Win a pair of Nikon Binoculars in time for Whale migration season - plus options for viewing these magnificent creatures

Free Shipping until Mother's Day for selected Celestron StarSense Explorer Telescopes

Give the gift of Whale Watching this Mother's Day - Just $65 with Captain Cook Cruises

Intro pricing extended on the new ZWO Seestar S50 Smart Telescope - now until the end of June

Like to learn about Astronomy and Telescopes? - The Practical Astronomy Course (SASPAC) is on soon 

Another Eclipse? - Lunar Penumbral Eclipse on the 5-6th of May

Lunar landing fails - First private company to try landing on the Moon has lost contact with its probe

Beautiful portrait of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy (M83) posted by Chi Chan to the BINTEL Society Facebook group. Chi used a Celestron Edge HD 9.25 telescope with 0.7x reducer and a QHY268M camera. Total exposure was just over 8 hours.

Why do whales head north around this time of the year? - Plus some binoculars to see them

A Humpback Whale off the coast of Sydney. Image via Captain Cook Cruises

Every year from around May, some 20,000 Humpback Whales commence the 3,500km journey from waters near the Antarctic to warmer conditions in the Great Barrier Reef. They then return south as the weather warms.

Why do they make this massive journey twice a year?

Humpback whales feed on the rich food supply of krill in the south oceans and then migrate north to breed and give birth. The newborn whales would not survive Antarctic winters as they don't haven an insulating layer of blubber. The baby whales only head south with their families when they're a few months old.  During these migrations, their route takes them close to our coast.

This mean there's some great spots up and down the East Coast to spot these magnificent creatures, with the waters surrounding Sydney being an ideal location to see them from both land and on the water. 

(There's plenty of locations up and down the East Coast to see them, and whales can also be seen from the Western Australia coast. We've opened a topic in the BINTEL Society Facebook group if you'd like to make a suggestion for your favourite spot.)

Binoculars for Whale Watching - Plus win a pair for Mother's Day

Do you need binoculars to go whale watching?

No, but they certainly help! If you're on a whale watching cruise, a pair of waterproof, compact binoculars lets you see more details up close. An ideal pair are the compact Nikon P7 8x 30 Binoculars that offer crisp views and perfect for viewing nature, sports, concerts and more.  They're great for eyeglass wearers too.  BINTEL has lowered the price to $299 until Mother's Day as well.

You can win a pair by e-mailing BINTEL at sales@bintel.com.au and simply tell us in 250 words or less - 

"What part of the world would you like to see through binoculars and why?"

Entries close on Friday the 5th of May at 10am Sydney time and we'll send the most engaging storyteller a pair of Nikon P7 8 x 30 binoculars the same day.

Higher powered binoculars will let you see more whales as you'll be able to view those further away. The movement of the boat's deck under your feet as well as any natural hand movements can make using high power binoculars tricky when you're the on water. To get around this, we suggest a pair of image stabilising binoculars such as the Kite Optics APC Stabilized 16×42 Binoculars. These will turn even distant, shaky views into rock steady images.

These are only general suggestions.  BINTEL has over 100 different models of binoculars, so we can help you choose the ones that are perfect for you. Call us on (02 9518 7255), drop by the store or contact us online.

Special for an Astro Mother's Day - Free Shipping on two of our most popular Celestron telescopes

We've sold thousands of telescopes from Celestron's StarSense Explore range. The feedback we receive from our customers is overwhelmingly positive and we're always happy to recommend them, especially for new astronomers. 

These start at $329 for the Celestron StarSense LT 70AZ.

You'll see great views of the Moon, the planets, and deep-sky objects. 

One of the best parts of the StarSense system is that it uses your mobile phone and a Celestron app to quickly show you where to point your telescope to find all sorts of astro objects. You'll end up seeing more as you discover the ever-changing night sky above you. 

BINTEL is also offering free shipping for the larger Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130. This $799 telescope is a reflector with larger optics or "aperture" compared to the smaller LT 70AZ model. More aperture means more light is collected by the telescope and this provides clearer, sharper views of the same objects that can be seen in smaller telescopes. You'll also able to see things that are too faint to be viewed in telescopes with less aperture. 

For example, the Celestron StarSense LT 70AZ collects about 100 times as much light as your eyes while the DX 130 model collects around 340 times.

(Chasing larger apertures is the main reason professional astronomers are always wanting to build bigger and bigger telescopes in remote locations...)

The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130 also uses the StarSense app to guide you around the night sky. 

Give the gift of Whale Watching this Mothers Day - Just $65 with Captain Cook Cruises

For an unforgettable Mother's Day present, you can take a 2 1/2-hour Whale Watching trip with Captain Cook Cruises from Circular Quay Sydney for $65 per person.  This includes:

• Expert commentator providing fun and educational insights into whale behaviour
• The chance to see other marine life such as dolphins, seals, and birds
• Family friendly indoor and outdoor leisure decks
• Whale Sighting guaranteed or cruise again for free

Book by the 17th of May from the link below and travel up to the 5th of November 2023. Some of our BINTEL staff have been on these cruises and give them a big thumbs up.

Intro prices on the ZWO Seestar S50 Smart Telescope extended- save $200 for orders placed by the 30th of June

We talked last week about the new ZWO Seestar S50 Smart Telescope that had just been announced at the NEAF astronomy expo in the USA. 

Thanks to the many dozens of people who are now lined up to get a ZWO Seestar S50 Smart Telescope from BINTEL.

We'd originally been told their intro price special was for orders placed by the 30th of April. ZWO have now extended this introductory pricing of $745 to the 30th of June 2023. 

We've also seen a small trickle of the first images from ZWO Seestar S50 taken during testing. You can see some of these on the ZWO Facebook page like this one. We expect more sample images to be posted shortly.

There are now four brands of Smart Telescopes sold by BINTEL - integrated gizmos that have a small telescope, camera, mount and other accessories built-in to them that are controlled by a phone or tablet app - and next week we're going to touch on what's the best one for you. 

Like to learn about astronomy and telescopes? - The Practical Astronomy Course (SASPAC) is on soon

The Sutherland Astronomical Society (SASI) is running their famous introduction to astronomy courses for 2023. High recommended if you'd like to learn more about the skies above us and telescopes as well. Full details from the link below. 

Another Eclipse? - Lunar Penumbral Eclipse on the 5-6th of May

If a total Solar Eclipse like last week's one in northern Western Australia is the most spectacular event involving the Sun and the Moon, then the upcoming Lunar Penumbral Eclipse is the most chillaxed member the of the eclipse family.

Instead of passing through the deepest part of the Earth's shadow, the Moon will be covered by the outer region call the Penumbra. The Moon will slightly darken and not almost totally disappear as happens during an Umbral Lunar Eclipse where the Moon is covered by the deepest part of the Earth's shadow.

How the Penumbral Eclipse will appear from Sydney

The Moon also doesn't "turn red" as it does in an Umbral Eclipse. This is caused by light scattering through the Earth's atmosphere.  More info via the link below. 

Contact lost with the ispace HAKUTO-R M1 Lunar Lander - "Success 9 of the milestone is not achievable"

As you might have seen in news, the first private company to attempt to land on the Moon, Japan's ispace, lost contact with its lander during the descent stage.

Space as they say, is hard. What theoretically works fine during the design stage sometimes doesn't work in the real work. Despite the seeming loss of this spacecraft, ispace will use the data obtained to develop better systems for their Mission 2 in 2024 and Mission 3 in 2025.  Learn more on their website here or follow them on Twitter via the link below.

Next time..Delving into inner space plus comparing Smart Telescopes