What's a NEAF?- BINTEL are live blogging at the world's largest Astro show

New ZWO Gear - First news out of NEAF

Latest JWST images - the James Webb Space Telescope stuns again

Where to watch the 20th of April Eclipse online  -  suggested streaming option

JUICE Heads to Jupiter - Searching its icy moons for signs of life

Will Starship fly? - SpaceX is due to launch the world's largest ever rocket this coming week

We normally like to feature images from our customers, but for this week we couldn't go past our best view ever of the rings around the outer planet Uranus taken with the JWST

Live from NEAF -  BINTEL will bring you the latest news from the world's largest Astronomy equipment show. 

NEAF - NORTHEAST ASTRONOMY FORUM & SPACE EXPO

John and Clare from BINTEL are in New York state, USA attending the 2023 NEAF conference this weekend. This is the world's largest gathering of astronomical suppliers, featuring everyone from ADM to ZWO. 

It's also the first time the event has been held in person since the pandemic. 

We're expecting a huge number of new telescopes, cameras, mounts and accessories to be shown. 

Keep up to date by visiting the BINTEL NEAF Blog page from Sunday the 16th of April. Who knows what will be announced!

New ZWO Products at NEAF- Some of the most looked forward to gear of 2023 

There's already been some cool astro gear pre-announced ahead of NEAF 2023.  Here's some new products with more on the way from ZWO. 

This strange looking gizmo is the ZWO Seestar S50 Smart Telescope.  It combines a 50mm APO refractor telescope, a ZWO camera, electronic focuser and filter wheel, heating band for dew control and equatorial mount. It's all managed by a built-in ZWO ASIAIR computer controlled over Wi-Fi by your phone or tablet. 

We've found all-in-one smart telescopes have been quickly adopted by both experienced astronomers and beginners alike. 

This is a major technology release and we're hoping to have the ZWO Seestar S50 Smart Telescope available in Australia in the second half of the year for well under $1000.

ZWO AM3 Harmonic Drive mount

We've talked about harmonic drive mounts in previous newsletters. You can read our article about them here.  The new ZWO AM3 Mount is the little brother of the popular ZWO AM5 mount.  It too uses a harmonic drive (also sometimes called a strain wave drive) for excellent tracking and compact size. 

The new ZWO AM3 is tiny physically, weighing only 3.9kg, while being able to carry an 8kg load without a counterweight. 

Read more about the AM3 from the link below. Expected price will be around $2699. 

Plenty of Eclipse Glasses in stock - but it's getting close!

Final call - BINTEL has plenty of Eclipse Glasses in stock, but we think it' might be too late to get them to WA in time for the Ningaloo Eclipse.  Remember the eclipse is visible as a Partial Solar Eclipse across most of Australia. There's still time to get them to eastern states if you order by Monday. You can also pop into the store to pick up a pair.  If you'd like to see how the eclipse will look at your location click here.

How to watch the 20th of April Total Solar Eclipse - some online options

Best wishes to all the folks heading to northern Western Australia to view the Ningaloo Total Solar Eclipse on the 20th of April 2023. Safe travels and clear skies!

For those who can't make the trip and would still like to watch the eclipse, we'd suggest the timeanddate YouTube Channel. 

While it hasn't been announced NASA TV on YouTube also usually carries live feeds of major events like total Solar Eclipses. 

JUICE Heads to Jupiter - Exploring Jupiter and its moons

ESA's JUICE Mission (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) blasted off overnight on its way to explore Jupiter and its three large ocean-bearing moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. This is mission aims to further our understanding of the largest planet in the Solar System and to investigate whether these moons are suitable places for life. A complex flightpath will see JUICE take about 8 years to reach the Jupiter system.  Why is this so long compared to New Horizons which took "just" 10 years to get to Pluto? JUICE is massive spacecraft and unlike the comparatively tiny New Horizons probe which snapped photos of Pluto as it whizzed past at high speed, JUICE will remain in the Jupiter system, spending years there. Learn more from the link below.

SpaceX Starship heads into orbit - first orbital launch slated for this coming week

The SpaceX Starship is now complete. In breaking news as we're about to send this newsletter out, it received flight approvals from America's FAA and orders have been issued to clear the area around the flightpath for this coming Monday, 17th of April, local time. 

This will be the largest rocket ever flown with the capability of putting huge payloads into not just Earth orbit, but also much further into the Solar System. Keep an eye on the SpaceX upcoming launches for more details from the link below.

Next time..Ningaloo Eclipse Pictures!