“I need a telescope that I can use to look at ships, and see wildlife”
We are emailed this question quite so often we thought we might write a bit about how telescopes work and what optical gear you actually need to view on land. To answer this question you should first be aware that there are three basic telescope types:
Reflector Telescope
These type of telescopes are designed with mirrors that reflect light in order to produce a magnified and clear image. With these telescopes images are inverted due to the mirroring system. Obviously when viewing the night sky with an inverted image, orientation does not really matter and has no severe effect on your enjoyment of the night sky. Reflector Telescopes are thus generally used for the purpose of skywatching. However there are accessories like diagonals out there in the market today that can invert the image the right way up.
Refractor Telescopes
Refractor Telescopes use objective lenses to produce an image. These types of telescopes do not have mirrors in them so the images don’t invert. Refractors are also durable and tend to deliver detailed and bright images for a fraction of what Reflector Telescopes cost. Refractor Telescopes (like the one in the image above) are thus extremely good value and perfect for land viewing.
Tube Size
Unlike astronomy viewing gear, telescopes for land viewing do not require large aperture tubes, although a 70mm tube size will offer a good daytime viewing experience. Each step up in aperture offer clarity and brightness. A larger sized tube also expands your viewing opportunities, allowing you viewing time in sunrise and sunset hours. This type of telescope also doubles nicely as a casual astronomy scope.
What are Spotting Scopes?
These type of scopes are typically designed to be more lightweight, portable and built with the right coatings and lenses for nature viewing. They are another option if you are looking for a land viewing scope. Because Spotting Scopes are smaller, they also fit onto any universal camera tripod. Hence, tripod and mount are often sold separately.