NASA Announces the crew for the upcoming Artemis III mission Astronauts will test out multiple space systems in low Earth orbit We've all been thrilled with the return of astronauts to the Moon during the recent Artemis II mission, which swung around the Moon before heading back to Earth. It was the first time since 1972 that humans had travelled beyond Earth orbit and the furthest that astronauts had ever been away from our home planet. NASA announced the crew of Artemis III this week. They are: NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, commander ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano, pilot NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, mission specialist NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, mission specialist The Artemis III crew. Unlike Artemis II, this mission scheduled to fly in 2027 will remain in low Earth orbit. There's been comparisons to the Apollo 9 mission in March 1969 which tested the Lunar Lander before it was sent to the Moon. Unlike the Apollo Lunar landing where each mission was a single launch of a Saturn V, Artemis missions from now on will a combination of two or more spacecraft from partners beyond NASA. It will test one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin along with rendezvous and docking. These will be launched separately from the SLS (Space Launch System) which will carry the Artemis III crew.  "Artemis III will be unlike anything we’ve ever undertaken. A multi-launch campaign bringing together the most powerful rockets in the world to test rendezvous, docking, and interoperability across multiple systems close to Earth before we return astronauts to the lunar surface." said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman this week.  You can read more about Artemis III at the NASA page here. Celestron NexStar SE vs Evolution Telescopes The upgraded Evolutions series have a few handy features If you're looking for a reasonably large but portable, computerised telescope for both planetary and deep sky observation as well as astrophotography, there's two options from Celestron that are worth considering: Celestron NexStar 8SE Celestron Evolution 8 The Celestron NexStar 8SE includes a tripod and hand controller The NexStar 8SE is a development of the classic Celestron C8, which was a favourite among astronomers around the world for decades. The metallic colour is a tribute to the orange tubes of those early telescopes. (We still see some of these vintage Celestron telescopes still in regular use when they arrive in our BINTEL workshop for a clean and service.) The reasons they were so popular remain solid today. The 203mm (8") diameter main mirror collects considerably more light for better viewing compared to smaller telescopes. The SCT (Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope) design provide a long focal length while offering short and portable optics. An SCT of this size is "just right" and the perfect combination of size and power for many astronomers. The NexStar SE adds a fully computerised "GOTO" mount that will move the telescope to a planet or deep-sky object you select with the included hand controller and once it's found, will keep following it as the Earth turns during the night.  As more astronomers used the popular NexStar SE series telescopes, they of course had a few ideas about how they could be improved. Celestron listened and put three handy upgrades into their NexStar Evolution series.  The Celestron NexStar Evolution 8 has Wi-Fi connectivity The tubes of the NexStar SE and Evolution of the same size are identical with the same StarBright XLT optical coatings. The only real difference is a differently coloured coat of paint.  The upgraded features of the Evolution are all focused around the mount.  First up, the power to the mount now a rechargeable lithium-iron phosphate battery. This provides enough power for 10 hours of continuous observing. NexStar SE telescopes have internal AA-batteries or can be run off an external power supply.  The other handy feature addition is the ability to control the Celestron Evolution telescope over Wi-Fi using an app like Celestron's SkyPortal and others.  Finally, the mount itself is stronger and more stable. This makes for even steadier viewing and is especially useful when using a Celestron Evolution Wedge for extended photographic exposures.  To wrap it up; The Celestron NexStar SE series remains an evergreen range of telescopes for serious beginners and those upgrading from their first telescopes. The Celestron NexStar Evolution 8 and others in the series offer the same viewing with useful and well thought out upgrades to enhance your overall experience.  If you're unsure which Celestron NexStar is best for you, we're always happy to provide our tailored opinion.    Have you noticed the two bright "stars" this week?  This weekend is a chance to see three planets If you've had a chance to look into the westerly sky just as it was getting dark over the last week or so, you might have seen two stars that have outshone any other star in the sky. We have had quite a few people asking us exactly what they've seen.  What's been in the sky is a conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter and if you had a clear horizon, you might have been able to spot Mercury as well.  Of the two bright planets, Venus is the brighter and Jupiter is fainter and a little bit more yellow in colour. A conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and Mercury on the evening of the 13th of June 2026 at about 6.00pm as seen from Sydney. Image via Stellarium.  What's a conjunction? This is when objects line up in such a way that they appear quite close to each other in the sky but are in fact quite a long way apart. Their movements across the sky are a combination of our own orbit around the Sun each year and their own orbits.   This illustration will give you a very rough idea of where the planets are at the moment. Venus, Mercury and Jupiter are lined up away from the Sun compared to the Earth.  This image is not to scale in the slightest. The stars are pretty much fixed in the same positions, and any noticeable movements would only occur over the span of many, many human lifetimes. If you see a bright "star" either on its own or with others that you have only just noticed, it will be one of our Solar System planets putting on a show! Planetary conjunctionslike these might appear close to your eyes but are still too far apart to view with a telescope. Well worth checking out in any pair of binoculars however.   Cheers, Earl White BINTEL 13th June 2026

