How come the images on my telescope are inverted?

Question

I have a 8" Newtonian reflector and I have recently started using it to view less distant objects such as nearby landmarks. However when I do this the image is inverted and I believe it is because the object of interest is between the mirror and it's focal point. How can I remedy this? Is there a lens I can buy that will flip the image?

Answer 1

You can buy a lens to correct this but only use it if you are viewing things on the earth.  If you are viewing in the skies, dont use it.  More glass will create more distortions which could hurt the clarity of your star gazing experience.  

Answer 2

its a mirror image. when we look thru a eye piece its corrected.

Answer 3

Its the mirror image, tou can by better lens to correct this

Answer 4

It's the way the optics operate in most telescopes. Uncorrected, all images in the scope will be reversed. You can buy a lens that will correct this. I can't remember exactly what they are called at the moment, but try this site and I'm sure you can come up with one. They also have helpful customer service by email, so if you can't find it, ask them.

http://www.telescopes.com/

Answer 5

It is the property of the lens or mirror. Light hits the mirror and is reflected back. On a curved mirror it is reflected back to the focal point of the mirror. So if you look at the reflected image lines, light at the top of the mirror is reflected down, and light from the bottom of the mirror is reflected up. Where these lines meet is the focal point of the mirror. It is here they form an image magnified by the eyepiece. And consequently the image is inverted. In terestial telescopes, there is an inversion lens inserted to right the image, but in astronomical scopes there isn't any, keeping cost and weight down. In some scopes a star diagonal at the eyepiece may help/

Answer 6

All telescopes invert their images...it's a result of the laws of physics.

With a reflector, if you stand with your back towards the object you are viewing, the image should be more or less upright.

Answer 7

Newtonian scopes have two mirrors.  One curved, one flat.

If you look at yourself in a flat mirror, the image is flipped left right.

So, in a Newtonian scope, the image is upside down and backwards.  But that is exactly the same as rotated 180 degrees.  You could simply look at the image from the other side.  It's pretty awkward, i know.

You can get a 45 degree diagonal, which will flip it some more.  But you may not want to view quite that way.

If you're looking at things on the ground, it makes a difference.  But up in space, it doesn't.  So people just get used to it.

You could use a digital camera, and flip the resulting image.

Answer 8

Astronomical telescopes do not include the extra lens needed to show things right side up. It isn't considered important which way is up when looking at the sky and leaving out the extra lens reduces cost and improves image quality. Terrestrial telescopes, like spotting scopes and binoculars, use an erecting prism. You can also get erecting eyepieces for astronomical telescopes, but almost nobody does that. With a Newtonian reflector looking at things on the ground you can see the image right side up by standing with your back toward the object the telescope is pointing at when you look through the eyepiece.