Limits of space telescope? Watching this video describing the &quot;next generation&quot; space telescope, it seems like the biggest mirror will be ~6 meters in diameter.
Theoretically, if a telescope was built in space instead of shipping it pre-built, and the mirror was, not a few meters, but a few kilometers, (and whatever other important aspects of a space telescope that a novice like myself has no idea about, multiply them by a few orders of magnitude) would it provide benefits proportional to the size difference?
Yes, absolutely! The performance of any telescope depends on its diameter. A larger instrument not only collects more light, but also provides better resolution than a smaller instrument. The resolution limit is calculated from:
$R_{arcsec}\ = {1.22\ \lambda \over D_{mm}}$
whereas limiting magnitude is calculated from
$L_{mag}\ =\ 2.5\ +\ 5\ log\ D_{mm}$
I suppose there are eventual limits to $R_{arcsec}$, but I have never heard of any. As for limiting magnitude, as it’s a logarithmic formula, it grows very slowly as $D_{mm}$ increases, but a larger telescope is still a gain.
The whole thing is to balance $R_{arcsec}$, $L_{mag}$, and $$$, of course!