Blue Origin to rebuild launch facilities after a major New Glenn explosion and be flying before the end of the year Booster "Never Tell Me The Odds" and upper stages are safe after the explosion We posted an update to last week's blog about the massive explosion, or "anomaly" that engulfed the Blue Origin launch pad and New Glenn launch vehicle during a static fire test.   As this is the company's only launch facility there had been speculation that it might mean a delay of some years to rebuild before it could launch again, and this might put pressure on NASA's crewed return to the Moon by 2028. NASA had contracted Blue Origin to provide transport of key hardware to the Lunar surface, including rovers.  The Blue Origin CEO, David Limp, said that surprisingly key components such as "The propellant farm, oxygen, liquid hydrogen and LNG tanks are all in good shape."  It also means according to Limp that "We will fly again before the end of this year." Fingers crossed that this won't cause delays to the NASA Moon program! (BTW, there's no link between the Jeff Bezos owned Blue Origin pad rebuild and any incoming increases to your Amazon Prime subscriptions...)  You can read more at the Blue Origin site here. NASA says farewell to MAVEN  Expected to only last one year, MAVEN returned key information for more than 11 years On the 3rd of June 2026, NASA confirmed that their MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission was officially over, following loss of communication with the spacecraft in December 2025. Despite best efforts, contact was unable to be re-established.  MAVEN was the first mission entirely devoted to studying the atmosphere of Mars and its evolution.  One of the important findings of MAVEN was a deeper understanding of how much radiation is blocked by Mars' atmosphere and how it would impact future crewed missions.  “The science MAVEN has given us is key to informing what kind of radiation protection and safety measures we must take before sending humans to Mars,” said Louise Prockter, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The data collected from MAVEN will continue to provide valuable insight into Mars for decades to come.” Other discoveries of MAVEN included: How the Martian atmosphere is eroded by Solar storms Different types of aurorae are found not just at the poles like they are here on Earth The gradual leaking of Mars’ atmosphere into space A better understanding of Martian dust storms Even chasing Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS as it headed out in the far reaches of the Solar System Plus more As the Planetary Society commented on the spacecraft that was designed to last a year but worked for eleven, "That'll do, MAVEN, that'll do." Signs of a large planet in the early Solar System that disappeared The early Solar System was a chaotic place! A slice of NWA 12774 We already know the complex history of the Earth-Moon system and other large bodies might have merged into other planets through collisions.  Astronomers have now found evidence of a large world, maybe even the size of the Moon or Mars, that slammed into another body and completely shattered into dust and rubble. While this world has completely disappeared from the Solar System as we know it today, we've found evidence of its past through meteorites that have fallen to Earth that are very different to the local geology to put it mildly! “It’s incredible to think there was once a world this large,” said Aaron Bell, an assistant research professor in the Department of Earth Science at CU Boulder. “We only know it existed because a few fragments of it happened to land on Earth. These meteorites preserved evidence of a completely different pathway through which early planets developed.” One meteorite fragment that points to this different pathway is an angrite, in particular one called NWA 12774. Of the approx. 80,000 meteorites that have been found on Earth, only 68 are angrites.  Their chemistry is different from Earth's and were thought to have formed on asteroids of less than 400 km in diameter.  Studies showed that NWA 12774 was the result of pressures in a rocky body much, much bigger than that, of some 3,600km in diameter similar to the Moon or even 6,500km making it comparable to Mars.  We know that the Moon and Mars have different chemical ingredients from NWA 12774, and this leads to the question "What happened to it?" Scientists are unsure. It might have collided into another large rocky planet in the early days of the Solar System, and these fragments might have even contributed to the formation of other planets including Earth.   Even more tantalising is there might be other members of the Solar System family we don't know about.  “There are many meteorites sitting in drawers that haven’t been thoroughly studied, so there were likely more of these protoplanets we don’t know about,” Bell said.  