radio 893 wrote:

An why would it not be possible to see the flags even with the most powerful
telescopes?

Because the flags are too small and too far away to be resolved by any single
telescope currently in existance.

--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 10th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 27-Aug. 1st, 2003, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

"Radio 893" wrote in message
...
An why would it not be possible to see the flags even with the most
powerful
telescopes?

Because Susan Storm Richards, a/k/a the Invisible Woman, surrounded them
with a permanent invisibility shield the last time the Fantastic Four
visited the moon.

Besides which, they're too small.

so would an optical array be able to see them then??

say i have 4 telescopes spread over, say, 1 kilometer, all with apertures of
120mm, with the images slaved to a good pc with software capable of
integrating the images correctly, i would, theorectically, have a telescope
with a extremely large aperture, right?

"David Knisely" wrote in message
.. .
Radio 893 wrote:

An why would it not be possible to see the flags even with the most
powerful
telescopes?

Because the flags are too small and too far away to be resolved by any
single
telescope currently in existance.

--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 10th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 27-Aug. 1st, 2003, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Right. But I think combining the images from four telescopes a kilometer
apart is still beyond our reach. Places like the Keck telescope in
Hawaii and the VLT in Chile are only using telescopes about 100 meters
apart, AFAIK. Even if they could, the moon probably doesn't have enough
contrast to make it work.

In message , Stuart
Cooke writes
so would an optical array be able to see them then??

say i have 4 telescopes spread over, say, 1 kilometer, all with apertures of
120mm, with the images slaved to a good pc with software capable of
integrating the images correctly, i would, theorectically, have a telescope
with a extremely large aperture, right?

"David Knisely" wrote in message
. ..
Radio 893 wrote:

An why would it not be possible to see the flags even with the most
powerful
telescopes?

Because the flags are too small and too far away to be resolved by any
single
telescope currently in existance.

--
"Forty millions of miles it was from us, more than forty millions of miles of
void"

Right. But I think combining the images from four telescopes a kilometer
apart is still beyond our reach. Places like the Keck telescope in
Hawaii and the VLT in Chile are only using telescopes about 100 meters
apart, AFAIK. Even if they could, the moon probably doesn't have enough
contrast to make it work.

In message , Stuart
Cooke writes
so would an optical array be able to see them then??

say i have 4 telescopes spread over, say, 1 kilometer, all with apertures of
120mm, with the images slaved to a good pc with software capable of
integrating the images correctly, i would, theorectically, have a telescope
with a extremely large aperture, right?

"David Knisely" wrote in message
. ..
Radio 893 wrote:

An why would it not be possible to see the flags even with the most
powerful
telescopes?

Because the flags are too small and too far away to be resolved by any
single
telescope currently in existance.

--
"Forty millions of miles it was from us, more than forty millions of miles of
void"

Well we got away from laser light from Mars shining on the Earth. We
know it spreads out with distance. Lets put Mars 65 million miles from
earth,and using the mirrors on the moon as a reference(240,000 miles)
how much would this beam fan out? The Mars laser would tell us in feet
how far it is "now" moving away from us. We should plant a laser on
every object all the way out to the Oort belt. They would be are
stepping stones(light houses) for measuring,and to show other aliens
that we are here. Man made Laser beams are better than man made radio
waves. Bert

Well we got away from laser light from Mars shining on the Earth. We
know it spreads out with distance. Lets put Mars 65 million miles from
earth,and using the mirrors on the moon as a reference(240,000 miles)
how much would this beam fan out? The Mars laser would tell us in feet
how far it is "now" moving away from us. We should plant a laser on
every object all the way out to the Oort belt. They would be are
stepping stones(light houses) for measuring,and to show other aliens
that we are here. Man made Laser beams are better than man made radio
waves. Bert

"Radio 893" wrote in message
...
An why would it not be possible to see the flags even with the most
powerful
telescopes?

Because we would be looking at the flags from above, so you're trying to see
something about 15 cm long, but only 1 or 2 mm across. I could work out the
telescope aperture required to see this, but to be honest, what's the point?

Even if we could see them, the LLNH (lunar landings never happened) kooks
would have 5 explanations

5. - You can't prove it's got stars and stripes on like the ones in the
Apollo photos
4. - The landings did take place, but were unmanned. So the fact that there
is stuff like LEM bases and flags on the moon proves nothing
3. - Why have NASA failed to respond to 'our' allegations for 30 years, and
only now respond when the truth is 'out '
2. - Your 'so called' flag pictures were faked in a warehouse near area 51
1 - . . .

So, what would be their no 1 'killer' argument?

"Radio 893" wrote in message
...
An why would it not be possible to see the flags even with the most
powerful
telescopes?

Because we would be looking at the flags from above, so you're trying to see
something about 15 cm long, but only 1 or 2 mm across. I could work out the
telescope aperture required to see this, but to be honest, what's the point?

Even if we could see them, the LLNH (lunar landings never happened) kooks
would have 5 explanations

5. - You can't prove it's got stars and stripes on like the ones in the
Apollo photos
4. - The landings did take place, but were unmanned. So the fact that there
is stuff like LEM bases and flags on the moon proves nothing
3. - Why have NASA failed to respond to 'our' allegations for 30 years, and
only now respond when the truth is 'out '
2. - Your 'so called' flag pictures were faked in a warehouse near area 51
1 - . . .

So, what would be their no 1 'killer' argument?