Sharpstar

Sharpstar SCA260 V2 Aspherical Cassegrain Astrograph

A 260mm f/5 aspherical Cassegrain astrograph that packs 10 inches of fast imaging aperture into a short tube, for the deep-sky imager who wants reflector light-grasp with a flat, corrected field.

89/ 100

Polaris Score

#1 of 3 large imaging Cassegrain

See the breakdown ↓

Aperture

260mm

Focal Length

1300mm

Focal Ratio

f/5

Mount Type

None (OTA only)

Optical Design

Aspherical Cassegrain Astrograph

Weight

13 kg

From$4,615

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Price tracked by PolarisObserved 28 timesTracking since Mar 2026

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Where to buy

High Point ScientificBest price$4,615→

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What it's built forOpen these in the simulator →

This telescope was built for the camera.

A fast f/5 astrograph designed to throw a wide, flat, well-corrected field onto a sensor. It is an optical tube first — give it a tracking mount and a camera and it rewards long exposures, not eyepieces.

f/5 — built to imageNeeds a tracking mount

The view people remember

The Dumbbell, an hourglass of gas.

The brightest planetary nebula in the sky — a fat, glowing apple-core shape that takes magnification well and only gets richer with aperture.

See The Dumbbell through this telescope →

Where else it shines

Within reach

Orion Nebula

Colorful nebula captured with live stacking — wings and filaments

Open view →

Rewards a dark sky

Andromeda Galaxy

Long-exposure capture revealing galaxy core and outer structure

Open view →

Easy first target

The Pleiades

Field rich with stars — long exposure pulls in fainter members

Open view →

Also excellent on

Saturn

Processed planetary capture with rings or bands clearly visible

Open view →

✦

There is no eyepiece experience here. Its reward shows up on a sensor, after the exposure — not in the moment.

01What it's good at

What it's best at — and the trade-offs.

Best at

✓260mm of aperture at f/5 gathers light fast, reaching faint galaxies and nebulae that a small refractor cannot

✓The aspherical Cassegrain design folds a long imaging system into a short, transportable tube

✓A corrected, flat field keeps stars sharp across large sensors for serious deep-sky imaging

✓It delivers big-aperture imaging performance at a fraction of the cost of a comparable apo

Trade-offs

!At 13kg it needs a large, high-capacity equatorial mount

!Fast Cassegrain optics require careful collimation and precise back-focus

!As an OTA it needs a mount, camera and guiding to produce results

!The central obstruction and design make it an imaging tube, not a visual one

02In plain English

What These Numbers Mean

Aperture

260 mm

Over ten inches of aperture aimed at a camera. That light grasp combined with a fast focal ratio is what makes faint galaxy halos and dim narrowband structure achievable in single nights rather than seasons.

Focal length

1300 mm

Long enough for serious galaxy and planetary nebula work, where image scale determines how much detail survives processing. It also means guiding and mount performance become the limiting factors.

Focal ratio

f/5

Fast for this aperture and focal length, which is the whole argument for the design: it collects light four times faster per pixel than an f/10 SCT of similar size. Focus and tilt tolerances are correspondingly tight.

Optical design

Aspherical Cassegrain astrograph

An aspherical primary and matched corrector produce a flat, well corrected field at f/5 in a compact tube, without the coma a fast Newtonian shows. It rewards careful collimation and a stable imaging train, so it is a telescope for experienced imagers.

Weight

13 kg tube

About 29 lb before camera, filter wheel and guiding. Assembled, this rig sits in the 18 kg range and is a two-hands, planned lift rather than something you move casually.

Mount

OTA only

No mount included, and at 1300 mm the mount sets the ceiling on your results. A heavy equatorial in the 25 kg class with well tuned guiding is the realistic requirement.

02The Polaris Score

How it scores, and why.

89/ 100

Sharpstar SCA260 V2 Aspherical Cassegrain Astrograph

#1 of 3 large imaging Cassegrain

Performance

Ease of use

Portability

Upgrade potential

Polaris weighs optical capability, how easy the scope is to live with, how portable it is, and how far it takes you before you outgrow it — not list price or brand.

03Who it's for