I tried looking at some but they did not appear any closer...what could I see with them? What power would I need to see something more than a dot when I look at stars?
2007-03-16 19:49:14 · 4 answers · asked by Dave 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Betelgeuse is the only star that has been resolved into a disc by any of our telescopes. It is a red giant relatively close to Earth and its diameter is maybe 1000 times that of the sun. You will not see any stars as discs with binoculars or ordinary telescopes; they're too far away.
For comparison, the Hubble telescope can show Pluto -- just barely -- as a disc. Pluto is now about 3 billion miles away from us and has a diameter of about 1400 miles. Its distance is about 200,000 times its diameter. If Alpha Centauri A is the same size as the sun, then its diameter is about 864,000 miles (let's call it 1,000,000 for convenience). It is 4.3 light-years away which is about 25,000,000,000,000 miles away, so its distance is about 25,000,000 times its diameter. To us, its disk (if we could see it) would appear to be about 1/100 the size of the disk of Pluto. Take a look at the photos of Pluto and imagine something much brighter, but only 1/100 as wide in apparent diameter, and you'll see why we can't see the stars as disks through binoculars and telescopes.
2007-03-17 07:32:04 · answer #1 · answered by Isaac Laquedem 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lots and lots. Stars are very far away and it would take a very powerful telescope to see more than a dot, even for the closest ones. With 10x binoculars, however, you can see a lot more stars than with your eyes only. May want to try looking at the Pleyades or Orion's belt. Also some interesting features on the moon.
2007-03-17 02:57:59 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
there is not telescope large enough to resolve stars into a disk...they are way too far away...you'll only see more of them or perhaps start to see their color with binoculars and telescopes...Betelgeuse I think is just barely large and close enough to see it's disk...but you would need something along the lines of the Hobby-Eberly telescope to see it with...
2007-03-17 03:13:44 · answer #3 · answered by star2_watch 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Even the most powerful telescopes cannot show starts as discs they are too far away.
2007-03-17 02:55:19 · answer #4 · answered by kwilfort 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