Askar

Askar SQA130 f/4.8 Super Quintuplet Astrograph

Name: Askar SQA130 f/4.8 Super Quintuplet Astrograph
Brand: Askar

A fast 130mm f/4.8 super quintuplet astrograph that gathers light quickly across a flat full-frame field, built for imagers who want short exposures and wide, sharp deep-sky frames.

90/ 100

Polaris Score

#1 of 5 fast imaging astrograph

See the breakdown ↓

Aperture

130mm

Focal Length

624mm

Focal Ratio

f/4.8

Mount Type

None (OTA only)

Optical Design

Quintuplet Astrograph

Weight

6.5 kg

From$4,799

Lowest in 90 daysLowest ever tracked

Price tracked by PolarisObserved 79 timesTracking since Jul 2026

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Where to buy

Agena AstroProductsPartnerBest price$4,799→High Point Scientific$4,799→

Verified 13h ago · prices tracked daily

What it's built forOpen these in the simulator →

This telescope was built for the camera.

A fast f/4.8 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/4.8 — built to imageNeeds a tracking mount

The view people remember

The Orion Nebula, wings unfolded.

The four stars of the Trapezium sit inside folded sheets of glowing gas — the closest stellar nursery to us, bright enough to show real structure even from the suburbs.

See Orion Nebula through this telescope →

Where else it shines

Rewards a dark sky

Andromeda Galaxy

Long-exposure capture revealing galaxy core and outer structure

Open view →

Within reach

Ring Nebula

Planetary nebula captured with characteristic ring or shell visible

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.

The five-element design delivers pinpoint stars across a full-frame sensor with the flattener built into the tube

Best at

✓The five-element design delivers pinpoint stars across a full-frame sensor with the flattener built into the tube

✓At f/4.8 it collects light fast, cutting exposure times and revealing faint nebulosity quickly

✓130mm of aperture at 624mm frames large nebulae and galaxy fields with room to spare

✓A heavy-duty focuser and rotator make back-focus and framing precise and repeatable

Trade-offs

!Fast f/4.8 optics are demanding on tilt, spacing and focus accuracy

!At 6.5kg it needs a capable tracking mount, not a small tracker

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

!The large front optics can dew and benefit from a heater

02In plain English

What These Numbers Mean

130mm · f/4.8 · 624mm FL

Aperture

130 mm

Five inches of aperture in a fast wide-field astrograph. This is the class where faint outer halos of galaxies and dim narrowband structure appear in hours rather than nights, without giving up field width.

Focal length

624 mm

Moderately wide with substantial image scale behind it. Large nebulae still fit on full frame while smaller targets hold enough resolution to stand up to close inspection.

Focal ratio

f/4.8

Fast optics at a large aperture, which is the most expensive combination to build well. Exposure times drop sharply, but tilt, focus and spacing tolerances are tight enough that a good focuser and a tilt adjuster earn their keep.

Optical design

Super quintuplet astrograph

Five elements handle colour correction and field flattening together, so a full-frame sensor sees round stars corner to corner with nothing added to the imaging train.

Weight

6.5 kg tube

About 14 lb before the imaging train. That is still portable for one person, though a fully built rig with filter wheel and guiding starts to demand a serious mount.

Mount

OTA only

No mount included. Budget for an equatorial or strain-wave mount in the 15 to 20 kg class so the optics rather than the mount limit your results.

03The Polaris Score

How it scores, and why.

90/100 · #1 of 5 fast imaging astrograph

90/ 100

Askar SQA130 f/4.8 Super Quintuplet Astrograph

#1 of 5 fast imaging astrograph

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.

04Who it's for