questions about polar alignment

[jonnydreads]

hi guys, 

I have a few questions about polar alignment using my homemade wedge! 

I have a nexstar 8se so hopefully someone will answer who has done the same thing as me!

I point the forked arm on the wedge towards north? is this a rough estimate? or am I supposed to be doing something or working something out?

after putting the telescope at 90 degrees, ( by putting the two index markers opposite to each other) it asks me to put it to meridian, does this mean I do this roughly, (by eye) or am I supposed to working something out?

I have only tried auto align and polar align as a trial run wthout an eyepiece, there doesnt seem like theres much room for a t adapter and dslr when it comes to how close the telescope is to the wedge!  so I'm taking it as there is a limitation to what you can photograph using  a wedge??? has anyone experienced this lack of room?  I think I would have to auto slew the telescope to say m42 first, and then carefully attach a camera just in case it bashed into the wedge on its way round, possibly knocking out alignment! I've been reading lots about homemade wedges and not once have I heard of this which is making me think I doing something wrong 

also,  upon polar alignment my handset hasn't instructed me to even look at Polaris, is that right?????

 

 

 

[NGC 1502]

 

Hoping this doesn’t offend but with currently 75 views and no replies I think it might be best if you could simplify and reduce the questions and perhaps some more pics to illustrate the problems ?

Lots of folks on here willing to help.......

Cheers, Ed.

[michael8554]

You already have plenty of info to get you started from your other posts on this subject,  so why start another thread ?

However, your sole aim in the Polar Alignment is to get the scope and fork arms pointing accurately at the North Celestial Pole (NCP), about 1 degree away from Polaris.

Having done that the mount will track stars etc across the sky.

In your image the scope is pointing South, at the intersection of the meridian and the celestial equator, which is 90 degrees down from the NCP.

This is not necessarily the starting point for the Polar Alignment, depends on the make and model.

The fork arms are pointing to the NCP.

Once the mount has gone through the Polar Alignment and Star Alignment routines you can goto your target and attach your camera, being careful not to jog the tripod.

As time passes keep an eye on how close the camera is to the mount !

Many fork mounted scopes have room for lots of equipment to be attached without hitting the fork, your has probably been designed primarily for use without a wedge.

Michael