Can someone explain how two telescopes meant to focus on relatively close targets, without any cameras inside, are "better" than a Hubble? What metric are they using?
edit OK I might have found an answer actually. Using multiple exposures from different angles, you can resolve an object as if you had a lens that spans the entire angle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture_synthesis I'm sure the movable secondary lens helps with this :) I'd heard of this technique used by ground-based radio telescopes before, and according to Wikipedia, the ability to do this within the visible spectrum has become possible only recently.
We have windows that span about fifty feet in the office, and a hotel across the street; if someone left the complimentary bible in the window open to a random page, could I combine multiple exposures into an image detailed enough to read the text?
100+ meter diameter radio telescopes pointed at the earth. That's the same size as the largest steerable ground-based radio telescopes. Makes you wonder what they can hear.