About this product
Optical Bench Test
At FLO, we check all our Askar telescopes on an optical bench before dispatch.
So you can be confident your telescope will have well-figured optics, negligible false colour and spherical aberration, and no astigmatism (the bane of any optical system!). Star shapes will be round, not triangular, oval or egg-shaped!
Askar 140 APO Refractor
The Askar 140 APO is a large aperture triplet refractor that meets the needs of discerning astronomers and astrophotographers.
The Askar 140APO is an OTA with a 140mm aperture, 980mm focal length, and f/7 native focal ratio.
The 140mm aperture gives this telescope an inherent advantage in light-gathering power, resolution, brightness, and contrast, enabling the photographer to gather more light and present more details and brighter objects in the image. The limiting magnitude can reach 12.5.
The Askar 140APO adopts a fully multicoated triplet air-spaced APO lens design with one piece of ED glass that delivers high-contrast views with minimal chromatic aberration, naturally providing higher-quality object details and colour accuracy.
ED glass, also known as low-dispersion glass, is an optical glass specifically designed to reduce chromatic aberration.
As a large aperture, long focal ratio telescope, the Askar 140APO was designed with portability in mind. The shortest overall length is only 735mm, the net weight is 9.2kg, and the gross weight is 10.9kg (including the handle, tube ring, and dovetail plate).
Each Askar 140 APO is equipped with a unique name ring for identification.
The retractable design of the dew shield, along with the enlarged locking screws, provides convenient usage. The dew shield also protects the lens unwanted from external light.
The Askar 140APO has a lightweight design for the tube rings, with an overall weight of 1.7 kg. The thumb screws enable easy opening and locking of the tube rings. Meanwhile, the base of the tube rings is heightened, providing more clearance.
The handle of the Askar 140APO has a special slot design, making it also a base for installing a finder/guider scope. The handle itself is 220mm long.
The dovetail plate of the Askar 140APO is the standard Losmandy-type for high rigidity. Askar has extended the length to 300mm and added screw holes, making it easier to balance on most mounts. The slotted handle can adjust the spacing between tube rings as desired.
It is worth mentioning that the rear lens tube of the Askar 140APO has an integrated retractable design. Askar have strengthened the overall stability to ensure that the optical axis will not be affected when the lens tube is extended, thus guaranteeing the quality of the image. The retractable part also features a rudder-type locking ring, making it easy to loosen or tighten.
When the lens tube is contracted, the Askar 140APO can be used with a bino viewer for visual observation. When the lens tube is extended, the 140APO can be equipped with a specific reducer or flattener for imaging or a diagonal and eyepiece for observing.
Regarding visual observation, the 140 can easily achieve focus when connected to 1.25" or 2" diagonals and various eyepieces. The retractable lens tube design also enables the telescope to be used with a binoviewer for visual astronomy.
The Askar 140 APO has a dual-speed rack and pinion 3.5-inch rigid focuser, compatible with most motorised focusers. There is a high-precision scale on the 10-cm drawtube. The entire focuser barrel is CNC machined with an anti-reflective internal design and matting paint, providing extra measures to eliminate stray light.
There are two finder bases on the focuser, which eliminates the need for disassembling when changing the position of the finder scope and provides additional mounting positions for other astronomical accessories.
The rear of the focuser features a 360° high-precision big rotator, along with precise scales for convenient adjustment and saving of rotation angles, enabling precise rotation. It is also equipped with an enlarged rotator locking screw that can be easily secured even under high load, and the telescope interface at the rear comes with a 1.25"/2" adapter.
The Askar 140 APO tube is crafted using high-quality CNC machining with anodised and surface spray paint treatments. The orange accents on the ivory-white tube add a bright and eye-catching touch, presenting a stylish and elegant overall appearance.
The Askar 140APO has two optional accessories: a 1x flattener and a 0.8x reducer. Both accessories have a built-in 2" filter thread for direct filter mounting. The 0.8x reducer is equipped with M54/M48 adapters, and the 1x flattener is fitted with M68/M54/M48 adapters for easy connection.
The 1x flattener does not change the telescope's focal ratio itself. After connecting with the Askar 140APO, it still maintains a focal ratio of f/7. The flattener corrects field curvature and coma, resulting in flatter field edges and finer star points.
The 0.8x reducer can bring the Askar 140 APO's focal ratio down to f/5.6. This is a standard reducer with field flattening capabilities as well. A shorter focal ratio allows the OTA to have a wider field of view and faster exposure times, making it suitable for capturing large areas of nebulae, star clusters, and faint, fast-moving celestial objects.
Whether you're an astronomy amateur, a professional astrophotographer, or a regular person who finds the universe fascinating, the 140APO will meet your needs.
Specifications
| Aperture size | 140mm |
| Focal length | 980mm |
| Focal ratio | f/7 |
| Objective lens | Triplet air-spaced APO (including one ED glass) |
| Total length | 735mm(when the dew shield is contracted)
870mm(when the dew shield is stretched) |
| The length of the rear retractable lens tube | 125mm |
| OTA weight | 9.2kg |
| Gross weight（including tube ring and dovetail plate） | 10.9kg |
| Rear-end thread type | 2"/1.25" visual adapters |
| Standard package items | an 140APO OTA, a pair of tube rings, a handle, an Askar 300mm Losmandy dovetail plate, Oxford cloth case and manual |
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