Given the latest advances in Hubble instrumentation, image processing etc. what would the absolute theoretical limit for the smallest object visible on the Moon be?
Since this question really asks for the “full treatment”, let’s look at it in detail. The so-called Rayleigh criterion gives the maximum (diffraction limited) resolution, R, and is approximated for a telescope as R = Lambda/Diameter, where R is the resolution [Radians] and Lambda is the wavelength [m]or with “normal” units as R = 0.21 * L/D in the units [arc-seconds or “] = [microns]/[meter] So for Hubble this is: R = 0.21 * 0.500/2.4 = 0.043″ (for optical wavelengths, 500 nm) or R = 0.21 * 0.3/2.4 = 0.026″ (for Ultraviolet light, 300 nm) The CCD detectors in Hubble’s instruments should, in theory, have been adapted to this number and follow the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem i.e. have 2 pixels per resolution element (i.e. 0.0125” pixels), but for good scientific reasons, like getting a larger Field of View, this is not the case. The pixels in the different instruments are typically 0.05″/pixel and the best sampling is 0.025″/pixel for the ACS/HRC instrument. With so-called dithering
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