With minutes to decide...
if debris lattice spacings are of silicon (0.312 nm), aluminum oxide (0.476 nm), or iron (0.203 nm),
you note from the fax that the atomic spacings are too small and faint to be measured with the naked eye!
In the lab you see a laser, some wire mesh, a meter stick, & a lens from an old magnifying glass...
Notes:
Looking at the faxed image with your naked eye (for the experiment we in reality use a high resolution lattice image from an electron microscope), it is clear that even magnfied several hundred thousand times the rows of atoms are too small and faint for a quantitative measurement by eye. You look around and find a meter stick, a piece of wire mesh, a lens from an old magnifying glass, and a small He-Ne LASER with a diffusing lens on its output.
Recalling vaguely exercises on diffraction physics, atom-resolution microscopy, and stardust on earth from your days in high-school, at UM-StL, and in StarFleet Academy...