I am confused at how to polar align my celestron telescope with wedge.

[IanK_]

Ok i'm confused as to how to polar align my celestron 6E telescope with a wedge. I do the EQ north stuff, get that aligned, then move onto the polar alignment. I figured syncing it to Polaris would be the best option, but you can do it with any star. And then it mentions pointing it towards the celestial pole, which no online guide mentions. How can i center it to a star like Arcturus, but then point it to the celestial poles? Does that mean I move from Arcturus to Polaris, then it goes back to Arcturus and then I move the mount to where it actually is? If it wants me to only use Polaris why would it give me the option to use any star like Vega? After I choose my star in the first step (which is the last star selected) and then I get to the celestial pole step, what am I supposed to do, and then which star do I use to center, Polaris or the one I chose? What does point it towards the celestial pole actually mean, because to my knowledge thats just point towards Polaris.

[Tenor Viol]

I used to use a very old fork-mounted C8 on a wedge. The forks become the RA axis and have to point to Polaris, which is roughly where the North Celestial Pole (NCP) is. I found this online, there may be videos if you have a look on YouTube. https://www.celestron.com/blogs/knowledgebase/how-do-you-align-your-alt-az-mount-with-a-wedge

[IanK_]

1 minute ago, Tenor Viol said:

I used to use a very old fork-mounted C8 on a wedge. The forks become the RA axis and have to point to Polaris, which is roughly where the North Celestial Pole (NCP) is. I found this online, there may be videos if you have a look on YouTube. https://www.celestron.com/blogs/knowledgebase/how-do-you-align-your-alt-az-mount-with-a-wedge

i've read that guide before, but what the guide on the polar alignment doesn't mention the step i'm talking about. When following the steps in the guide on how to polar align, my error is always 00 when thats not true because star trails show up in less than 2 minutes, which is about half of expected. On the guide it goes from selecting the star to moving and centering with the mount. But for me it goes to the star, asks me to point towards the celestial pole, then asks me to center with the mount. 

[Tenor Viol]

1 minute ago, IanK_ said:

i've read that guide before, but what the guide on the polar alignment doesn't mention the step i'm talking about. When following the steps in the guide on how to polar align, my error is always 00 when thats not true because star trails show up in less than 2 minutes, which is about half of expected. On the guide it goes from selecting the star to moving and centering with the mount. But for me it goes to the star, asks me to point towards the celestial pole, then asks me to center with the mount. 

OK - hopefully someone with direct experience of setting one up will be along to assist more.

My observation would be that aligning on Polaris per se is not accurate enough, particularly at longer focal lengths and you're at 1,500mm I think? You'll at least need to allow for the off-set of Polaris from the NCP and adjust for the hour angle. 

[michael8554]

The link from Tenor Viol isn't for PA in my opinion, it's for Star Alignment.

After Rough Align, you will have to carry out a Drift Alignment or DARV Alignment, using the wedge controls only.

THEN you can carry out the EQ North Align, using only the handset controls to centre each star, and ENTER to confirm each star is centred.

Michael

 

[newbie alert]

You need to align on the north celestial pole ( assuming that you're northern hemisphere) not Polaris..  Polaris is 42 arc mins away from the ncp.. It sounds like you're trying to use something like the ASPA feature on the handset?  That's fine for visual or planetary  but not accurate enough for deep sky unfortunately. 

[ollypenrice]

Remember that it is the wedge which you are trying to point at the NCP. Initially just set the scope tube parallel with the upward slope of the wedge and parallel with the the wedge's upward sloping sides. That way the scope points where the wedge points and you can point the wedge at Polaris using the scope to guide you. Don't let the scope move from its alignment with the upward slope of the wedge as you do this.

Now the wedge is very roughly aimed at the NCP and, as Michael says, you can refine the wedge alignment by using the drift method or the DARV variant thereof. This will involve pointing the scope south and then either east of west. https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/articles/darv-drift-alignment-by-robert-vice-r2760

When it comes to aligning the scope's onboard planetarium with the stars (once the wedge is aligned) remember that Polaris provides only very low grade information in RA because the star describes only a tiny circle during the sidereal day. A star on the celestial eauator describes the largest circle and, therefore, provides the most accurate information.

Be warned that most wedges are extremely frustrating to polar align because, when you move one bit, all the other bits move as well! But it can be done. 

Olly