News from the 2024 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas - new Smart Telescopes and Binoculars

Celestron Origin Intelligent Home Observatory - Smart Telescopes get even more serious

Swarovski AX Visio - Smart Binoculars to identify bird species for you + more!

Vaonis Vespera 2 released - one of the most capable Smart Telescopes receives an upgrade

All Celestron StarSense Explorer Dobsonian Telescopes in stock at BINTEL - from 114mm to the large, 12" model

Meade RangeView ED Spotting Scope now $499 - great optics in a compact package

Space News - ah, 2024 ain't doing so great...

Another winning entry from the BINTEL Astrophotography competition, this one taken by Michael Sidonio.

M104 or "The Sombrero Galaxy" taken with 12-inch F3.8 Newtonian, over about 12.5 hours of exposure using a Starlight Xpress TRIUS PRO-694 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 more than 1.6k fellow astronomy and nature fanatics! 

Celestron Origin Intelligent Home Observatory - Smart Telescopes get even more serious

Major new telescope release from Celestron.

Celestron have been producing computerised telescopes for decades (and BINTEL have been there selling them too), so it's no surprise that their first Smart Telescope is an absolute corker!

At the heart of the new Celestron Origin telescope is a 150mm diameter, RASA f/2.2 optical system which is the largest of any Smart Telescope currently available. 

We know this is very much a premium product and it certainly extends the capabilities of Smart Telescopes. They are already creating a stir in the astronomical community and are going to be extremely short supply for some time. We're expecting the first Celestron Origin telescopes to arrive at BINTEL in the next couple of months.

There's a lot more information about this new Celestron Smart Telescope, including videos, via the link below. We'll be updating it with more information as it comes along. 

Swarovski AX Visio - Smart Binoculars to identify bird species for you + more!

Computerisation and AI assist for nature viewers and birdwatchers

CES 2024 also saw the release of the new Swarovski AX Visio 10x32 Binoculars. 

Some of the features these new binoculars include:

• Wildlife identification with database of over 9,000 different species. (And yes - Australian and New Zealand native birds are supported. We've tested them at BINTEL, and they picked up several different types of birds across the road in Wentworth Park.)
• Save your viewing position when sharing binoculars. Ideal for tour groups. 
• A wide range options for recording and sharing your viewing as videos, pictures or even "go live" with what you're currently seeing. 

The complete rundown on the new Swarovski AX Visio binoculars can be found via the link below. We have a pair of these new Swarovski binoculars to demonstrate for you at our retail showroom in Sydney now, with stock for customer orders arriving next month.

Vaonis Vespera 2 released - one of the most capable Smart Telescopes receives an upgrade

One of the classiest Smart Telescope platforms continues to mature and improve

Vaonis also released up updated version of their Vespera Smart Telescope.

The Vespera 2 features an improved, larger sensor, larger field of view, more internal storage and more. We're particularly impressed by the Vaonis CovalENS feature that captures multiple images and automatically puts them together as a larger mosaic in real time.  

The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) captured with a Vaonis Vesper 2

We'll have more on the Vespera 2 shortly. 

All Celestron StarSense Explorer Dobsonian Telescopes in stock at BINTEL - from the 114mm to the 12"(305mm)

Sizes range from tuck under your arm and carry around to "geeze, that's a big telescope!" - all with mobile phone astro guidance. 

The Celestron StarSense Explorer 150mm Tabletop Dob - $999

All versions of the Celestron StarSense Explorer Dobsonian telescopes are now in stock at BINTEL. These range from the small and portable 114mm aperture tabletop model through to the full size 8", 10" and new 12" telescopes, as a well as an optional tripod for the tabletop models. 

All Celestron StarSense Explorer telescopes feature the ability to precisely locate objects in the night sky using your mobile phone.  We've sold thousands of StarSense Explorers over the last few years and received some fantastic feedback from our customers. Highly recommended!

Meade RangeView ED Spotting Scope now $499 - great optics in a compact package

Features exquisite ED Optics for extra sharp views.

The Meade RangeVIew ED 16-48x56mm spotting scope is now $499

We've talked about this lovely, compact Meade RangeView ED spotting before. It features ED or "Extra Dispersion" glass for extremely crisp and sharp views and is excellent value now at $499. Perfect for:

• Bird and nature watching in the distance
• Whale watching
• Viewing boats and scenery
• Plus more!

The Meade RangeView ED Spotting Scope in the BINTEL showroom. It's on an optional Celestron TrailSeeker tripod from last week's newsletter which is still $199 and an excellent match to this scope. 

Space News - ah, 2024 ain't doing so great...

In last week's newsletter we posted a link to our blog article with some upcoming highlights for 2024 in space and astronomy. Only a few days later and it seems the Peregrine mission to land a rover on the Lunar surface (among other objectives) is in serious trouble.

NASA's Artemis 2 mission to return humans to the Moon we also mentioned has been delayed at least until late 2025. The Artemis 3 which is planned to land human on the Lunar surface has been pushed back until 2026 - which most commentators expect to slip even further. 

If you are a space fan and interested in Lunar exploration, a new film was released this week which covers the Apollo 15 mission to the Moon in 1971. It's been produced from archival material and is free to view at film.apollo15hub.org 

Next week - We're kicking our eyepiece guide back a week.  News on new Unistellar Smart Telescopes and more space and astronomy news.