a) You look at the moon with a refracting telescope. What is the smallest detail you can see at the  surface of the moon because of the diffraction limit of the spatial resolution due to of the aperture (the  diameter of the aperture is D = 20 cm and the moon is at about d = 400 000 km from earth)? b) You now look at the stars in the sky with your telescope. The magnification and resolving power of  the telescope do not allow you to resolve any details of those celestial objects: The image remains a  point as it cannot be magnified enough. What could be the use of a telescope in this situation?

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a) You look at the moon with a refracting telescope. What is the smallest detail you can see at the 
surface of the moon because of the diffraction limit of the spatial resolution due to of the aperture (the 
diameter of the aperture is D = 20 cm and the moon is at about d = 400 000 km from earth)?
b) You now look at the stars in the sky with your telescope. The magnification and resolving power of 
the telescope do not allow you to resolve any details of those celestial objects: The image remains a 
point as it cannot be magnified enough. What could be the use of a telescope in this situation? 

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