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Askar V Modular APO Refractor

The Askar V is a unique telescope system that features two interchangeable 60mm and 80mm ED apochromatic objectives, a reducer, a flattener and an extender. This offers six distinct focal lengths from 270mm to 600mm. Wide and sweeping one night, tight and intimate the next.

Why a modular telescope

Most people who image seriously end up owning several telescopes, because focal length decides framing and no single focal length frames everything. A 680mm scope makes a beautiful job of a galaxy and cannot fit the Veil in the frame. A 300mm scope does the opposite.

The Askar V attacks that problem from the other direction. One tube, two interchangeable objectives at 60mm and 80mm, and three optional elements: a reducer, a flattener and an extender. Combining them gives six configurations between 270mm and 600mm.

What it is actually like to use

The parts thread together properly and the spacing is worked out for you, which is the real value. Building an equivalent range from separate scopes and third-party reducers means solving backfocus every time you change something. Here the combinations are defined and repeatable.

Changing configuration is a bench job, not a field job. It is not something to do at two in the morning with cold hands and dew on everything. In practice you decide the target before you go out, set the scope up for it, and leave it alone.

Things worth knowing before buying

Six focal lengths sounds like six telescopes. It is closer to two telescopes with useful adjustment either side, because the 60mm and 80mm objectives differ in aperture as well as focal length. The 60mm configurations gather less light, so a wide field at 270mm is not simply a shorter version of the same instrument.

The case is well made and holds everything, which matters more than it sounds if you travel with your gear. It is also bulky for hand luggage.

Who it suits

It makes most sense for someone who images from more than one location, or who wants to cover both large nebulae and smaller targets without buying and selling telescopes to do it. If you already know you only shoot one kind of target, a single fixed scope at the right focal length will cost less and give up nothing.