The Askar 130PHQ is a newly released long focal ratio flat field astrograph after our popular 107PHQ. The slightly larger aperture allows for even more flexibility when shooting the night sky. The Aksar line of astrographs provide the highest quality perspectives on our night sky that produce stunning high resolution images with pinpoint stars across the entire field of view.

What is an astrograph?

An astrograph is a specialized telescope designed specifically for astrophotography and is not suited for visual observing or making general astronomical observations. While you can use them visually, the extra cost associated with astrographs makes them a better value for astro-imaging – their special features aren't used in a visual setting.

Taking pictures of the night sky is a specialized use case for telescopes. As we often say in this hobby, "There is no such thing as the perfect telescope." We say this because there are so many different objects to look at in space and everyone has different requirements to see them.

Big, faint things like galaxies and nebulae require large apertures, a wide field at lower magnifications which means short focal lengths.

Bright little things like planets don't need aperture because they're brighter, instead we want more detail, higher magnification, and longer focal lengths.

Also, telescopes with attached cameras work differently than those designed for use by a human eyeball. This is why you see so many accessories like field flatteners, telecompressors, filters, etc. For an imaging telescope you don't see for visual observers.

Cameras can also do things that a human eye can't, especially collect photons for a long time to compensate for aperture size, light pollution, etc.

These differences mean we can't just buy a telescope to do all the things and astrographs are a special telescope designed to do one thing and do it well: take pictures of the night sky.

The Askar 130PHQ

The search for an aperture "sweet spot" - one that allows for high resolution and shorter exposure times - is usually done for us based on price. We want to buy the largest aperture we can afford, and the 130mm diameter of this astrograph is a good price for the aperture. The extra 23mm of light-gathering capability in this model takes the astro imager a step further, providing a path to beautiful deep-sky imaging at exposure times not possible with smaller diameter lenses.

As with all astrographs the field flattener is built in, just in front of the focuser, relieving you of the hassle of calculating any back focus or other tedious connections.

In addition to the larger aperture, the focal length at f/7.7 is longer than other models, this will produce higher detail and slightly higher magnification but with a field of view suitable for all deep sky objects. The longer focal length will be especially effective on planetary and larger deep-sky objects which, when combined with the larger 130mm aperture, will provide astonishing detail in a reasonable amount of time.

The image plane is also quite large for this focal ratio and is one of the main selling points of this telescope. The 130PHQ supports a massive 60mm image circle, making it capable of supporting a medium-frame camera with pinpoint stars right to the edge of the frame. The optical system's measured RMS spot pattern puts stars throughout the plane to just 2 microns.

The 130PHQ features a telescopic lens hood, high quality CNC machined and painted tube and attractive decorative parts. The 3.4" rigid focuser comes with M68, M54 and M48 adapters and a finder base. When used with the 3.0" 0.7x flat field focuser, the telescope can achieve a focal ratio of f/5 ,4 and a focal length of 700mm, effectively shortening the exposure time. The multifunctional handle has a central slot for attaching an M6 screw with an M6 screw hole. The standard Losmandy dovetail plate, together with the sturdy double tube ring, is perfectly suited for viewing and shooting.