Enjoy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_gravitational_lens

The one downside is that you need multiple missions to observe just single target. The mission could potentially be modified to be good for more than one target but at the cost of length of the mission. The path of drones would have two intersect two points that need to be reached to observe two targets, but that would require most likely less hyperbolic (meaning slower) escape trajectory.

The major benefit is that we don't need to invent anything new -- all required technology already exists. And the mission wouldn't even be that costly (at least in comparison). Just select the target, build (a dozen?) drones, shoot them on a right orbit into the Sun's gravity well and wait something like 20 years until they reach destination.

Definitely seems like the kind of thing that would be made way more feasible with the advent of Starship bringing down launch costs 100x

Holy cow, this is incredible. How have I not heard of this concept before?? Guess I'm one of today's lucky 10,000

10,000 only applies to a concept that reasonably is known to everybody or almost everybody before they die (like the fact mentos thrown into bottle of pepsi does funny things).

I suspect that only very, very small number of people are aware of this mission profile:)

You perhaps spent too less time with HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22952348

This has been talked about on centauri dreams lots of times. Example: https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2020/12/10/developing-focal-...