I would imagine that early on in its development it would be associated with some form of conventional telescope for the purposes of aiming and acquisition. In this case they would be 2 separate things.

 

This is a fun thing to think about. Maybe we could imagine it into existence. Its happened before with other things.

 

Photons are quantum things that we are only beginning to learn about. From what I heard time and distance are unknown to them. We know about quantum entanglement but how well do we understand it?
I would like to see exoplanets in detail. I would like to see their oceans, continents, and clouds. There are current telescopes being built just to try and see a tiny glimpse of exoplanets as part of the detection process as verification I guess. Look at how far away we get photons from direct sources so now the question is how far away can we get photons from indirect sources (reflected). We can't see them yet but I'm fairly sure that we are getting them. I think that we are probably getting more then just a few photons per exoplanet. So that would be what we would have to work with. Light defuses but it doesn't disappear. What kind of relationships does a photon have with it neighbors? Being they don't know time or distance these relationships should be continual. You don't needed to understand something completely in order to make use of it and things that aren't 100% efficient are still useful. Hopefully mankind will last long enough to have things like quantum telescopes and I hope that its sooner rather then later or never.

 

Conventional cameras are an extension of our eyes with exposure and persistence of vision being somewhat similar. A fixed field of view records photons as they arrive over time to make an image. I think this is where a quantum telescope would differ although that process could be used as a facet of it. I think that a quantum telescope would propagate (build) the field of view by utilizing the inadequate amount photons received. We know that photons have the ability to share or pass information amongst themselves and to do so at faster then lightspeed.

 

How do photons relay colors and shades is it by spin or something else?

 

I heard that light acts as a particle and a wave. What about the particle aspect of it? Would that be what is called a photon?

 

I was just reading about the Quantum Tunneling Telescope.
http://www.timhunkin.com/a123_telescope-intro.htm
It is a pier amusement arcade like device.
You have to maintain the fun.

 

So light acts as a particle and a wave. It's a floor wax and a desert toping (for SNL fans). But wait there's more! It tunnels, it slices, it dices, it transcends space and time. It is a doorway to a much more highly advanced future. It is one of our paths to actually getting some of the things of our dreams like quantum telescopes, light sabers, being able to pass through solid objects, and probably much more.

 

So who is going to be the first member to use a photo of the Quantum Tunneling Telescope as their avatar?

 

All I'm saying is if Star Trek can have its photon torpedoes and Star Wars can have its light sabers why can't I have a quantum telescope. Light can do many amazing things and it looks like we are only just beginning of learning what these are. The future is mired with trepidation and nay sayers but light looks like it has the potential to make many of our dreams come true. So who ya gonna call?