Article: In the cross hairs: riflescope reticles take many forms. Which one is right for you?

A common spider played an important role in the invention of telescopic-sighting devices. It happened in 1640, when a young amateur astronomer named William Gascoigne was looking for a way to pinpoint the exact coordinates of the stars and other astral phenomena he'd been observing with his telescope. The solution came one evening when he peered into the scope's eyepiece to find that a spider had spun a strand of web across its wooden barrel precisely at the instrument's focal plane. Elated by the clarity of the fine filament, Gascoigne installed strands of human hair in the telescope, creating the first cross-hair reticle.

The spider's work wasn't finished, ...

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