Read more here. Aussie astronomers produce the largest map of the Universe's magnetic fields Mapping the twisted light reveals where magnetic fields are found throughout the skies One of the major advancements in recent decades is how astronomers use different light wavelengths, gravitational waves, neutrinos, and cosmic rays to form a more complete picture of the formation and development of galaxies and the large-scale structure of the Universe we live in. (This is often referred to as Multi-Messenger Astronomy.) There are also large magnetic fields spread throughout the Universe and these influence its evolution over billions of years.  Astronomers are unable to directly view these magnetic fields, but by working out indirect methods to map them on a wide scale, they are able to study the fine details of the matter between nearby stars and an enormous of  number distant galaxies.  A new map released this week will offer future researchers an even better view of this influence on of the Universe as it's five times larger than all other magnetic maps combined.  Produced by the CSIRO and the SKA Observatory (SKA), the map, called SPICE-RACS, is the result of observations with the CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope. It works by measuring how much light in radio wavelengths is twisted by magnetic fields as it travels vast distances.   “For the first time, we can investigate fine details of the material between nearby stars, and study a huge number of distant galaxies." Said lead researcher Dr Alec Thomson.  “We collected rotation measures from every galaxy detected in RACS – nearly four million galaxies – and reprocessed this original data from ASKAP to retrieve the full picture,” Dr Thomson continued.  “With the information we now have on magnetic fields throughout the Universe, we can study things like how magnetic fields affect the galactic-scale interaction of our own Milky Way and its neighbours, the Magellanic Clouds. We can even potentially find the answer to questions like when did magnetic fields first appear in the Universe? We had once thought it would be impossible to answer these questions. I’m excited to say that is no longer the case." said Professor Naomi McClure-Griffiths, SKAO’s Chief Scientist. You can read more about the release of SPICE-RACS here.  Cheers, Earl White BINTEL 6th June 2026

22 July 2028 · Sydney, Australia The day the Sun goes out over Sydney A total solar eclipse is crossing directly over Sydney. The first since 1857, and the last until 2858. Countdown to totality -- Days -- Hours -- Minutes -- Seconds Totality begins ≈ 2:00 pm AEST, Saturday 22 July 2028 1857 Last total eclipse over Sydney 3:44 Minutes of totality 100% Of the Sun covered 2858 Next one after 2028 By the Bintel Team · Published 1 June 2026 · 6 min read A total solar eclipse passes right over Sydney on 22 July 2028, and for a few minutes the sky goes dark, the temperature drops, and the Sun's corona appears as a pearly halo around a black disc where our star used to be. We haven't had one over Sydney since 1857, and we won't get another until 2858, so this really is a once-in-many-lifetimes event. On this page What's actually happening The path of totality Exact timing for Sydney How to watch it safely The gear you need FAQ The phenomenon What's actually happening A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes right between the Earth and the Sun and drops its shadow onto us. Stand inside the narrow central shadow (the path of totality) and the Moon covers the Sun completely for a few minutes. The day turns to an eerie twilight, bright stars and planets pop out, and the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, shows up as a shimmering halo of pearly light. Here's the thing though, it only looks like this from inside the path of totality. A 99% partial eclipse is a nice curiosity, but 100% is a completely different beast. The good news for us is that Sydney sits smack inside the 2028 path, and you can check the exact track on NASA's eclipse pages. The corona and pink prominences flash into view at totality. Image via NASA/Carla Thomas. Our star, up close. This is the Sun captured through proper solar gear. On 22 July 2028 the Moon hides all of it, and reveals the corona you can normally never see. Geography The path of totality The Moon's shadow first hits land in Western Australia's Kimberley region, then sweeps south-east across the Northern Territory, south-west Queensland and into New South Wales, passing right over Sydney before heading out across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. The longest stretch of totality, a bit over five minutes, lands near the Drysdale River in WA. All up, the shadow races across the country for nearly three hours from first landfall to last contact. What makes 2028 so special is the geography. Any given spot on Earth only sees totality about once every 375 years or so, which is why Sydney has waited since 1857 for this one. The path runs straight over the Sydney metro area and its five million-odd people, so most of us won't have to travel far at all to stand under it. If you do want to chase the centreline, the Astronomical Society of Australia has the full state-by-state rundown. Timing Exact timing for Sydney From Sydney the partial phase kicks off early in the afternoon as the Moon takes its first bite out of the Sun. Totality arrives around 2:00 pm AEST and lasts up to about 3 minutes 44 seconds, depending on exactly where you're standing relative to the centreline. After that the partial phase carries on for over an hour as the Moon slides off the other side. July is mid-winter downunder with no daylight saving, so all times are AEST (UTC+10). We'll lock in the exact second-by-second contact times closer to the day. Eye-safety warning. It's only safe to look at the Sun with the naked eye during the brief moments of total eclipse. During every partial phase, any time even a sliver of the Sun's disc is visible, you must use certified ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses, and any telescope or binoculars must have a proper solar filter fitted over the