Deconvolution of astronomical images has been studied since the Hubble "astigmatism" incident. That was later corrected with more hardware "up there", but until then deconvolution was the only way to improve the quality of the images. From then on, the technique has been improved, thanks to better math and more processing power available in computers.
It isn't the same as getting closer, but it better resolves details of the image. I think their disclaimer about fine features is sort of a "we're saying this now so nobody screams ALIEN COVERUP at us later" (well maybe not that specifically, but there's always someone that sees one image and interprets it in his own way -- take Ceres Bright Spots for example).
It isn't the same as getting closer, but it better resolves details of the image. I think their disclaimer about fine features is sort of a "we're saying this now so nobody screams ALIEN COVERUP at us later" (well maybe not that specifically, but there's always someone that sees one image and interprets it in his own way -- take Ceres Bright Spots for example).