You use an erecting prism. I'm not making that up.
Suuuuure you're not.
My dad built a 6" reflector by about 5-6' long back before I was born. Ground his own mirror. Bought lenses. Worked great. He cannibalized the charcoal grill electric rotisserie motor and made a tracking motor for the telescope.
His sister and he used to help run a small observatory at St. Mary's College across the road from Notre Dame. We have pictures of it somewhere. But by the time I was a kid, we'd drive through campus and he'd point out the observatory dome sitting on the ground. It was long gone. I told him it looked like a silo top. He showed me the sliding door and how it rotated. To this day, every time I see a silo, I think of my father.
I distinctly recall being a very small kid, looking at the moon through his telescope with him, then pointing out the moon was backwards. I think he was very proud of my observation. So, I got a lesson in mirrors, prisms, etc. Drawings and all. Then we experimented with all kinds of lenses, mirrors, prisms, etc. that he had laying around. Great fun!
After my mom passed away, he built a small observatory in his back yard with a sliding roof. After he passed away, I took the telescope before we sold his house. I still have the telescope, but it is on a stand that is much too heavy to move easily.
About 15 years ago, I bought a 3" reflector from a Goodwill store on 1/2 price day for $15. I put my dad's good lenses on it and it's great to show the kids the moon, or the rings of Saturn and some of it's moons. We occasionally get it out when they come to visit. It's something they really enjoy. Me too.