front. Looking at the partial Sun without protection causes permanent, painless retinal damage. Stay safe How to watch it safely The good news is that watching safely is easy and pretty cheap. Here's the plan. For your eyes Wear certified ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses for the entire partial phase. They block 99.999% of sunlight, and ordinary sunglasses, smoked glass and exposed film simply won't cut it. Only take them off once the Sun is 100% covered and totality has begun, then pop them straight back on the instant the first bead of sunlight returns. For binoculars & telescopes Never point an unfiltered telescope or binocular at the Sun, the concentrated light will destroy your eye in an instant. Fit a certified white-light solar filter over the front of the scope (never one of those little eyepiece-end 'sun' filters). For the most detailed view, a dedicated hydrogen-alpha solar telescope shows up prominences and surface detail in glowing red. Plan your spot Anywhere in Sydney inside the path gets totality, but a clear view low toward the Sun's afternoon spot helps. Scout somewhere with open sky, get there early, and have a backup nearby in case of cloud. Get ready The gear you need from Bintel We're Australia's specialist binocular and telescope shop, and there are really just three things that'll get you set for totality. Eclipse Glasses Certified ISO 12312-2. The essential, affordable starting point for safe naked-eye viewing. Shop eclipse glasses → Telescopes From grab-and-go refractors to serious aperture, bringing the corona and prominences up close. Shop telescopes → Solar Filters White-light front filters that turn your telescope or binoculars into a safe solar instrument. Shop solar filters → Don't wait until the week before. Eclipse stock sells out fast as the date nears. Get sorted early and be ready when Sydney goes dark. Shop Solar Viewing Gear Good to know Frequently asked questions When is the total solar eclipse in Sydney? Saturday 22 July 2028. Totality occurs around 2:00 pm AEST and lasts up to about 3 minutes 44 seconds. Is it safe to look at a solar eclipse? Only during the brief moments of total eclipse. During every partial phase you must use certified ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses, and any telescope or binoculars must have a certified solar filter over the front. Viewing the partial Sun unprotected causes permanent eye damage. Where can I see the 2028 eclipse? The path of totality crosses the Kimberley (WA), the Northern Territory, south-west Queensland and New South Wales, passing directly over Sydney, then crosses the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. Sydney is inside the path. When is the next total solar eclipse over Sydney after 2028? The 2028 eclipse is the first over Sydney since 1857. The next will not occur until 3 June 2858. Credits Brought to you by Bintel, The Binocular and Telescope Shop. Sun image by Geoff. Eclipse timing and path data from the Astronomical Society of Australia, NASA and timeanddate.com. Exact contact times will be confirmed closer to the event. Shop Solar Observing →

NASA Announces Semi-permanent base on the Moon by 2032 Missions to explore and map the Moon's south pole start landing this year BIG news from NASA this morning about their future plans for long term presence on the Moon's surface. They are establishing Moon Base, which will be humanity's first outpost away from Earth.  It will be situated near the Moon's south pole, a region where useful resources including water is likely to be found.  NASA is aiming to have Artemis astronauts living and working there on a semi-permanent basis by 2032.   The Moon Base timeline. Image via NASA This will happen in three stages.  From 2026-2029; Experiment and Learn  A large number of Lunar missions, including 21 landings. These will include rovers and MoonFall drones as well as crewed landings Testing of communication systems and power supplies on the Lunar surface, including nuclear radioisotope heaters designed to work throughout the periods of darkness during long nights on the Moon First deliverables of Moon Base with about 4 tonnes of materials to see what does and doesn't work on the Lunar surface From 2029-2032; Early habitation Extended solar power and compact fission reactors More advanced rovers and early astronaut habitation modules Beefed up communication systems Delivery of up to 60 tonnes of cargo using as many as 24 landings of heavy class cargo landers From 2032 and beyond; Sustained Human Presence Larger crew modules  Advanced logistics using both crewed and autonomous rovers Delivery of approx. 38 tonnes of cargo annually NASA also announced the awarding of contracts to several companies for the hardware including rovers and landing systems.  The Pegasus Lunar Terrain Vehicle is being developed by Lunar Outpost and has been selected by NASA to be part of the initial transport system on the Lunar surface.  We'll be covering more of these developments as NASA rolls out definitive plans for us to return to the Moon and travel beyond.  You can find out more at the NASA Moon Base at their site here. Update 29/5: NASA had selected Blue Origin as a major component of the Moon Base program, tasking them with landing their rovers near the Lunar south pole.  In what is probably the largest explosion of a rocket since the ill-fated Soviet N1 Moon rocket, Blue Origin's New Glenn vehicle blew up on the launch pad during a test firing today.  "Exploded" is probably an understatement about the event! SpaceX Starship makes a 12th flight Yep, it flew! Largely successful test flight of their new "V3" version Last weekend after some short delays, the latest test flight of the SpaceX mega rocket, Starship, took place. This is the first test of the new "V3" stack which offers major payload improvements and system upgrades.  