2007-04-05 09:04:30 · 12 answers · asked by Proto 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
But isn't the moon about the size of a small saucer, it looks about that size when I see it?
2007-04-05 09:57:51 · update #1
even there all mongos they actually take a minute to hink aboot it
2007-04-05 10:12:14 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Figure out how big the flag would be in apparent diameter. Let's suppose the flag is 5.28 feet wide (I picked this so it comes out to be 1/1000 of a mile) and is lying flat on the ground at the center of the moon's visible disc.
At close approach at midnight with a full moon, you're about 220,000 miles from the moon's equator. You're looking at an object that's 1/1000 mile wide, that is to say, its width is 1/220,000,000 of its distance from you.
That's about like looking at an object 2 miles wide that's as far away as Jupiter at close approach. Jupiter is 90,000 miles wide and it appears to the naked eye as a small dot bigger than a point-like star, but still a tiny dot. Picture looking at something 1/45,000 as wide as Jupiter appears to us and that's how wide the flag on the moon would look to us.
2007-04-05 09:42:04 · answer #2 · answered by Isaac Laquedem 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. The best resolution we can get with any current telescopes on the Earth or in orbit is about one pixel = size of a football field. That means every dot the picture is made out of is the size of a football field. And the flag is much smaller than that. So no, we can't see it.
2016-05-18 00:05:00 · answer #3 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the flag is over 370,000 km from earth. You cannot see an object the size of a flag from that far away. The moon itself appears so small because of the distance it is from the earth. Same thing with the sun.
2007-04-05 10:26:34 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The flags on the moon are too small and too far away to see with the naked eye. They are even too small for earth telescopes or the Hubble Telescope to see at maximum magnification.
2007-04-05 09:11:07 · answer #5 · answered by Twizard113 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
At a distance of 250,000 miles, it is not possible to see anything the size of a flag using any telescope we have on Earth.
2007-04-05 11:41:56 · answer #6 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The flags have unfortunately blown away.
The moon travels through space at approximately 100000000 miles per hour, which makes it very windy up there...
2007-04-05 20:57:59 · answer #7 · answered by mikehdixon 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Can you see a flag in the next town? Multiply that by several tens of thousands.
2007-04-05 09:08:29 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
U would be lucky to see the flag 10 miles away. not 286000 mi.
2007-04-05 10:46:01 · answer #9 · answered by JOHNNIE B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because they're too far away.
2007-04-05 10:03:29 · answer #10 · answered by neutron 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