Turning the image the right way up...

[DRT]

Sorry if this is a stupid newbie question but I can't find anything obvious from trawlling the forums.

Is there a simple piece of equipment that I can buy that would turn the image seen in the eyepiece of a Dob the correct way up so that what I see in the scope is what I see when I look at the sky with the naked eye?

If so, are there any downsides to using such a device?

[John]

The downsides are:

i) it's difficult to find an optical device that will do that and allow the dob to get eyepieces to focus because the optical device (prisms probably) will eat up inwards focuser travel and dobs / newts don't have much of that.

ii) such a device will introduce aberrations and light loss / scatter that you don't need. 

When people ask this question I tend to say that it's worth persevering and getting used to the inverted image because thats the way the scopes were designed to be.

[cantab]

You can buy erecting eyepieces. Decent ones have little prisms inside, same as in roof prism binoculars. Drawbacks are a limited range of magnifications, and the image is only correct if the focuser is pointing horizontally or vertically; have it up at a 45-degree angle and the view will still appear rotated.

Separate straight-through erecting prisms have I think been made, but they aren't common. I expect you'd get focus issues, since the eyepiece will be that much further from the scope, so you might need to modify your scope much as people do to make cameras reach focus. You might find image quality reduced at high power, and vignetting at low power.

[Tinker1947]

You will get used to the inverted view, just stick with it..........

[DRT]

Thanks for the replies.

There is a general theme emerging from what I am reading on this forum that patience is key to success in this game. Rather than buy any more equipment I should probably buy a comfortable garden chair and a nice worm jacket

[swamp thing]

You will get used to the inverted view, just stick with it..........

^^^This.

It won't take long.

[jetstream]

DRT,after a while you get used to the image orientation,then down the road the question may arise again.It did for me.Acey helped me understand-hope this helpshttp://stargazerslounge.com/topic/198811-stunningfreezing-night/

[RikM]

... a nice worm jacket

I use a 9x50mm right angle correct image finderscope. This matches the view in my star atlas and on the sky and I can simply turn the map upside down to match the view in the main scope. I find this much easier than with a refractor that flips it.

[YKSE]

I agree with Rik. I find it much easier to read star atlas when dealing with my Newtonian 130P than with refractor and SCT. Some more mental work needed to locate the stars through a diagnal, but I'm learning.

Have look at the pictures in the link:

http://www.telescope.com/Articles/Equipment/Telescopes/Image-Orientation/pc/9/c/192/sc/194/p/99816.uts

[alan potts]

The only thing that will help it a software program on a laptop that you can invert so the view is the same, other than that you will get used to it, though it still throws me when using different scopes.

Alan 

[Moonshane]

just turn your star map upside down then it's all the same.