The flight suffered some engine malfunctions. It also deployed a number of dummy Starlink satellites. Like the other Starship tests, while reaching space, it wasn't aiming for insertion into low Earth orbit. All parts of the rocket splashed down in the ocean.  This mission comes ahead of major test flights where they plan to transfer fuel between two Starships in orbit. The refuelling of spacecraft in orbit has never been achieved before and is a key part of the SpaceX Human Landing System (HLS) to ferry astronauts to the Moon's surface. Each of these flights could require up to 12 tankers to get them underway.  We'll certainly be keeping an eye on those upcoming missions! Update 28/5:  The American FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has grounded Starship V3 until further notice. It has stated that: "After a thorough assessment of the operation, the FAA has determined the May 22 SpaceX Starship Flight 12 launch resulted in a mishap. The mishap involved the Super Heavy booster as it flew back to the Gulf of America after stage separation. There are no reports of public injury or damage to public property" It's likely that Starship will be back flying soon after their investigation. Read more here at the FAA website. ZWO Seestar S30 Pro Equatorial Head and Tripods What do you need and why? The little ZWO S30 Pro Smart Telescope has really made an impression in the astronomy community by allowing even complete beginners to take simply beautiful astro images. It's also got more than enough power and features to keep up with you as your skills grow. As we like to say, you don't stay a beginner for very long! One thing we've had a few questions from our BINTEL customers about is what is the ZWO TH10 Equatorial Head and why do you need it. Stars don't just rise in the East and set in the West Out of the box, the ZWO S30 Pro tracks the night sky very nicely, and will follow it as it turns over your head during the evening. It works in what's called Alt-Az (Altitude-Azimuth) mode. In other words, it goes up and down and right and left. This lets it follow astro objects with no dramas.  The issue is that things in the night sky don't simply travel directly overhead. Instead, they spin around a point in the night sky called the south celestial pole. This is directly south and at the same latitude as where you're located.  This path is especially noticeable when viewing in the far southern parts of the sky. Objects appear to rotate around this spot in the sky and will never "set".  For example, the Southern Cross never dips below the horizon in a good chunk of Australia.  To follow stars, telescopes like the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro not only need to move left and right in Alt-Az mode but need to swivel a little bit as well. This tracks objects quite well. This tiny swivel means the view rotates ever so slightly as well.  This is called Field Rotation. This reduces the time for each exposure that the telescope can make. The S30 Pro will still easily stack together multiple exposures. The edges of each frame will also blur slightly as they're the parts of the image most impacted by field rotation.  Equatorial Or "EQ" mode To get around this*, telescopes are tilted and pointed directly at the south celestial pole. For the S30 Pro, you could use a ZWO TH10 Tripod Head. This sits on top of the tripod and you attach the S30 Pro to it.  This allows you to tilt and point the S30 Pro toward the south celestial pole and use it in  Equatorial/EQ mode.    Polar Alignment You might also hear the term polar alignment. This is the procedure to correctly point the Az or Azimuth axis or swivel base directly south and at the same tilt as your latitude.  This can be a bit tricky and take a little practice especially for us folks in the southern hemisphere where we don't have a "North Star" or Polaris to help line things up. To make life easier for Seestar owners, they feature a polar alignment routine to quickly show you where to point the telescope so it's accurately lined up.  ZWO TC20 Tripod  While the small tabletop tripod that comes with the S30 Pro is handy for storage and travel, there's also a larger TC20 tripod that lets you raise the S30 Pro off the ground further.  It also comes as a bundle with the TH10 head.  This is quite a handy combo and can be used with other DSLR or mirrorless cameras as well as the S30 Pro. The carbon fibre legs make it fairly light and this might be handy for travelling.  If you already have a ZWO Seestar S50 and think the TC20 looks familiar, it's the same tripod that was supplied with that original ZWO Smart Telescope.  I already have a good tripod with a decent tilt head. Will this let me use my ZWO Seestar S30 Pro in EQ mode? Yes.  All the TH10 does is tilt and swivel smoothly. If your tripod can carry 2kg or more without shaking, it will work fine with the S30 Pro. The S30 Pro uses the larger of the two common tripod screw sizes at 3/8". If you only have a 1/4" thread size you might need to grab a small adaptor. These are very inexpensive and easy to find.   Do I actually need a TH10 Tripod Head to take photos with my new ZWO Seestar S30 Pro? No. Out of the box the S30 Pro is going to deliver amazing results. We're often told by our customers they are able to capture astro images on their first night out that they'd been struggling for ages to achieve with other gear. In fact, it was some time before EQ mode was even added to the original Seestar S50 via software updates. However... Putting the S30 Pro into EQ mode using a gizmo like the TH10 will result in even sharper and more detailed astrophotos. It's something we'd highly recommend that you either purchase with your new telescope or as an upgrade to help get the most from these very cool little gizmos.  