David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 662 (2019-02-12)

Notes (S661)

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Notes (S663)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (1),  Minor Issues (2),  Continuous Improvement (3)
	Images from 2019-02-12  >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2019-02-12)

Main aims

1. Exoplanet Project - Acquire some baseline images of a number of exoplanet host stars
   (this is in advance of a series of renewed attempts to detect and record an exoplanet transit )
   
2. Variable Stars Project - Acquire some baseline images of a number of new variable stars
   (this includes some eclipsing binaries and other rapidly varying stars not previously observed)
   
3. Software & Systems  - Check stability of software and presence of any side effects following changes to AstroMain and AstroGuard to improve telescope protection
   

Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
•  80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
•  CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft5, PHD2,  POTH Hub
•  Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S
   
•  AstroMain 3.9.1,  AstroPlan 1.7

Highlights

• New Schedule Builder.  New schedule builder for creating a plan that cycles through a set of targetss (such as eclipsing binaries) worked well
  
• Shutter.  There were no unexpected closures of the dome's shutter during this 6.5 hour session.  This is the third session in a row which hasn't sufferered from the problem which produced 6 unexpected closures during the 4.1 hour session on 2019-02-04.  Earier issue is now considered to be resolved.
  

Lowlights

• None

Summary Plots & Logs

Observing Plan (2019-02-12, S662)

Observing Result (2019-02-12, S662)

Night Sky Summary Plot - 2019-02-12, S662 Top axis: Sky Brightness at Zenith (in ADU/s) Lefthand axis: Local Time (hh LT). Righthand axis: Sun Altitude (degs)

Session Event Log (2019-02-12, S662)

Time     Event Detail 17:48:59 Session Created Live Session Created (2019-02-12 S00662, ImageSaveNum: 662001) 17:49:38   Obs.Manager Started Obs.Manager started 17:49:45   Services Started Observatory Services started 17:50:36   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 17:50:45   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 17:51:23 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 17:51:27 Session Pending Session pending (2019-02-12) 17:51:29 Session Initiating Session initiating (2019-02-12) 17:51:31   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan () 17:54:07   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2019-02-12 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 275) 17:54:15   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -15°C) 17:54:17   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 18:17:14   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 45s) 18:17:17   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 18:24:30   Equilibration Ended Dome Equilibration ended (7.3 mins total) 18:24:32 Session Running Session running 18:24:34   Queue Started Observing Queue started (42 targets selected) 18:24:36     Target Started (1/42) Target started (1/42, XO-2) 18:27:32       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 18:34:29     Target Completed Target completed (1/42, XO-2) 18:34:32     Target Started (2/42) Target started (2/42, GCVS FO Ori) 18:43:15     Target Completed Target completed (2/42, GCVS FO Ori) 18:43:17     Target Started (3/42) Target started (3/42, HAT-P-20) 18:51:24     Target Completed Target completed (3/42, HAT-P-20) 18:51:26     Target Started (4/42) Target started (4/42, GCVS SY Cnc) 18:55:50       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 18:59:48     Target Completed Target completed (4/42, GCVS SY Cnc) 19:00:33     Target Started (5/42) Target started (5/42, WDS GRB 34) 19:03:45       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 19:06:45       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 19:10:28     Target Completed Target completed (5/42, WDS GRB 34) 19:10:30     Target Started (6/42) Target started (6/42, GCVS GK Per) 19:15:52     Target Completed Target completed (6/42, GCVS GK Per) 19:15:54     Target Started (7/42) Target started (7/42, GCVS SU Tau) 19:25:12     Target Completed Target completed (7/42, GCVS SU Tau) 19:25:14     Target Started (8/42) Target started (8/42, WASP-12) 19:27:37       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 19:34:37     Target Completed Target completed (8/42, WASP-12) 19:36:39     Target Started (9/42) Target started (9/42, GCVS U And) 19:39:29       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 19:42:37       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 19:54:53     Target Completed Target completed (9/42, GCVS U And) 19:54:56     Target Started (10/42) Target started (10/42, GCVS X TRI) 20:03:55     Target Completed Target completed (10/42, GCVS X TRI) 20:03:57     Target Started (11/42) Target started (11/42, GCVS CN Ori) 20:06:28       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:10:23     Target Completed Target completed (11/42, GCVS CN Ori) 20:10:25     Target Started (12/42) Target started (12/42, Qatar-1) 20:14:26       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:20:46     Target Completed Target completed (12/42, Qatar-1) 20:21:02     Target Started (13/42) Target started (13/42, TrES-5) 20:29:10     Target Completed Target completed (13/42, TrES-5) 20:31:55     Target Started (14/42) Target started (14/42, 61 Cyg) 20:36:47     Target Completed Target completed (14/42, 61 Cyg) 20:38:59     Target Started (15/42) Target started (15/42, GCVS BL Lac) 20:49:37       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:52:58       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 20:53:06       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:56:44       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 21:00:58       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:03:53       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 21:04:00       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:06:48       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 21:08:58 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 21:09:00 Session Pending Session pending (2019-02-12) 21:09:02 Session Initiating Session initiating (2019-02-12) 21:09:04   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2019-02-12 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 275) 21:09:06   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 21:09:08   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 21:09:11   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 21:09:14   Equilibration Skipped Dome Equilibration skipped by user 21:09:16 Session Running Session running 21:09:18   Queue Started Observing Queue started (27 targets selected) 21:09:20     Target Missed (16/42) Target Missed (16/42, GCVS S Cyg) 21:09:22     Target Started (17/42) Target started (17/42, GCVS SS Cyg) 21:12:00   User Interventation User Interventation to close session due to developing Cloud 21:13:00 Session Closing Session Closing (Manual) 21:13:52   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 45s) 21:14:47   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 55s) 21:14:49   Dome Parked Dome parked 21:15:41   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 54s) 21:16:00 Session Finished Session Finished (Manual)

