  It is well known that the solar gravitational field can be considered as a
telescope with a prime focus at locations beyond 550 au. In this work we
present a new derivation of the wave-optical properties of the system, by
adapting the arrival-time formalism from gravitational lensing. At the
diffraction limit the angular resolution is similar to that of a notional
telescope with the diameter of the Sun, and the maximum light amplification is
$8{\pi}4GM /(c^2{\lambda})$, enough to detect a 1 W laser on Proxima Centauri b
pointed in the general direction of the Sun. Extended sources, however, would
be blurred by the wings of the point spread function into the
geometrical-optics regime of gravitational lensing. Broad-band sources would
have to further contend with the solar corona. Imaging an exoplanet surface as
advocated in the literature, without attempting to reach the diffraction limit,
appears achievable. For diffraction-limited imaging (sub-km scales from 100 pc)
nearby neutron stars appear to be most plausible targets.