After 12 flights, how does Starship compare to NASA's Saturn V flight record from the 1960s and 70s? Starship will undergo a number of further test flights before becoming fully operational Now SpaceX's Starship has launched 12 times, it's interesting to see where NASA's Saturn V rocket was after that many launches.  It had achieved: 2 x test flights (Apollo 4 and 7) 3 x crewed orbital missions to the Moon (Apollo 8, 10 and 13) 6 x crewed landings on the Moon (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17) (There was also a 13th Saturn V uncrewed flight where it launched NASA Skylab space station into Earth orbit.) Payload capacity Saturn V could hoist about 140 tonnes to low Earth orbit. Starship V3 is aiming for approx. 200 tonnes to orbit.  Once off vs reusable A key point about the design philosophy between the two mega rockets is that Saturn V and other rockets of that era were a once off use type of vehicle. No part of the entire stack was ever planned to launch again.  NASA didn't produce a reusable human space vehicle until the Space Shuttle program which commenced launches in 1981.  Starship will be entirely reusable and SpaceX already has other rockets that fly into space over and over again. Costs Each Saturn V launch was well over USD$1.2 billion in today's money. Starship on the other hand will aim for each launch to be in the order of tens of millions of dollars mainly as they don't chuck the rocket away after each launch! Think of how expensive international airline travel would be if planes couldn't land and passengers parachuted to the ground before each flight crashed.  Destination Saturn V was designed to get humans to the Moon, and it did this successfully multiple times. Starship is likely to deliver crews and materials to the Moon as part of a permanent human presence there. It's also slated to form a large part of humanity's efforts to venture to Mars in the next decade.  Bottom line Yes, the Saturn V had flown to the Moon multiple times in the time it has taken Starship to make a first test of the current version.  However, future launches will be considerably less expensive than the one-use Saturn V.  This doesn't take away from the remarkable achievement of Saturn V which was developed some 60+ years ago.  Second drop of US Government UFO files There was another large "drop" of UFO related files published by the USA government last weekend. This points to there being quite a number more being released to the public, and on a regular basis too. There's still no definitive explanation for many of the videos, images and first hand testimonies.  NASA administrator Jared Isaacman commented while there's no crashed spaceships or such, the material is a clear invitation for folks to look at what is being presented.  "This is citizen science right now. Take a look at our files, tell us what you think." he said.  As we said recently about this interesting topic, more soon! You can check this second release out for yourself here. Cheers, Earl White BINTEL 27th May 2026 *The other way to solve this is to rotate the camera in the telescope using a gizmo called a field rotator. This saves having to tilt the entire telescope mount. This type of technology is slowly coming to amateur telescopes but has been common in professional telescopes for some time. It reduces the overall size and costs of large telescopes by allowing them to work fully in Alt-Az rather than putting them on EQ mounts.     

SpaceX Starship V3 to fly from a new launch pad The flight is expected NET (Not Earlier Than) 19th May  First full test of the upper parts of the new Starship V3 stack. Image via SpaceX SpaceX is returning to launching their Starship mega rocket, with the next flight expected this coming week. This will be the new "V3" stack that has a number of major changes including upgrades to fuel transfer systems, new version of the Raptor 3 Engines and big upgrades to the avionics to streamline the launch process especially.  It will also launch from a new launchpad. SpaceX stated this week that they are looking at building Starship launch facilities in other parts of the world. Selfie time Part of this test mission will be the deployment of 22 dummy, small spacecraft of a similar size to the next generation of Starlink satellites, which is a major upgrade to the 10 carried on previous Starship flights. Two of these will be able to transmit images of Starship back to mission controllers so expect better views of the rocket's mission during its sub-orbital flight path.  Given SpaceX's record with flying new hardware, there could be further delays or possibly even major "malfunctions" on the launchpad. More news next week! NASA's Psyche spacecraft flies past Mars on the way to a metal asteroid Will swing by Mars at 19,848 kph  Navigation in the Solar System is often not just a simple matter of launching directly from the Earth to a destination beyond the Moon. It can involve looping around the inner planets and even flying past larger bodies to get a gravitational boost along the way.  Since its launch in 2023, NASA's Psyche has been doing just that on its way to learn about the asteroid of the same name. It's one of the stranger objects in the Solar System. Psyche orbits in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and is thought to contain large amounts of primeval metals. We don't have the technology to bore into the Earth's core and study the metals thousands of kilometres directly beneath our feet. We can though visit a chunk of these types of metals as they orbit the Sun. The spacecraft will arrive in 2029 where it will spend two years photographing and analysing this strange, metal asteroid.  This weekend our time the Psyche spacecraft will make its closest approach to Mars where it will pick up speed due to the red planet's gravity. There should be close ups of the approach appearing online soon. You can check out the NASA Psyche site here where you can keep track of this fascinating mission. Congrats to BINTEL's Jess Gilmore!  