How does the lens of the sniper work?

Answer 1

From what I understand, scopes use 2 lenses, one is a concave and one is a convex. Anyways, ever burn ants with a magnifying glass? It's the same concept as a sniper scope, binoculars, telescope, whatever, only there's another lens to bend the light out straight. So, if you don't mind the crude ascii picture, here goes lens 2 ___| \ \ lens 1 \ | \___ eye ___ target / / / ___/ anyways, when the light from the target comes into the small point at the end, lens 1 bends the light outwards until it fills up the diameter of lens 2, which bends it back so it goes into your eye, making the teeny little point of light at the front of the scope magnified throughout the place you look through.