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usrdef t1_iy12q3p wrote

I wonder if we'll ever get commercial telescopes that are powerful enough to view Pluto like we can Mars, etc.

Would have to be one hell of a telescope.

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CraigAT t1_iy2mj0o wrote

I know technically Pluto doesn't need to be there but I didn't realise there would be a technical limit too.

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AtticMuse t1_iy3vw8u wrote

Considering this is what the early Hubble photos of Pluto looked like, yeah it would have to be one hell of a telescope indeed! Image from New Horizons probe as it passed Pluto on the right for comparison.

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ocient t1_iy7eb01 wrote

hubble wasn't designed to look at something like pluto, or even jupiter. its early jupiter pics werent as good as ground scopes either.

the math is pretty straightforward to figure out lens size and focal length in order to resolve pluto. maybe someone else here will do that math, since i am farrrrrr too lazy

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zeeblecroid t1_iy9m4xv wrote

Not without being enormous, unfortunately. The only solution to the diffraction limit is larger apertures.

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