We celebrated this week the recent graduation of BINTEL team member, Jess Gilmore, who was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Macquarie University in Sydney. If you'd like to know more about telescopes and astronomy, members of the BINTEL crew are not just fanatical hobbyists but also have formal professional qualifications in the area too! What's a Blue Moon? Everyone knows the expression "Once in a blue moon!" that means hardly ever, but where did it come from? A Blue Moon is when two full Moons occur in a single calendar month. As each Lunar cycle is approx. 29.5 days long and months are 30 or 31 days with the exception of February, you can see how it's possible to squeeze two Full Moons into a single calendar month. This is going to happen in May 2026, with a Full Moon on the 2nd of May, a New Moon this coming weekend and another Full Moon, which will be "Blue Moon" on the 31st of May. (Sydney time). You won't be able to spot a Blue Moon visually as it's purely a naming convention. It certainly won't appear blue in colour! They're not that rare as well, with a Blue Moon occurring every 2 or 3 years.  However, this particular Blue Moon coincides with a "Micro Moon".  We've mentioned "Super Moons" in previous blogs. As the Moon orbits the Earth in a slightly elliptical orbit, its distance varies by a small amount. When the Moon is at its closest during a Full Moon, it's a Super Moon. When it's further away, it's called a Micro Moon. There's not a lot between the largest and smallest sizes that the Moon we see, less than 15% difference in size which means about a 30% difference in brightness.  If you see social media posts or news reports about the Blue Moon or Blue Micromoon this month, it won't actually be blue nor will it be that "micro".  As always though, a Full Moon is a wonderful time to enjoy the night sky, so make sure you head outside to catch it! ZWO Seestar S30 Pro scores an APOD The Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is a website run by NASA and Michigan Technological University which has featured since 1995 a daily astronomy image. Having your image featured on this site and having an APOD is regarded as a big thing by astronomers of all calibres.  Yesterday, APOD Sylvain Villet featured his wonderful entire Messier Catalog that he'd taken using a ZWO Seestar S30 Pro Smart Telescope across 148 hours of exposure. While many APOD winners have been images from professional astronomers and observatories, efforts like this from Sylvain are a reminder that amazing results are achievable using astro gear that's accessible to everyone. You can see his APOD here and make sure you check out his Instagram page too.  You can see the full resolution image at the APOD site here.  Ok, so let's chat about the US Government release of UFO files... There was, umm, an interesting "release" from the US government last weekend. This is the first drop of what they say will be on ongoing series of files that are related to phenomena that are unexplained at this stage.  They can be found at: https://www.war.gov/ufo/ Many of these had been previously seen with others new to the general public. There are a few that have been debunked in the past, while others feature videos of objects moving across landscapes that are harder to come up with firm conclusions about what they are.  There are some old news items, reports going back to the 1940s and even testimonies from Gemini and Apollo astronauts. An image showing a zoomed in section of photo taken from the Moon's surface showing three objects taken during the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972. The US government has stated that "While this photo has been previously released and discussed by keen observers, there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly." More here.  These especially are interesting as they're first-hand reports from experienced, hard-nosed astronauts with thousands of hours of flight experience and had already seen countless examples of reflections off paint flecks, flares off glass windows and much more. There's also a large collection of videos of more recent times, often taken using infrared sensors, from military aircraft showing unknown objects flying through their field of view and sometimes making extremely high speed turns and other changes of direction.  It's a diverse collection of what promises to be an ongoing series of images, personal accounts and videos. So what am I seeing or reading about? Nowhere in these files is there a firm suggestion that aliens are involved. There's also a good chance that a large percentage of these files will be eventually explained as being of fairly prosaic and possibly pretty boring in nature. Others might turn out to be new technology that was captured by existing aircraft.  With this information being released to the public and the stated aim that much more is to come, it's an interesting site to explore and come up with your own ideas about these materials. There's also going to be a few reports however that we might be all pondering deeply over for some time.... Cheers, Earl White BINTEL 15th May 2026                  

