**Please note - BINTEL is closed on Monday the 2nd of October for the NSW long weekend**

Some of our most popular accessories - What's a Barlow?

Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 5 now $999 - Ready for in-store pickup or order online

More Strain Wave Mounts from iOptron - compact drives for demanding astro applications

Final weekend of specials on DWARF II Deluxe Smart Telescopes - Ready for in-store pickup or order online

BINTEL 50mm right-angle finderscope $99- Handy upgrade or replacement

This week in the Night Sky: Beta Cygni - Possibly the most beautiful double star you can view through a small telescope​

Michael Gray posted this series of images to the BINTEL Society Facebook group showing the changing angles of the rings of Saturn facing towards Earth over a period of a few years. Celestron 9.25" SCT, Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate and ZWO AIS290MC camera.

To be featured, you can send us your Astro and Nature images here or post them the BINTEL Society Facebook Group where you can join 1.5k fellow astronomy and nature fanatics! 

One of our most popular accessories - What's a Barlow?

A Barlow increases the magnification of your telescope by reducing the focal length of every eyepiece that it's used with. Super hand and affordable, but there's some things you need to be aware of.

BINTEL 2x Barlow Lens - $59.95

A Barlow Lens (often just called a "Barlow") is an easy and affordable way to effectively increase the versatility of your current collection of telescope eyepieces by changing their focal length. For example, with a 2x Barlow like the one shown, insert it into your telescope and an eyepiece on top of it. Your 25mm eyepiece then becomes a 12.5mm focal length eyepiece, and your 10mm becomes a 5mm and so forth. 

There are limits on the magnification that any telescope can provide, and this is something we can advise on. 

Barlows are available in both 1.25" and 2" sizes, in several different magnifying powers. Some even have built in camera adaptors. We strongly suggest that every keen astronomer has a Barlow in their observing toolkit.  

(PS: We're often asked, "Why is it called a Barlow?" These gizmos are named after English mathematician and physicist, Peter Barlow who developed a range of optical devices in the 17th and 18th century. )

Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 5 now $999 - Ready for in-store pickup or order online

The classic Celestron 5" SCT on a handy high-tech mount for just $999.

Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 5 - $999 

The popular Celestron DX 5 is in-stock at BINTEL and available for just $999.

This includes the mount, tripod, accessories, the Celestron StarSense Explorer app and the 5" Celestron SCT telescope itself.  The design concept behind the Celestron SCT goes back to the 1960s, with the 5" aperture version launched in the early 1970s. There's lots of reasons why Celestron SCT telescopes in a wide range of sizes have been so highly regarded over the years and are still some of the best-selling telescopes on the market. 

The StarSense Explorer 5 DX is well suited to viewing planets including Saturn and Jupiter, as well as deep-sky objects. 

If you don't know where to find objects in the night sky, the Celestron StarSense Explorer app turns even a complete novice into an astro guru.

Plus there's the Celestron 40" Telescope bag we mentioned last week that would suit this telescope as well. 

New Strain Wave Mounts from iOptron - precision drives for demanding astro applications

New strain wave mounts from iOptron have been announced. 

Last week we touched on the new iOptron HAE43 Strain Wave mount.

This week covering the new, more compact iOptron HAE29 Strain Wave mount.

This tiny mount weight just 3.7kg itself, while being able to easily handle a telescope and accessory load of some 13.5kg. It uses the same strain wave drive as other iOptron HAE series mounts for accurate location and tracking. 

As you can see from the image of the iOptron HAE29 in the BINTEL showroom with a BINTEL Ganymede Semi-APO refractor onboard, it makes an idea mount for a portable imaging rig.  More from the link below - 

Final weekend of special on DWARF II Deluxe Smart Telescopes for $845- Ready for in-store pickup or order online

Savings continue for the rest of the NSW long weekend. 

A DWARF II Smart Telescope on display at BINTEL

Another big shipment of DWARF II Smart Telescopes has just landed at BINTEL!

These are the Deluxe versions and include all the DWARF accessories such as Solar filters and an extra battery, along with a small tripod and carry case. 

