Hi guys I'm pretty new at this and i just haven't quite got my head around how spot on my polar alignment is, and how to fine tune it.
I have a Celestron C8 on a EQ5 and i've read some newbie guides on how to do polar alignment. So i've followed all their steps by getting a compass and pointing the RA axis south and then correcting for true south, setting the correct latitude, having a level mount, and balanced telescope etc.
I look for what i think is sigma octantis and i dont know where to go from here it gets a bit difficult. How do i make sure i get some decent accuracy? Would the best thing to do is buy a polar scope? as my understanding is that it has a reticule which you can align sigma octantis with.
Then after it is aligned does it mean stars should stay in my field of view when i use the RA motor drive? because i cant quite figure out how it tracks things as i push both left and right on the control for it when i try to view a random star it never seems to stay in my eyepiece??
Thanks for your help, as its getting a bit frustrating i've tried to use the scope several times and i know i cant use it to its potential yet due to me being a newbie
BTW i dont have any goto system and dont plan on getting one as i want to learn it manually first despite it being harder