Will the new James Webb Space Telescope be able to make out the moon lander?

Question

I have heard several questions about whether or not Hubble can get an image of the moon landing sites and the usual answer is that Hubble can't make out anything smaller than 70m on the surface of the moon. The only images of Pluto and Ceres are pretty fuzzy two... so how will the James Webb Space Telescope compare in to Hubble in this respect.

PS - I whole heartedly believe we landed on the Moon, I'm just curious =)

Answer 1

Well...other than the fact that this is an infrared observitory which means it will give "funny" images...the main issue with using large telescopes to look at the moon is that while they could do it, they just can't focus in enough. It would be like using a home telescope (like 6") to look at an ant on the ground in front of you. It could potentially give amazing resolution, but it just simply can't focus in enough to do it. However, because it is located at the L2 point, far from the earth, perhaps it may have some advantage, but again, it would be like looking for an ant. Our best bet for photos would be a probe equipped with high powered cameras to fly over the landing sites.

By the way, 100% believe we went as well.

=) good question anyway.

Answer 2

JWST will suffer from HST's problem - it's not designed to track the Moon.  It's also going to hang out at L2 - so it will only be able to see the Moon's near side when the Moon is at New Moon phase.  That'll be much farther from JWST than from HST.

Answer 3

dont forget that JWST is an infrared telescope, not an optical. Also, its angular resolution is about the same as hubble :\ I know, its sad but the truth is JWST is not there to succeed hubble, its just another telescope comparable to hubble in terms of angular resolution, not a new generation super dupper telescope as they say

Answer 4

Infrared images can look just as cool as optical - look up galleries from Spitzer and 2MASS.  Hubble had an infrared camera, but I think it died.  It's been mostly optical, James Webb will be mostly infrared.  

No, it still won't be able to resolve the moon lander.  And we wouldn't waste telescope time on that anyway.  If they've got free time, I'll be happy to take it off their hands - I've always got a few targets.  And nothing will ever convince conspiracy theorists that they are wrong, because they don't hold that belief for rational reasons - no amount of being rational back at them will accomplish anything.