We’re about to see a nova! Most of us know what a supernova is – a titanic bang that happens when a red giant collapses and explodes. But what’s a nova? A smaller version of the same thing? Well, if the weather holds, you might be about to see one for yourself. Low in the...

A plant that eats animals Drosera capensis is an insectivorous plant native to South Africa. Sundews thrive in low-nutrient soil because they’re able to gather their nutrients from “other sources” (mwa ha ha!). Because other species do poorly in these areas, Sundews have an advantage. D. capensis is similar to the native Sundew species we...

Autoguiding has revolutionised astrophotography. While your main imaging camera is off doing its job, a second camera keeps an eye on a star – any star – in the telescope’s field. If your mount begins to drift off target, the computer that’s looking through this second camera notices straight away. The computer then sends a...

Most of you already know that Sidereal Trading is the home of Astroworx, the only telescope factory in Australia. Over the past few years, we’ve been making Newtonian astrographs, developing and refining the design and improving performance. The telescopes Diego has been producing have, until now, been prototypes, rather than a production model. Diego, being...

Macrophotography is the art of getting images of tiny subjects onto a camera sensor. I’ve been asked about getting started in macrophotography, and specifically the least expensive way of getting your first image with the WeMacro Rail. This blog shows you how to go out and get your first image, so I’m going to get down to basics.

One of the things we like about getting images is they can tell stories so well. In the case of astrophotography you can literally see the development of a solar system or the birth (or the death) of a star. At the Australian Photographic Prize, I talked about macrophotography with other photographers, and it’s remarkably similar.