David's Astronomy - Notes 2019-03-09 (S00672)

Dome began to close 'unexpectedly' at 06:00. This coincided with a Light sensor reading of 5.0 which is the Dark/Light Threshold for Unsafe Conditions in the CloudSensor's relay settings. The unsafe relay condition was picked up by the Dome Controller which after a prescribed delay of 30s began to close the shutter (which took around 45-50s to close).

Conditions were good at the time, and not recognising the significance of the still frozen Job Queue (which had become frozen at around 03:22, some 2 hr 35m beforehand), the Obs.Manger proceeded to try open the Shutter. After the prescribed delay of 30s, the Dome Manager then acted to again override the shutter closure and reopend the Shutter. This happened a further 7 times until 06:12 when Obs.Manger suspended the session.

The V3 plan End Time was 05:15 and whilst this might have once been used as a trigger to close the session, this may no longer act as a trigger.

The reason for suspending the session at 06:12 isn't specifically stated. The aborting of Target 4/14 (HIP 87937) implies that it might have been aborted due to Critical Conditions of some kind, however as the job queue had been frozen for some time, this may not be a definate indicator to the reason. At 6:12 the Light level has reached a reading of ~ 13° and Sun Altiude was around -4 or -4.5°. (Sun Altitude had risen above -6 deg (cival twilight) somewhat earlier at 06:01). Earlier at 06:09 the AllSky Light Level warning switched to a Warning state at 06:09 and the Shutter Safety Synopsis switched from 'Can Open' to 'Can Open with Caution'.

During Session Closing, the Obs.Manager confirmed that the Shutter was closed and then parked the Dome (taking 37s). The Obs.Manger then attempted to proceeded to park the telescope. It would seem that TheSky6 was unable to perform the design slewed to close to the Park Position, prior to final park using the objScope object. (the normal message 'Scope moved to Park Location using TheSky6' is missing from the Report log).

The .Park command work as expoected with the Report log showing the telescope becoming parked after 10s and ObsViewer pictures showing that the Scope was moved from Az 165°/Alt 37° to the Park Position at Az 180°/Alt 0° at 06:13.

Job Queue was still stuck in the JogQSO routine since 03:22 as shown by the exception message generated when the thread was aborted or in response to the disconnected TheSky from the telescope (performed as part of the Park routine), or in response to the telescope being parked and no longer responsive.

Throughout the time that the JobQueue was frozen, telescope tracking remained On and the dome continued to move in sync with the scope via Poth Hub's dome slaving routines. At the time the job queue froze the scope lay at Az 119°/Alt 23° (Dec 5°) and by the time the session was suspended it had tracked to Az 165° / Alt 37° (Dec 5°).

Timeline

Time	Event	Detail
03:13	Target Started (3/14)	Target started (3/14, GCVS R CrB)
03:20	Target Completed	Target completed (3/14, GCVS R CrB)
03:21	Target Started (4/14)	Target started (4/14, HIP 87937)
03:21	Slew To Target	Slewed to target
03:22	Taking Locate Frame	Took Locate Frame 10s
03:22	Linking Image	Image Plate Solved, Pointing Error
03:22	Started JogN
03:22	Warning	Telescope.Jog task in JogQSO/JogN is taking a long time?
03:22	Warning	Telescope.Jog task in JogQSO/JogN is taking a very long time
03:22	Warning	Job Queue appears to be frozon
06:01	Shutter Closed	Shutter closed (closing time 45s)
06:02	Shutter Closed	Shutter closed (closing time 30s)
06:03	Shutter Closed	Shutter closed (closing time 30s)
06:05	Shutter Closed	Shutter closed (closing time 30s)
06:06	Shutter Closed	Shutter closed (closing time 35s)
06:07	Shutter Closed	Shutter closed (closing time 35s)
06:08	Shutter Closed	Shutter closed (closing time 35s)
06:09	Shutter Closed	Shutter closed (closing time 35s)
06:10	Shutter Closed	Shutter closed (closing time 30s)
06:12	Session Suspended	Session suspended
06:12	Session Closing	Session closing
06:12	Dome Parked	Dome parked (parking time 37s)
06:13	Target Aborted (4/14)	Target aborted (4/14, HIP 87937) due to Critical Conditions
06:13	Telescope Parked	Telescope parked (parking time 10s)

  Park Telescope
  Park Telescope ...
  Turn On Tracking..          Ok        Telescope Tracking is ON
  Park Telescope ...
  Park Telescope ...          Ok        Parking Scope via POTH.Telescope command
Failed    Exception in JogQSO: No connection. Error code =  200 (0xc8).
Script Aborting ...
Script Aborting ...           Aborted   (Script aborted by user)
  Park Telescope ..           Ok        Telescope is Parked (10s)

During the session there were a number of GRB Alerts from the Gamma-ray Coordination Network (GCN). These were all Test Alerts but provide usual information on the ability of my Observatory system to react to a GRB Trigger and any learning, so that at some future point the system can react to detect optical afterglow from a real GRB or other important transient event.

Examining the 7 hour period when the Observatory was potentially able to react ( 2019-03-09 20:10 to 2019-03-10 03:20) there were 11 GRB Notices. Of these 6 were submitted as ToO's and of these 2 were actually executed, both Swift-BAT GRB Position Tests.