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Operational Issues (2019-02-12, S662)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (1)
  
• Minor issues (2)
• Continuous Improvement (3)

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• Issues with AstroMain not responding during manually invoked Observatory shutdown.   AstroMain seemed to freeze during Shutter Closure and then at the end of shutdown during camera closedown the AstroMain program stopped responding altogether and had to be terminated.  Shutter closure reported as taking 45s in AstroMain,  but 99s in AstroGuard (was this because POTH was pre-occupied with an immediate Park Dome operations (taking 55s) ?   Could AstroGuard's requests to POTH.Dome be causing problems to AstroMain? 
  Update: Various fixs and improvements made since Feb 2019. Observatory Shutdown has been working well in Aug/Sep 2019.
   Occasional issue - still being monitored 2020-05-23 (AstroMain). Closed Nov 2020.

Minor issues

• Automated CCD Temperature SetPoint. The routine to automatically selecting a suitable CCD Temperature Set Point (these are  5deg C intervals such as -25°, -20°, -15° C for dark frame management) is too conservative and will select -15° when- 20° C is ok.  This is by-product of a time when CCD Camera fan wasn't working.
    Fixed 2019-02-15 (AstroMain 3.9.2,  Automatic CCD SetPoint equations slightly tweaked)
   
  
• Change Dim Star cutoff for focusing. Stars which should be just about ok for focusing on are not meeting the newly introduced threshold which is harded coded at 1000.  Maybe reduce from 1000 to 800 ADU ? .  Maybe consider making it it a user setting instead of hard coding the number
    Fixed 2019-02-15 (new option box had has been added to AstroMain's / Camera /Focus tab with a default vale of 750)

Continuous Improvement

• Distinguish between pre-target focusing and manual adhoc focusing. Look at 'Level' value used in session events,  use of Report Line and amount of detailed reporting
    Done Date? (AstroMain v?)
   
• Consider a new Reduction button that can run entire suite of reduction tasks in one go.  New button 'Process All' added to AstroMain Reduction Tab
    Done 2019 (AstroMain)
   
• Consider 2x2 binning for focusing instead of 1x1.   Better for dimmer stars
    Done 2019-02-15 (this is already an option and was checked out as working during session 2019-02-13 S663)

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