When you see published pictures of distant objects it is often hard to get a feel for the 'scale' or 'magnification' you are looking at. Explanations in terms of seconds of arc don't do much for me in trying to guage the resolution of say, the Hubble Telescope compared with a good ground based telescope or my binoculars.
How much magnification is needed to the familiar image of say the Horsehead Nebula and how much smaller (from our viewpoint) is the Whirlpool galaxy as compared with say the disc of Venus?
My challenge to you is therefore this, convert these resolutions to familiar every day analogies which I can use when teaching Science to children.
For example, I can read a newspaper from about a metre away. With my binoculars I can read it from 10 metres away. How far away could I read a newspaper with a professional ground based telescope? How far away could I be if I had Hubble to help me read my paper? (Ignore any short distance focussing difficulties or brightness limitations. How much poorer is the resolution of a radio telescope.
Can anybody put these relative 'magnifications' into perspective for me and my pupils?