Could you describe what size of optical telescope you'd need to put in space to read the date on a dime? I'm very curious
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction-limited_system#/me...
I would guess that you'd need 0.25mm resolution, which at 200km would require 250microarcseconds angular res, which doesn't even register on that graph at any wavelength or size of telescope lol
edit: this is a very 'spherical cow' analysis. i'm pretty sure that atmospheric effects will kill your ability to image stuff like this well before angular resolution will.
Also, perhaps there's a need for a better naming system than one that produces ‘Extremely Large Telescope’.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwhelmingly_Large_Telesco...