20:32:13   Swift-BAT GRB Position Test,       ToO Submitted & Executed   (ID 657)
20:32:23    SuperAGILE_GRB_POS_TEST       ToO Submitted but not executed   (ID 658)
20:32:33    FERMI-GBM POS_TEST                   Rejected (Position Error ( 5.8°) is too large for telescope FOV)
20:32:43    FERMI-LAT GRB_POS_TEST          ToO Submitted but not executed (ID 659)

00:04:44   Swift-BAT GRB Position Test,       ToO Submitted & Executed (ID 660)
00:05:44    SuperAGILE_GRB_POS_TEST       ToO Submitted but not executed   (ID 661)
00:06:44    FERMI-GBM POS_TEST                   Rejected (Position Error ( 5.8°) is too large for telescope FOV)
00:07:44    FERMI-LAT GRB_POS_TEST          ToO Submitted but not executed   (ID 662)

01:00:04    INTEGRAL WAKEUP (test)                Rejected (Target coords (Alt -30.1°) lie below horizon)
01:00:05    INTEGRAL REFINED (test)                Rejected (Target coords (Alt -30.1°) lie below horizon)
01:00:06    INTEGRAL OFFLINE (test)                 Rejected (Target coords (Alt -30.1°) lie below horizon)

Swift-BAT GRB Position Test (Notice 20:32:13)

20:32:05   T+0s   Burst Time
20:32:13   T+8s   GRB Notice
20:32:14   T+9s   ToO Submitted (Target ID: 657
20:32:14   T+9s   ToO Loaded to Job Queue (Recieving & Processing: 2s)
20:32:16   T+11s Started Current Target Abort (Aborting Current Target : 2s)
20:32:18   T+13s Started Slew to GRB Target
20:33:08   T+63s Finished Slew to GRB Target (Slewing: 54s, 11.7' pointing error)
20:33:12   T+67s Finsihed 4s post slew wait
20:33:22   T+84s Started 10s Locate Frame
20:33:42   T+97s    Started Plate Solution
20:33:45   T+100s Finished Plate Solution   (3s 11.7 arc min pointing error)
20:34:00                  Finished 8.06' W jog (15s)
20:34:18                  Finished 8.53' N jog   (18s)
20:34:20   T+135s Finished Centering (Centering:   68s)
20:34:20                  Initiate Autoguiding (Autoguiding Prep: 14s),    << too long ?
20:34:36   T+151s Start focus adjustment (T. compensation)
20:34:37   T+152s Started 1st Frame   (30s)
20:35:10   T+185s Finished 1st Frame
20:55:00   T+23m   Finished Final Frame

Swift-BAT GRB Position Test (Notice 00:04:44)

00:04:36   T+0s   Burst Time
00:04:44   T+8s   GRB Notice
00:04:45   T+9s   ToO Submitted (Target ID: 660)
00:04:45   T+9s   ToO Loaded to Job Queue (Recieving & Processing: 2s)
00:04:48   T+12s Aborting preceeding target 24s into a 45s image frame. Current Target (Aborting: 3s)
00:04:49   T+13s Started Slew to GRB Target
00:05:35   T+59s Finished Slew to GRB Target (Slewing: 46s, 87deg slew, 14.0' pointing error)
00:05:40                Finished 4s post slew wait     ' << not needed ?
00:05:49                Finished 9s focus adjustment (T. compensation)
00:06:10   T+94s Finished 10s Locate Frame
00:06:13   T+97s Finished Plate Solution  (3s)
00:06:27                  Finished 7.7' W jog (14s)      ' << includes 2s wait, not needed ?
00:06:44                  Finished 11.7' N jog   (17s)    ' << includes 2s wait, not needed ?
00:06:44   T+128s Finished Centering ( Centering: 67s)
00:06:47                  Initiate Autoguiding (Autoguiding: 17s)    ' << too long ?
00:07:04   T+148s Start 8s focus adjustment (T. compensation)
00:07:12   T+156s Started 1st Image Frame   (30s)
00:07:45   T+189s Finished 1st Image Frame
00:30:00   T+25m   Finished Image Set

ToO's submitted for SuperAGILE_GRB_POS_TEST alerts entered the queue directly affter the Swift_BAT_GRB_Position_Test Alerts but were not executed as their Start Times were deemed to have been missed after completion of the preceeding Swift BAT GRB ToOs .

ToO's submitted for FERMI-LAT GRB_POS_TEST alerts were imported but not added to the job queue

GRB Swift 99999_Test (Triangulum)
Test Notice for Burst at 2019-03-10 00:04:36 UT, Trigger: 99999

30s frame taken over time interval T+156s to T+186s (mag limit +15)
White circle is centered at Test GRB's coordinates and shows the
normal 3 arc min radius statistical positional error for Swift_BAT GRBs

CCD Image (70% size)
30s exposure (single frame), 3x3 binning, C Filter
2019-03-10 00:07 UT (#672253)
12" LX200R (at f/10.4) + ST-10XME
Auto-guided using TS 80mm APO, ZWO ASI178MC & PHD2


	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result - Night Summary Plot - Session Event Log

	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (1), Major Issues (3), Minor Issues (5), Continuous Improvement (2)
	Investigation - Shutter Fight at Dawn
	Analysis - Reaction Times to GRB Alerts

	Images from 2019-03-09 >>

This Web Page:	Notes - Session 672 (2019-03-09)
Last Updated :	2023-11-26
Site Owner :	David Richards
Home Page :	David's Astronomy Web Site

David's Astronomy Pages
Notes - Session 672 (2019-03-09)

Session Aims & Highlights (2019-03-09)

Operational Issues (2019-03-09, S672)

Investigation - Shutter Fight at Dawn

Analysis - Reaction Times to GRB Alerts

David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 672 (2019-03-09)

Session Aims & Highlights (2019-03-09)

Operational Issues (2019-03-09, S672)

Investigation - Shutter Fight at Dawn

Analysis - Reaction Times to GRB Alerts

David's Astronomy Pages
Notes - Session 672 (2019-03-09)