SPECIAL NOTE - BINTEL is closing earlier this Saturday - 23rd of September - at 2.00pm as we're heading out to set up for the Macquarie University 2023 Astronomy Open Night 

Telescope Bags and cases - Protection for your optics while travelling or for storage at home

One of our most popular accessories - The $79 Telrad Reflex Finder

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

It's the Spring Equinox today! - Same length of the day and night for all parts of the Earth

This week in the Night Sky: NGC 7009 -  Saturn Nebula is overhead

A big explosion in elegant spiral galaxy NGC 1097. A core-collapse supernova  - the "star" highlighted in the crosshairs - has exploded in one of its spiral arms.  This marks the end stage of the lifecycle of a massive star. The other stars in the image are in the Milky Way between us and this distant galaxy.  Imaged from the Blue Mountains by Andy Casely using a Celestron C14 and posted to the BINTEL Society Facebook group here.

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! 

Telescope Bags and cases - Protection for your optics while travelling or for storage at home

The warmer weather has arrived and if you're travelling, make sure your optics are well protected.

Celestron 40″ Telescope and Tripod Bag - $199

BINTEL has a range of cases and covers to suit your telescope, mount and tripod for while you're at home or when you're travelling.  They even have room for accessories and add-ons. Here's several of them.

Celestron Padded Telescope Bag for 11-inch Optical Tubes - $249

BINTEL Telescope Bag 95X25 - $149

Have a chat with us about the best options to help look after and store your precious optics.

One of our most popular accessories - The $79 Telrad Reflex finder

One of our most popular accessories is the Telrad Reflex Finder.

Telrad Reflex Finder - $79

This strange look gizmo attaches to most telescope tubes and provides a great upgrade to many of the red dot finders that are often included as standard with telescopes.  Even if you have an existing optical finder on your telescope, it's quite common to add a Telrad because of their ease of use and accuracy. 

BINTEL have been selling Telrad finders for decades and we know they're built to last.  They even run on standard AA batteries!

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

New strain wave mounts from iOptron have been announced. 

The first of these new mounts offer large telescope carrying capacity (20kg) while weighing only 5.8kg themselves. They use the powerful and accurate strain wave drive (sometimes referred to as harmonic drives) system which we've talked about before. 

These new mounts should definitely be on your list if you're after a large capacity but lightweight telescope mount for either astrophotography or even visual use.  iOptron HAE Strain Wave mounts are also available in several configurations - we're more than happy to work out the best options to suit your requirements.

We'll have more news on iOptron strain wave mounts next week.

It's the Spring Equinox today! - Same length of the day and night for all parts of the Earth

Today is the Spring Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere

Image via the Bureau of Meteorology

For today - and also on the Autumn Equinox in about 6 months - the length of the day and night is basically the same for all parts of the Earth, including the North and South poles. 

The reason we have seasons and changes to the length of the day and night is because the Earth orbits around the Sun tilted at an angle of about 23 degrees. 

From here until the Summer Solstice in December, the nights will grow shorter and the days longer.  Read more via the article below - 

Macquarie University 2023 Astronomy Open Night is sold out - Drop by to say g'day to the BINTEL crew. 

Like last year, the highly anticipated Macquarie University Astronomy Open Night is totally sold out - please don't plan on attending unless you already have tickets. 

We'll be closing the BINTEL retail shop and phones this Saturday, the 23rd of September, at 2.00pm to set up for the event. Back to normal Saturday trading hours - 9.30am to 4.00pm next week. 

Building works outside BINTEL  - The BIG fish n' chips shop across the street will be worth it in 2024

We covered this last week, but it's probably worth another mention 😀

There's a bit of roadwork to upgrade the intersection out the front of the BINTEL retail showroom as part of the New Sydney Fish Market project.  This project aims to become a world class tourist attraction. If you see some fencing and construction on the intersection out the front of our retail shop, don't worry -we're still open.

What the new Sydney Fish Market opposite BINTEL will look like when completed next year. 

It's a bit of a pain for now, but when completed next year we reckon we'll have the best selection of fish n' chips n' sushi across the street of any telescope shop on the planet!

This week in the Night Sky: NGC 7009 - The Saturn Nebula is overheard​​​​​​​

Another category of deep-sky objects that are worth observing and photographing are planetary nebulas.

A sketch of The Saturn Nebula through a 10" Dobsonian telescope. (This planetary nebula is also called NCG 7007 and Caldwell 55)

The term "planetary nebula" is a bit misleading. While they can resemble ghostly faded planets, they don't in fact have anything to do with planets. They were originally described as such by early astronomers, and although we've long known what they are, the name stuck and is still used. 

Planetary nebulae are the remnants of a medium mass star, like the Sun, that turn into red giants.  Once the outer layers of a red giant have been ejected into space, the remaining shell of gases are illuminated by radiation from the inner core.  

It won't happen for some billions of years, but our Sun is likely to become a planetary nebula!

The Saturn Nebula is almost overhead from Sydney in the early evening sky at the moment.  If you have a Celestron StarSense Explorer telescope, it's in the app database and this will quickly find it for you to observe. Otherwise, follow the link below for a star map to help find it. 

Even in a small telescope, the Saturn Nebula will appear as a small cloud that spreads out either side to give it the appearance of having rings like Saturn.  When you're viewing it, remember you're looking at the end stages of the long life of a massive star.

More on Globular Clusters - some background info on last week's NGC 6752​​​​​​

Adam Charter imaged Omega Centauri with a DWARF II Smart Telescope

We talked last week about a wonderful globular cluster, NGC 6752, that's a joy to view through a telescope.  There were a few questions about globular clusters, so here's an overview that dives a bit deeper into them explaining what they are, where they're found and why globular clusters are important - well as some others to view and what are some good telescopes to use.  Click below to read more.