Subject: Just Arrived Today: Four Askar Scopes + the New Sky-Watcher HEQ5-R Mount
Fresh Off the Truck: Four Askar Scopes & the New Sky-Watcher HEQ5-R
A shipment we've been waiting on landed at the store this morning — and it's a good one. Four of Askar's most-requested imaging scopes are back on the shelf: the SQA55 astrograph ($1,113), the 91F APO ($1,399), the N160 carbon fiber Newtonian ($1,539), and the flagship 131F APO ($2,799). Riding along with them: the new Sky-Watcher HEQ5-R GoTo mount at $2,360. We received just two of each — and Askar stock never sits long.
Shop the New Arrivals →Four Askar Imaging Scopes, Back in Stock
Askar has quietly become the refractor line our imagers reach for — flat, colour-free fields edge to edge, machined focusers that hold a heavy camera train, and price-to-performance that's tough to beat. Today's shipment covers the whole spread: grab-and-go, mid-size all-rounder, fast Newtonian, and full flagship.
The little astrograph that's been selling out everywhere. A five-element Petzval design at f/4.8 delivers pin-point stars across a big, flat imaging circle with no extra flattener to buy — screw on your camera and shoot. Small enough for any travel bag and equally happy shooting nightscapes, big nebulae, or daytime wildlife. If you've been waiting for one, this is your window.
The 91F hits the sweet spot between aperture and portability. A quadruplet air-spaced APO with the flattener built in — flat, corrected field straight out of the box, no spacing puzzles, no extra corrector. At roughly 610 mm of focal length it frames galaxies, globular clusters, and mid-size nebulae beautifully, yet it's still light enough to live on a portable mount. One tube, visual and imaging, done right.
The most aperture-per-dollar in today's shipment. A 160 mm imaging Newtonian in a carbon fiber tube — light, rigid, and thermally stable — running at a blistering f/3.6 native, with the matched f/3.4 corrector included in the box. That speed means faint nebulosity shows up in a fraction of the exposure time a slower scope needs. For deep-sky imagers chasing dim targets on short summer nights, this is the shortcut.
The big one. 131 mm of quadruplet ED glass with a flat field across the frame — serious aperture for a refractor, with the contrast and star quality only a big APO delivers. At about 980 mm of focal length it's a galaxy and planetary-nebula machine, and drop in the matching 0.74x reducer (also in stock today, $419) and it becomes a faster, wider deep-sky instrument. For the imager ready to move up to premium glass, it doesn't get much better at this price.
The New Sky-Watcher HEQ5-R GoTo Mount Is Here
The HEQ5 has carried more first astrophotos than almost any mount ever made — and the new HEQ5-R is its long-awaited refresh. You get a 33-pound payload capacity, full SynScan GoTo with a 40,000+ object database, and the adjustable 1.75" rolled-steel tripod, all in a package that's still portable enough for dark-site trips. It's the natural mount under the SQA55, 91F, or N160 above — one order, one box truck, one complete rig. This is the first shipment of the new model we've received, and we only have two.
Build the Whole Setup in One Order
The ZWO Mid-Year Sale is still on through August 15 — up to 10% off cooled cameras, the ASIAIR, EAF focusers, filter wheels and filters, prices as marked. Put a ZWO cooled camera behind any of today's Askar arrivals, add the ASIAIR Plus 256GB at $379, and the HEQ5-R becomes a WiFi-controlled imaging rig you run from your phone. Browse the ZWO Sale →
Two Weeks to the Best Perseids in Years
The Perseid meteor shower peaks August 12–13 under a dark, moonless sky this year — the best conditions you could ask for. That gives you almost exactly two weeks to unbox a new rig, learn your polar alignment, and have everything dialled in before the biggest night of the summer. A wide, fast scope like the SQA55 or N160 on the HEQ5-R is a superb setup for capturing the Milky Way while the meteors fly. And with Saturn heading to opposition in September, the gear you set up now earns its keep all autumn.
Khan Scope Centre
3243 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2T2
Phone: 416-783-4140 · 1-800-580-7160
Want to see the new Askar glass or the HEQ5-R before you commit? Come by the store — today's arrivals are on the floor and ready for a look. Over 50 telescopes on display, and a team that knows this gear inside out. Bigger purchase? Ask about PayPlan by RBC — equal monthly payments over 6 to 36 months.
🍁 We ship across Canada. Curbside pickup available — select at checkout.