Australia's largest optical telescope needs your help

We almost never ask members of the BINTEL community to get involved with local causes, however this is an exception!

Most of our readers would be familiar with The Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) which is located at the Siding Spring Observatory just outside Coonabarabran in NSW, which many people call the astronomy capital of Australia. 

This is the largest optical telescope in Australia and constructed at time when just about all major telescopes were located in the northern hemisphere. Currently there are no other large optical telescopes planned for Australia. 

The AAT over the decades has produced a vast quantity of astronomical research and for quite a few years was regarded as one of the most productive telescopes on planet Earth. 

As of the time of writing, the future of the AAT is up in the air. I was sent this by Professor Karl Glazebrook, in his role as AAT Council Chair which offers some further reading. (Karl's also a keen Seestar S50 user!)

In a nutshell, the Federal Government's funding for the AAT is due to expire on the 30th of June 2027. In the next few years, our largest optical telescope will complete its current programs that includes wide field survey, exploring the evolution of our galaxy, and planets orbiting other stars. The issue is, what happens after that? Funding is uncertain at this stage. 

At a local level, Coonabarabran and surrounding areas are at the very heart of Astro Tourism in Australia and either short or long term mothballing of the AAT would be a terrible blow to the region and we'd lose a remarkable experience for inspiring the next generation of Australian astronomers. 

There's a vigorous local campaign underway to help raise awareness of this situation and to preserve and develop Astro Tourism for the Coonabarabran region.

There are a number of ways to get involved to help keep this valuable resource open. You can visit their change.org petition here.

I spoke today with Mark Osmond, one of the folks behind this campaign and he summed up the situation by saying that both professional and amateur astronomers across the country of all levels would be staggered if they realised their beloved AAT faces an uncertain future. 

You can find a range of extra resources to help you learn more about possible future plans here. 

Plus, the Siding Spring Observatory is the direct path of the Total Solar Eclipse in July 2028!

ZWO Seestar S30 Pro or Seestar S50 Pro which one is right for you?

This week saw the biggest astro product launch of 2026 (well at least so far...). It would be hard to miss the roll out of the new ZWO Seestar S50 Pro.

This has grabbed the attention of many of our existing customers, many of whom are adding to their existing collection of regular and smart telescopes, as well as those who are starting off their astro journey with a Seestar S50 Pro.

You will spot a vast number of videos from the various YouTubers and other influencers who've been busily going through the spec and comparing the new S50 Pro to the existing S30 Pro. They all seem to be quite informative and entertaining, and after spending a couple of late nights watching them on the large screen with my long-suffering Chihuahuas, I'd suggest you do the same. 

Because of the large amount of helpful detail on offer online, I won't do a deep-dive into the specs of the new telescope, but there's a few highlights worth mentioning.

New image sensor and upgraded optics = larger FOV (Field of View)

This is the biggie. In much the same way ZWO upgraded the Seestar S30 to the S30 Pro with a larger 3840 x2160 4k sensor and improved 4-element APO optics, the same changes were made to the Seestar S50 to produce the Seestar S50 Pro. 

This means the Seestar S50 Pro will capture a much wider field of view compared to the older Seestar S50, imaging almost 4 times the sky area. The upgraded APO (Apochromatic) means sharper details as well.

By comparison, S30 Pro will cover some 150% more sky than the S50 Pro.

What does the larger (50mm vs 30mm) main lens mean for my astro images?

A larger lens collects more light and reveals finer details. This means the images produced by the S50 Pro will be "sharper" in nebulae and galaxies and stars will be brighter for exposure of the same length. 

Why do I want to capture a larger chunk of the sky? Shouldn't I want to "zoom" in as much as possible to see small astro objects?

One of the surprising things that anyone starting off in astronomy quickly finds out is how large many deep-sky object appear, often covering several times the size of the Full Moon in the night sky. Regions containing nebulae and star clusters might be spread over several square degrees, whereas the Moon whereas the Moon is only about half a degree across. These astro objects are faint though and that's why long exposures with a telescope like the S50 Pro will reveal intricate details and colours. 

An official ZWO image showing the respective FOV (fields of view) of the original S50, S30 and the newer S30 Pro and S50 Pro models

Other improvements

Apart from increased onboard storage, one other major improvement to the S50 Pro is the inclusion of a second, wide-field lens and camera system. This is designed for taking astro panoramas, especially of the rich details contained in the Milky Way.

We've seen many BINTEL customers take stunning photos of the Milky Way, especially during our Australian and Kiwi winters, using DSRL/mirrorless cameras and star tracker mounts to handle long exposures as the world spins beneath our feet.  The wide angle cameras in the Seestar Pro models also let you produce your own portrait of our home galaxy, but with a very special feature.

A Milky Way panorama with a ZWO Seestar S50 Pro

There is some confusion about how much AI is used by these Smart Telescopes. They DO NOT use AI to generate images. Instead, they have AI features to help assist with image composition and processing.  For example, they can "lock" the foreground features like the buildings and scenery in the image above, while tracking the stars and dust clouds as they revolve above our heads during a long exposure and combine the two to help your own astro masterpiece.  

Bottom line, what does BINTEL think of the Seestar S50 Pro?

As we're the only place in the Southern Hemisphere and one of only a handful of stores that sell all the various makes of Smart Telescopes on offer including ZWO, DWARF Lab, Celestron Origin, Unistellar and Vaonis, we're in a unique position to offer some independent and unbiased thoughts on what would the best for you and your astronomy plans. 

Some of the Smart Telescopes currently on display BINTEL's Sydney store including the ZWO Seestar S50, S30 Pro, S50 Pro, DWARF Lab min, Vaonis Vespera and Unistellar.  

In our opinion both the ZWO Seestar ZWO S30 and S50 Pro are capable of producing amazing astrophotos even in the hands of complete beginners and have the features to grow as your skills grow.  There is no hard answer as to which is best and it would be worthwhile considering how you'd like to use your new ZWO Seestar, especially if you are planning to travel with it. 

The Seestar S50 Pro would be better for you if:

• You wanted the highest level of detail on deep-sky objects
• You're ok with a larger telescope, tripod and carrycase

The Seestar S30 Pro would be better for you if:

• Travelling with your telescope is important or compact storage is a priority
• Capturing deep-sky objects that cover larger parts of the night sky
• You'd prefer a more affordable option

(If you're thinking about upgrading from a Seestar S50 to the new Pro version, check out our blog here.) 

Either way you will be quickly photographing the Universe. We've supplied ZWO Seestars to many hundreds of our customers over the last few years and are thrilled there's a new kid on the block.

Does FOV (Field of View) matter for space telescopes?

Speaking of FOV upgrades, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launching this evening our time has a massive FOV compared to previous space telescopes such as Hubble.

Hubble's FOV in the top left compared to the FOV of the Roman Space Telescope. Image via NASA

Roman will have a FOV some 200 times larger than Hubble while retaining the same roughly the same resolution. This means the "postage stamp" views produced by Hubble can be replaced with a wider and far more detailed views of the sky. 

Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Susan Benecchi commented that Roman's wide FOV will help astronomers track moving objects that are often simply too faint to spot on their own individual images. It will “start to sample some of those smaller objects that we think of as the building blocks of planets.” by comparing different images and spotting moving objects. 

You can read more about how Roman will help Solar System science here. 

We'll be bringing news of Roman's launch next week!

Cheers,

Earl White

BINTEL

29th August 2026