william optics 132 and heq6

[tim r]

Just waiting for delivery of my new william optics 132 and heq6 2 quick questions has anybody used the 132 and what's it like at deep sky observations and having always having meade's autostar never used a heq mount are they easy to get polar aliment and is the handset similar to use I.E goto stars, planets ETC thanks

[kniclander]

nice kit!

don't know the answer to your qus but nice kit!

enjoy.

[thing]

The handset is similar but different........you'll soon find your way around it, and yes, polar align is easy with the HEQ mounts. Don't put the counterweights on first though........

[adamsp123]

Very Very nice kit if my little 120ED is anything to go by you will get outstanding clean crisp views on anything you look at, because of the excellent contrast, DSOs should stand out very nicely from the velvet black background you get with a refractor and it will make up alot for not having huge aperture.

Sooooo envious....Pete

Good hunting and clear skies!

[Ben Ritchie]

For visual use I don't bother to polar align my HEQ5, just put it down facing roughly north - to within +/- 5-10 degrees I guess - and then do a two-star align. After that GOTO is fine for visual, you need the occasional correction with the handset as the target drifts but very simple and straightforward.

Imaging obviously takes (much) more care

[steve51450]

Having owned a 132 visually it’s a fantastic scope at a good focal ratio that will do both planets and deep sky. The images are sharp and the colour correction is great. If you intend to image you will need the William Optics tmb field flattener as it does need this if you wish to use anything more than a Sony 285 size chip.

As Ben said the heq6 pro is very easy to use and your polar align for visual can be a bit more rule of thumb. The star choices are a tad different to a Meade 497 controller as you cannot just pick a star u fancy to align on. it will give you a choice of stars to choose from so you need to know more than 4 or 5 stars or have a good stellarium type program. The goto is more accurate out of the box compared to a Meade auto star and the motors are whisper quiet compared to the mead nuclear coffee grinder approach to motors.