Whale Watching

For terrestrial or marine use, you have to look for refractor telescope or spotting scope.

Refractor telescope is the best option for someone who wants to see celestial objects, birds or whale. Refractor telescope with AZ mount, is an astronomy telescope which is also perfectly suitable for land-viewing. This type of telescope tend to cost more because they are built with optical glass, but the quality of the image tend to be better than reflector telescope’s. Fortunately you don’t need one with large aperture if you are using it mainly for land viewing. 60mm-90mm should be very sufficient.

What about reflector telescopes? Reflector telescopes use mirrors which mean that your terrestrial image will appear inverted. However this doesn’t mean that it can’t be used for land-viewing. You need an adapter to correct the image.

If you prefer an instrument, predominantly for terrestrial use, you might want to look at spotting scope. It’s great for watching wildlife or bats. However, its capability in astronomy viewing is rather limited.