No images? Click here 2022 Xmas Telescope & Binocular Buyers' Guide Part One -Beginners' Telescopes Why NASA is studying Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Great compact binoculars - Nikon Travelite EX Series Unistellar Citizen Science Network - breaks exoplanet observation record Telescope Collimation Workshop @ BINTEL - 5th November 2022 11am Sydney time- catch it live on YouTube Posted to the BINTEL Society Facebook group by Jarrod Rueff. As spring rolls into summer, the Orion Nebula (M 42) again becomes a magnificent sight in our skies. Telescope was a Celestron RASA 8, camera a RASA 8, ZWO ASI183MC Pro Colour camera and the image taken from Mawson Lakes South Australia BINTEL's Christmas Buyers' Guide Part 1 - Suggestions for beginners' telescopesBINTEL's 2022 Christmas Buyers' Guide Part 1 is now available. This is the first of our Christmas buyers' guides and covers our suggestions for beginners' telescopes. In the coming weeks we will be covering accessories, taking astro images and what are good choices in fully computerised telescopes. We know there's a lot of different telescopes for beginners and selecting just the right model can be confusing. Here's some of our suggestions for a: NASA gets down to formally studying unknown objects in our skies - what the program is and what it is not.In June 2022 NASA announced it was formally beginning the scientific study of phenomena and events in our Earth's atmosphere that have been observed but where no explanation - either technological or natural - has been found to date. This project will endeavour to identify and collect current observations and put in place processes to collect future reports, all with an eye on a fuller scientific study of these events down the track. NASA announced last week the 16 members of the overview committee and all of them have outstanding academic credentials and experience. Some of them such as famed NASA astronaut Scott Kelly are likely already known to some of our readers. You can read more about the NASA program in our blog article from the link below. There's certainly enough going on in this area for it to taken seriously and any prior prejudices about to the topic to be left behind. The scientific study of the unknown is always exciting and often leads to new discoveries and knowledge. It is certainly NASA's approach and here at BINTEL we are looking forward to the results from these studies. Great small binoculars- Nikon Travelite 8x25For a small pair of high-quality binoculars which are also excellent value, we thoroughly recommend the Nikon Travelite EX series. These have 25mm diameter main lenses and come in both 8x and 10x magnifications. Nikon Travelite EX binos are extremely compact and perfect to keep in the car or carry around when travelling and handy to take along to the cricket over the summer break. These binoculars are so good, some of our BINTEL staff have their own pairs! They would also make a welcomed gift for outdoor fanatics and nature lovers. Unistellar Network Breaks Exoplanet Observing Record - longest exoplanet transit ever recordedFollowing on from last week's article about Citizen Science programs, Unistellar have highlighted their recent record observing exoplanet Kepler-167 e dimming the light of its host star as it passed in front of it. Thirty one Unistellar telescope owners of all ages from across the world combined to carry out this research that will be published in the prestigious journal, The Astrophysical Journal Letters. You can read more about this remarkable observing record here. BINTEL is excited by the new technology offered by companies like Unistellar and Vaonis. They offer major benefits for observers wanting complete ease of use in their telescopes and for serious astronomers and schools keen to become involved in genuine scientific research. Vaonis Vespera advanced telescope at an observing night at Knox Grammar in Sydney last week. Whoopsie!We made a boo-boo in last issue. The start time for next week's Lunar Eclipse starts at 7.19pm in Sydney on Tuesday the 8th November , not 7.19am. Apologies for this. We'll do our best not make too many miskates in the future.... BINTEL Telescope Collimation Workshop 5th November 2022 11am Sydney time watch live on YouTubeAs a reminder, BINTEL are running a collimation workshop on the 5th November, kicking off at 11am Sydney time. We'll be streaming the event live on YouTube. A small price to pay for the reflecting telescope's superior value for money compared to refractors is the need for collimation. This straightforward process aligns the two mirrors to ensure images are at their sharpest. Don Whiteman, our technical manager, will be running a series of hands-on sessions walking through the collimation process from start to finish. (Knowing Don, there's likely to be a few tall tales and snippets of "general life advice" along the way as well....) If you're planning on attending in person please register here. You can now also watch it live on YouTube via the link below from 11am Sat 5th November Sydney time. Artemsis 1 Next Launch Attempt 12th November (USA time)NASA has (hopefully) fixed the fuel leaks and will attempt to launch Artemis 1 in the coming weeks. We will have more details shortly including how to watch the launch live. Fingers crossed the problems have been solved and the Artemis 1 mission will soon be on the way to the Moon. Stay tuned... Next time....next part of the BINTEL Christmas Buyer's Guide plus more suggestions for summer binoculars and spotting scopes. |