New YouTube guide on how to photograph deep-space - with a portable mount and easy to use software

Price drop on the Vaonis Vespera - now $3499 and in-stock at BINTEL

The Sun's putting on a show -LUNT SUNoculars for Solar viewing $199

The Supernova in Galaxy M101 that's in the news - what it is and why we can't see it from Australia

Price drop on the Benro Polaris - our best computerised star tracker & panorama mount

Free shipping on Meade beginners' telescopes - The easiest way to start your astro journey

+ More

A dark region in the rich Milky Way star clouds imaged by Zak Jones and posted to the BINTEL Society Facebook Group.  This famous dark nebula of interstellar gas and dust obscuring the stars behind it is often called the "Coal Sack Nebula" and is visible with your eyes as a "missing patch" in the Milky Way around the Southern Cross.  Zak used a Canon 6Da camera and Canon EF 70-200mm lens on a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer mount. 

New YouTube video on how to photograph deep sky objects - with Sky-Watcher & QHY 

Yes, Dylan's been at it again!

His latest YouTube video shows you what you need to take stunning photographs of deep sky astro objects, how to process the images and the sorts of results you'll achieve.

The heart of the portable astro rig in the video is the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi computerised mount, along with a Sky-Watcher EVOLUX 82ED telescope. 

You can watch the full video via the link below.  PS: we promise Dylan's head won't be in the corner of your finished astro photos.....

Voanis Vespera now $3499 - great pricing on our most advanced Smart Telescope

We've been able to reduce the price on our most advanced Smart Telescope, the Vespera Observation Station to $3499. 

Vespera Observation Station now $3499 

These stylish European designed and manufactured Smart Telescopes are super easy to set up and use. While highly recommended for complete beginners as a pathway to discover the Universe, we're been pleasantly surprised by the large number of our existing BINTEL customers, many with years of experience and a wide range of traditional astronomy gear, who are also now happy Vespera owners as well.  

Smart Telescopes like the Vespera are ideal for sharing the night sky with those around you and via social media too. 

The Vespera is controlled by the elegant Singularity app. This runs on both iOS and Android devices. It lets you view in real-time what your Vespera is pointed at, plan your observation session, and also photograph astro objects.  It can stitch together multiple images into larger panoramas.

The Sun's putting on a show -LUNT SUNoculars for Solar viewing $199

Our nearest star - the Sun - is moving from a relatively quiet period called the Solar Minimum through to the more active Solar Maximum.  One of the easiest ways to keep a watch on the ever-changing and likely growing collection of Sunspots and more is via a pair of Lunt SUNoculars. 

These pocket-sized binoculars are perfect for safe viewing of the Sun. They feature built in Solar filters which reduces the light from the Sun to a safe level.  Please note these filters cannot removed, so SUNoculars are only suitable for looking at the Sun.  

This will give you some idea of what the Sun could look like through a pair of SUNoculars. You'll get views like this on any sunny day, and you don't need to wait for an eclipse! (The number and size of Sunspots changes from day to day.) 

Plus SUNoculars are available in red or blue! More via the link below.

Price drop on the Benro Polaris - computerised star tracker & panorama mount

Our most powerful computerised star tracker and panorama mount - the Benro Polaris - is now just $1999 at BINTEL. 

This highly portable mount has a vast range of features to capture the skies above us at night and landscapes during the day.  It supports a wide range of DSLR cameras from Canon, Nikon, Sony and others. 

Posted to the Benro Polaris Facebook group by Andres Poll.  Benro Polaris mount, Sony A7R4 camera and GM 14mm lens

The Benro Polaris will work will all high-quality photographic tripods. We have the superb Benro "Tortoise" carbon fibre in stock if you need a lightweight and solid way to hold your mount.

FREE Shipping on the entire range of Meade beginners' telescopes - getting into astronomy has never been easier 

We have free shipping Australia wide for the entire range of Meade beginner's telescopes.  This means you can have a quality beginner's astronomy telescope delivered to your door from just $199. They also make great gifts for budding astronomers.

If you'd like to check which model is right for you, call BINTEL on 02 9518 7255 for a friendly chat with of our experts. 

A Supernova in galaxy M101- But we can't see it from Australia and New Zealand

Supernova in galaxy M101 taking on the nights of May 17-20, 2023.
Patrick Wiggins (University of Utah)

The biggest astro event in the news at the moment is a supernova in the spiral galaxy M101. This is reasonably close by as galaxies go, at only twenty-one million light years away.

What's happening in this galaxy is that a large star has come to the end of its life cycle and exploded in a Type II supernova.  For a brief period of time, supernovas can almost outshine all the other billions of stars in a galaxy and are the mechanism that produces many heavier elements. For example, if you're wearing jewellery made of gold or silver, it was created in a supernova explosion of an ancient star, flung into interstellar space and ended up here on Earth. 

The bad news for Australian and New Zealand observers is that M101 is too far north to be seen by us. On the other hand, astronomers have calculated that we are now overdue for a major supernova in the Milky Way, the last one being observed in the 17th century. (There was a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, in 1987.)

It will be an amazing sight when it occurs. 

Star Gazing night in Western Australia Sat 22nd July 2023. - Great night under a dark sky

If you'd like a night out under a dark sky in Western Australia, click on the link below for more details.

If you have an astronomy, bird watching or nature event you'd like to have listed on the BINTEL website, you can let us know here.

Next time...Yes we really will include info about upcoming CCD cameras plus what are some options for powering telescopes and mounts?