The Hubble Space Telescope has a resolving power of 0.1 arcseconds. What does this correspond to in linear size?

You can calculate this yourself by simply dividing 0.1 arcseconds by 206265 and then multiplying by the distance to the object in question. As an example, at a distance of 4000 miles, you get (0.1/206265)*4000 or 0.00194 miles which equals 10.2 feet. At the distance of Saturn which is 778 million kilometers or 497 million miles, Hubble's resolution limit corresponds to (0.1/206265)*497 million = 241 miles. The number, 206265, by the way is just the number of seconds of arc in one radian. A radian is 57.295 degrees of arc ( 57.295 x 60 x 60 arc seconds )


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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