Why Can't Hubble See the Apollo Moon Flags? #shorts

Why can’t the Hubble Space Telescope see the Flags left by Apollo astronauts on the Moon?

You’d think it could. It can image amazing galaxies that are millions of light years away, so why not the flags?

There’s a rumor that Hubble can’t look at the moon, but that isn’t true. It’s imaged the moon a few times before.

Maybe it’s because the flags aren’t really there. But that’s a ridiculous conspiracy theory.

Here’s the thing: Hubble’s mirror just isn’t big enough to see something that small on the Moon. Hubble would have to be a lot bigger, like 100 times bigger, or a lot closer to the Moon, like in lunar orbit to see them.

The galaxies it sees from millions of light-years away are huge. Much bigger than a flag. So even though the flags are much closer, Hubble’s resolving power isn’t nearly good enough to spot them.

[pablov]

Every year that passes and more technological progress we make the lie becomes more ridiculous.

[UteChewb]

This is a really easy thing to prove with some simple high school maths. All you need to know is the distance and the width of the object, e.g. a flag, and you can see the huge difference. The formula, if you have forgotten, is L = R * theta, where L is the width of the object, R is the distance, and theta is the resolution in radians. So, lets do a quick calculation: flag width = 1 metre, distance R = 350, 000 km => theta = 3 billionths of a radian. Distant galaxy: L = 100, 000 ly, R = 100 million light years, therefore theta = 1/1000 radians which although small is a lot bigger than 3 billionths.

[bicyclesonthemoon]

Today I learn: galaxy is bigger than flag.

[paulgap]

Can see big and millions of light years away but can't see small in thousands of miles apart

[KingKong-uxgg]

Hopefully we will be able to see them with the Hubble Max Pro next year

[mariomcinnis]

That makes no sense you can see millions miles away but can't see the flag 😂

[kayzeaza]

I don’t think people realize how big the moon actually is. Sure it’s smaller than earth but that doesn’t make its surface area any less extensive

[niknik]

He insulted the “moon landing was fake” community without even mentioning them.

[deepak_acharr]

Biggest conspiracy theory : Man stepping on moon

[lishairodeaquino]

maybe it's not there.moon is 363045 km from hobble telescope and dont see the flag but can see something 70000 light years away.

[YessiYuri]

Earth satellites can see so clearly they can see wings flapping on bees but hubble looking at the moon: the mirror would need to be massive. lol

[markholmphotography]

Can it see the bases of the LEMs? Or the Lunar Rover Vehicle?

[okcvxrg]

Hollywood did a good work with the flag, now we are adults. Thanks

[u_nova_]

Actually by doing some ratio you can tell that the flag is too small to be seen

[carbonrrpilot]

How about the large dune buggy we left up there

[rickpontificates]

The flag is LESS IMPORTANT as evidence that we landed on the moon than the RETRO REFLECTOR we left there, that we can bounce lasers off of

[jnoble]

I literally asked myself this question yesterday and now I see this video today... looks like the hubble telescope can at least see my thoughts...

[LordBackuro]

You can see Mountains and even the planets that are kilometers away, but you can’t see a single Atom with your bare eyes.

That is exactly the same case for hubble.

[fadeeeed]

apparently we can fake whole moon landing video in 70s but we cant fake image of flag on moon. This conspiracy theorists and trolls are funnier every day 😅

[BenziLZK]

We can look at the sun (but will blind ourselves), but can't see bacteria...

is this comparison compatible?