Thanks @geehalel. Ok I see now the logic for the reliance on the mount meridian. I'm still a bit puzzled as to how the mount meridian could be so far off (20m) if I'm doing polar alignment through the polar scope in the mount axis, b/c if the mount was that far turned, presumably Polaris wouldn't even be visible for the polar alignment (I align visually first, and then use the EKOS PA tool for the fine adjustments). So if Polaris is at all visible in the polarscope then there must be an upper limit on how far the misalignment could be?

But nevertheless it is what it is - now that the models are purged, I will try to be even more careful in the polar alignment to try and get the mount meridian close to the celestial meridian. Fingers crossed that then the flip will happen before it would otherwise damage the scope.

Thanks again for your patience!

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