3182: Telescope Types

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Telescope Types
I'm trying to buy a gravitational lens for my camera, but I can't tell if the manufacturers are listing comoving focal length or proper focal length.
Title text: I'm trying to buy a gravitational lens for my camera, but I can't tell if the manufacturers are listing comoving focal length or proper focal length.

Explanation

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This comic shows diagrams of a number of different types of telescope, some real and others made up by Randall. It includes both refracting and reflecting designs; see 1791: Telescopes: Refractor vs Reflector for the important differences between them.

Type Real? Refractor/Reflector Description
Prime Focus Yes Reflector
Herschelian Yes Reflector
Newtonian Yes Reflector

Transcript

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Discussion

no vampire jokes πŸ₯€ (1791) TheTrainsKid (talk) 00:08, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

Got down some preliminary descriptions of each telescope type used 185.132.133.218 01:44, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

insert that one mickey mouse meme with the caption "what a fucking narcissist" Yaokuan ITB (talk) 02:33, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

abnormally low joke-to-real ratio for this format of comic! 2601:241:8002:3E0:C0A2:9DA:ED39:D13F 03:21, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

I noticed that... I think this might've originally been 'look at all these cool telescope types', but then he realized he had to put some sort of joke somewhere. --DollarStoreBa'alConverse 03:27, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

Can someone make a category for The Core (2003)? It's been mentioned often enough. 83.245.251.49 09:22, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

Can you list 4 more comics then I will make the category. I think that is about the limit for when to make a new category. I know there are a few more but is it only 2-3more? --Kynde (talk) 14:00, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
All I can think of is 673: The Sun. --DollarStoreBa'alConverse 15:09, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
Also mentioned in the title text of 2858: Thanksgiving Arguments. --208.59.176.206 15:24, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

> This would not […] end well for the drinker.

Would it though? Drinking elemental mercury, while not great on nutritional value, should be mostly safe (and I'm using that word quite loosely). The most danger would be while drinking and expelling it, when there's a danger of inhaling mercury vapors, right? --Coconut Galaxy (talk) 10:29, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

It wouldn't take much work to make the "Real?" column all contain only "yes" 136.32.133.124 12:05, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

As all others are refractors or reflectors, can cardboard tube be considered a diffractor? As it is the only thing that it does.--Trimutius (talk) 15:43, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

> Children may sometimes use tubes [...]

It's not just children. I've seen "viewing tubes" in at least a couple of places, hard-mounted metal tubes that point at particular points of interest. I'm not finding any good references, but here's a photo showing some at the top of a nearby mountain: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wwnYJ1zEQEXzjyJS8 Jordan Brown (talk) 18:07, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
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