Two hundred years ago: 29th April 1826. A night of discovery from Parramatta  There's a "fair" amount of light pollution in the middle of Parramatta, about 20km west of Sydney, in 2026. However, wind the clock back 200 years to this time of the year to a  remarkable evening of discovery at Parramatta Observatory by astronomer James Dunlop.  First of all he observed a new nebula (NGC 4945), and then some 30 minutes later another patch of cloud in the sky known as NGC 5128. We now know that both of these discoveries are not patches of patches of star-forming gases, but rather massive galaxies millions of light years away from the Milky Way.  James Dunlop’s sketch of NGC 5128 (Figure 20) from 1828. Credit: Dunlop/Robertson et al. 2010. At the time these were the only two galaxies in the far southern sky recorded by astronomers aside from the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.  Here's a more modern take on NGC 5128 taken by Chi Chan and with a Celestron EdgeHD 9.25 Telescope and a ZWO ASI286MM camera. NGC 5128 is the 5th brightest galaxy in the night sky and is great for both astro imagers and visual observers, with its central dark lane being visible even in fairly small telescopes.  Where can I see NGC 5128 at the moment? Just like James Dunlop spotted this lovely galaxy 200 years ago in our Sydney autumn, you'll be able to see NGC 5128 in the south eastern sky. The view from Sydney around 7.30pm showing NGC 5128 (labelled C 77 in this image) near the Southern Cross. It will rise higher in the night sky as evening progresses.  You can spot it as a small, fuzzy patch with binoculars. Larger telescopes such as a 6" Dobsonian will show the dark central band which is the result of galactic mergers. Why are comets green? And why their tails are not. Glenn Pickford posted his image of Comet Panstarrs to the BINTEL Society Facebook group. Check out his post here. There are some simply beautiful images being captured this week of Comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) or simply Comet Panstarrs as it's being called. This is an Oort Cloud comet, meaning a ball of loosely bound dust, gases, water and other material is making what could be its first trip into the inner Solar System from a vast region that extends into interstellar space.  You might see media reports about it being a "once in a lifetime experience" and that's true of this particular comet. Its orbital period seems to be around 170,000 years and I doubt any of us will be around to see it again, no matter how good your diet and skin care routine is. However, comets like these are visible once every few years and we were lucky enough last year to even have two visible in the same part of the sky at once! Binoculars are ideal for looking at comets and the BINTEL Society is a handy way to pick up tips and ideas for photographing them as well.  One question that does pop up is "Why are the heads of some comets green?" In fact up until a few years ago, we didn't know why! It's a fascinating story about  Solar radiation breaking up molecules that it only just created. These dicarbon molecules glow bright green, but themselves don't hang around that long and are soon broken up. They don't have time to fall away from the head or nucleus of a comet and spread into space as the comet's tail. They fade away before they have time to make it that far. That's why the region close to the comet's nucleus might appear green but the tail won't be. You can read more about how the team from the University of New South Wales discovered this in a BINTEL blog article from a couple of years ago.   One thing to remember when observing comets is that while these green colours are often easily captured in photos, you won't see them with your eyes when looking at them through a telescope or binoculars. New evidence of organic materials found on Mars Seven organic molecules detected for the first time on Mars Mars rover, Curiosity, taking a selfie in 2022. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA announced recently another set of findings that point toward the possibility of past life existing on the surface of Mars. After drilling into a rock called "Mary Anning 3”, named after an English fossil collector and , scientists found the most diverse collection of organic molecules ever found on Mars. The rocks on the surface of Mars where Curiosity collected samples in October 2020. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Twenty-one carbon-containing molecules were identified in the samples, seven of them were detected for the first time on Mars.  It should be pointed out that organic molecules or "organics" are not themselves direct signs of life. They are the "stuff" that life is made up of or the results of life processes. They can also be produced by non-biological reactions and processes. At the moment, we have no direct way of knowing what led to the growing list of organic molecules being found on Mars. Organics are found elsewhere in the Solar System and in gas clouds in deep space. “That detection is pretty profound because these structures can be chemical precursors to more complex nitrogen-bearing molecules,” said the paper’s lead author, Amy Williams of the University of Florida in Gainesville. “Nitrogen heterorcycles have never been found before on the Martian surface or confirmed in Martian meteorites.” “This is Curiosity and our team at their best. It took dozens of scientists and engineers to locate this site, drill the sample, and make these discoveries with our awesome robot,” said the mission’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “This collection of organic molecules once again increases the prospect that Mars offered a home for life in the ancient past. What does this mean for the chances of one day confirming life on Mars? These results add to the growing number of organics and other chemicals found on Mars that might have been produced by past life. They've been collected from regions that were once covered by water as indicated by the local geology.  The issue is that no hardware currently on the surface of Mars has sufficient onboard technology to carry out the sorts of tests to definitely confirm that once was life was indeed present at these sites. It's going to take either "boots" on the ground where specialist astronauts can carry out the sorts of experiments needed, or sufficient samples returned to Earth.  Until then these discoveries offer tantalising hints of what might have existed on the Red Planet.  You can read more at the NASA site here. Cheers, Earl White BINTEL 6th May 2026