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Hubble can't see the lunar rover
![[NASA] Eugene Cernan hot rods a lunar lander](2002-07-19-rover.jpg) Q: Can the Hubble Space Telescope discern any manmade equipment left behind on the moon? -- Ted
A: No. The Hubble Space Telescope (resolution of 0.014 arc seconds) is mighty good but not that good. An
arc second is 1/3600th of a degree: a tiny, tiny angle.
[NASA] Eugene Cernan hot rods a lunar lander
When we look through Hubble at the full moon, it appears to have a diameter of only 1800 arc seconds. That's
the whole moon. The actual moon is 3,463 kilometers (2,152 miles) across. So, an arc second of the Moon's
actual diameter is 3463 km / 1800 arcsec or 1.92 kilometers of actual Moon distance. Hence, Hubble's keenest
look is 27 meters (30 yards) of actual Moon distance or about a third the size of a football field. The three-meter lunar rover wouldn't show up even as a speck. Nor would any other abandoned equipment.
By the way, three lunar rovers sit on the Moon. They may lose plastic parts but the main bodies will be there for thousands of years to
come, unless we go back and tidy things.
(Answered July 19, 2002)
Further Surfing:
NASA, The Hubble Project: FAQ
PBS: All about Hubble
NASA: The Hubble Project
NASA: Folding a Lincoln into a Volkswagen
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