Smart Telescopes like the DWARF II connect with your phone or tablet and provide an effortless way to explore and photograph the night sky. 

Accessories included with the DWARF II Deluxe

We're really excited at how Smart Telescopes are making astronomy easier and more accessible for astro fans of all ages and experience.  To discover what's the best Smart Telescope for you -whether it's a DWARF II, ZWO Seestar S50, Unistellar or Vaonis Vespera - have a chat with us.  

A ZWO Seestar S50 patiently waiting to be collected by its new owner on Friday afternoon at BINTEL.  

The feedback we've received from quite of few of the many hundreds of BINTEL customers who've become Smart Telescope owners in the last year or so has been extremely positive.  Many have commented that they're now involved in astronomy in ways they never thought possible - the sort of stuff that puts a smile on the face of everyone here at BINTEL! 

2023 Bintel Astrophotography Competition is still open - still plenty of time to enter

Some great entries are rolling in but won't worry - you have until the 15th of November to get yours to us. 

We've already seen some cool images from taken all parts of Australia and New Zealand. What's impressed us is the number of first time astro photo comp entrants who are trying their hand by submitting images. You might not consider yourself an expert, however you might be surprised at what you're already achieving!

As always, a special thanks to all our sponsors for their generous donations and support. Full details and how to enter via the link below.

BINTEL 50mm right-angle finderscope $99- Handy upgrade or replacement

Another low cost finder upgrade 😀

There was a lot of interest last week when we featured the ageless red LED finder, the $79 Telrad. 

Here's another suggestion to help point your telescope in the night sky - the BINTEL 50mm right-angle finderscope. Many telescopes have straight through finders which can be awkward to bend down to look through when the telescope is pointed up high into the sky.  The 90-degree, right angle eyepiece of this BINTEL finder make it much easier. It has a set of cross hairs for precise pointing and includes a mounting plate to suit Celestron SCT telescopes such as the NexStar SE and Evolution series.

This week in the Night Sky: Beta Cygni - Albireo is possibly the most beautiful double star you can view through a small telescope​​​​​​​

A fascinating and colourful object for telescopes of all sizes. 

An image of Albireo taken through a telescope. The spikes shown are an effect from the telescope's optics. 

Most stars we see in the night sky are part of a multi-star system.  Our Sun appears to be in the minority as it wanders around the Solar System on its own.  Stars are formed in vast interstellar clouds of gas and dust, often in groups. It makes sense they end up orbiting each other. They can differ in type and mass as well. 

Many stars that appear as single points of light to your eyes or even with a pair of binoculars turn out to be double stars when viewed through a telescope and are some of the delights of the night sky. 

In fact, our nearest star, Alpha Centauri, which is the brightest of the Southern Cross pointers, reveals itself to be a double star in a telescope (it's actually a triple star system!) and Alpha Crux or Acrux which is the "base" of the Southern Cross also appears as a double star. 

One spectacular double star is Albireo which is in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan It's visible early in the evening this time of year (start of October) low in the northern sky as seen from Sydney. 

The standout feature of Albireo is the striking colour difference between the two component stars of the system. 

Albireo is easily found if you have any of the Celestron StarSense Explorer telescopes, or you can locate it from the link below. 

This week in space - NASA to launch a mission to a metal asteroid, Psyche​​​​​​

The Psyche spacecraft on the way to the metal rich asteroid.

We've explored many planets, moons and asteroids in the Solar System. This week's successful collection of a rocky sample from the primeval asteroid Bennu via the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is prime example.

One type of Solar System body not explored are the metal rich or "M-type asteroids".  These are mostly composed of metal, as opposed to the rocky ones we mainly seen elsewhere.  There's only a small handful of metal asteroids in the Solar System discovered so far. 

Illustration of Psyche via NASA.

The Psyche mission is due to now launch on the 12th of October and should arrive some time in 2029. Read more via the link below -

Plus congratulations to Melissa K who won the DWARF II Smart Telescope at the Macquarie University Astronomy Open Night last week - thanks to everyone who attended - photos next week!