shouldn’t the Hubble telescope be capable of photographing the flag on the moon?
I would imagine it could even show the footsteps on the moon.
It can, but the resolution is poor. That’s an interesting question and I read about it this week. If you’ll do an internet search, I’m sure you’ll find what I did.
I doubt it could even clearly resolve an image of the moon itself. It was designed to look thousands to billions of light years out into space. It would be like reading a newspaper with a telescope from a foot away.
No, it cannot. There are articles explaining it more fully, but It’s simply not built for such tasks.
It doesn’t take the Hubble, high-end home scopes can see at least something at each landing site, but the best stuff has been taken by orbiting probes like the LRO.
How to See All Six Apollo Moon Landing Sites - Sky & Telescope
https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/how-to-see-all-six-apollo-moon-landing-sites/
Apollo 11 Moon Landing Site Seen in Unprecedented Detail
By SPACE.com Staff | March 13, 2012 07:00am ET
https://www.space.com/14874-apollo-11-landing-site-moon-photo.html
LROC’s Best Look at the Apollo 11 Landing Site
https://sservi.nasa.gov/articles/lrocs-best-look-at-the-apollo-11-landing-site/
http://www.google.com/search?q=apollo+11+landing+site&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&tbm=isch