David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 710 (2019-10-15)

Notes (S709)

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Notes (S711)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (1),  Minor Issues (1),  Continuous Improvement (1)
	Images from 2019-10-15  >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2019-10-15)

Main aims

1. Check AstroMain Program: Confirm that there were no issues following recent changes and improvement to the program
2. Targets:  Acquire image data for a number of variable stars, nearby stars and comets
3. Software & Systems  - Check ongoing stability of observatory software, drivers and equipment

 
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 3.14.7  Astroguard 1.2.7,   AstroPlan 1.12.8,  AstroVOE 1.3.4, UPB 1.4.17  (AstroWeather 1.7.9, AstroAllSky 3.5)

Highlights

• AstroMain . Apart from 1 bug which was qucikly fixed during the session, the new version of AstroMain program worked well.
  There was just one period of 5-10s when the Observatory Manager was frozen
  (this compares to a total frozen execution times of 14.5 minutes in S709, 9 minutes in S708, 2 minutes in S707)

Lowlights

• Sky become cloudy in second half of session

Summary Plots & Logs

Observing Plan

Observing Result

Slew/Centering Performance

Dome Slewing Performance

Sky Conditions (Locate Frames)

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

Pre-Session Weather Forecast (AstroWeather 1.7.8) Forecast showed patchy cloud up to 00:00 and then cloud thickeneing until total cloud cover at 04:00 In the event therre was a moderately clear interval between 23:00 and 00:45. Operations suspended at 23:42 and remained that way until the morning

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 02:07:26 Session Created Live Session Created (2019-10-15 S00710, ImageSaveNum: 710001) 02:07:46 Program Closed Program closed by User 02:09:10 Session Resumed Live Session Resumed (2019-10-15 S00710, ImageSaveNum: 710001) 02:10:27   Obs.Manager Started Obs.Manager started 02:10:29   Obs.Overseer Started Obs.Overseer started 02:10:34   Services Started Observatory Services started 02:10:49 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 02:10:53 Session Pending Session pending (2019-10-15) 02:10:55 Session Initiating Session initiating (2019-10-15) 02:10:57   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.12.8) 02:11:28   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2019-10-15 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 392) 02:11:40   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -15°C) 02:12:34   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 02:16:50   Services Stopped Observatory Services stopped 02:16:57 Program Closed Program closed by User 02:18:00 Session Resumed Live Session Resumed (2019-10-15 S00710, ImageSaveNum: 710001) 02:18:48   Obs.Manager Started Obs.Manager started 02:18:51   Obs.Overseer Started Obs.Overseer started 02:18:55   Services Started Observatory Services started 02:19:27 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 02:19:30 Session Pending Session pending (2019-10-15) 02:19:32 Session Initiating Session initiating (2019-10-15) 02:19:34   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2019-10-15 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 392) 02:19:36   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -15°C) 02:19:38   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 02:19:46 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 02:20:31   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 45s) 02:20:34   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 02:24:32   Equilibration Ended Dome Equilibration ended (4.0 mins total) 02:24:34 Session Running Session running 02:24:36   Queue Started Observing Queue started (21 targets selected) 02:25:27       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:27:12       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 02:27:14     Target Started (1/21) Target started (1/21, GCVS SS Cyg) 02:33:14     Target Completed Target partially completed (1/21, GCVS SS Cyg) 02:33:16     Target Started (2/21) Target started (2/21, GCVS BL Lac) 02:40:29     Target Completed Target completed (2/21, GCVS BL Lac) 02:40:31     Target Started (3/21) Target started (3/21, WDS GRB 34) 02:42:02       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:43:51       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 02:45:27     Target Completed Target completed (3/21, WDS GRB 34) 02:45:29     Target Started (4/21) Target started (4/21, GCVS HH And) 02:47:45       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:49:39       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 02:51:26     Target Completed Target completed (4/21, GCVS HH And) 02:52:52     Target Started (5/21) Target started (5/21, GCVS Z And) 02:54:50       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:56:51       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 03:00:42     Target Completed Target completed (5/21, GCVS Z And) 03:00:51     Target Started (6/21) Target started (6/21, GCVS RX And) 03:02:43       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:04:33       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 03:07:12     Target Completed Target completed (6/21, GCVS RX And) 03:08:21     Target Started (7/21) Target started (7/21, GCVS U And) 03:10:28       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:12:23       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 03:22:35     Target Completed Target completed (7/21, GCVS U And) 03:22:37     Target Started (8/21) Target started (8/21, C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)) 03:24:00       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - unable to find a star (TCF-S) 03:32:15     Target Completed Target completed (8/21, C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)) 03:35:42     Target Started (9/21) Target started (9/21, GCVS X TRI) 03:37:53       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:39:54       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 03:46:50     Target Completed Target completed (9/21, GCVS X TRI) 03:47:13     Target Started (10/21) Target started (10/21, GCVS GK Per) 03:50:56       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:52:57       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 03:55:57     Target Completed Target completed (10/21, GCVS GK Per) 03:55:59     Target Started (11/21) Target started (11/21, C/2017 T2 (PanStarrs)) 04:00:19       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 04:02:18       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 04:10:39     Target Completed Target completed (11/21, C/2017 T2 (PanStarrs)) 04:10:41     Target Started (12/21) Target started (12/21, GCVS CM Tau) 04:13:10       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 04:15:12       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 10) 04:29:16     Target Completed Target completed (12/21, GCVS CM Tau) 04:29:18     Target Started (13/21) Target started (13/21, GCVS RR Tau) 04:31:43       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 04:33:45       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 11) 04:40:30     Target Completed Target completed (13/21, GCVS RR Tau) 04:40:32     Target Started (14/21) Target started (14/21, GCVS FU Ori) 04:43:14       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 04:45:26       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 12) 04:48:05     Target Completed Target completed (14/21, GCVS FU Ori) 04:48:07     Target Started (15/21) Target started (15/21, GCVS CN Ori) 04:50:55       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - star is too dim (TCF-S) 04:54:30     Target Completed Target completed (15/21, GCVS CN Ori) 04:54:44     Target Started (16/21) Target started (16/21, Scholz's Star) 04:57:01       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - star is too dim (TCF-S) 05:12:31     Target Completed Target completed (16/21, Scholz's Star) 05:15:40     Target Started (17/21) Target started (17/21, GCVS U Gem) 05:21:06       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 05:23:19       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 13) 05:26:39     Target Completed Target completed (17/21, GCVS U Gem) 05:26:41     Target Started (18/21) Target started (18/21, GCVS SY Cnc) 05:30:29       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 05:35:35       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - failed QC check (Range) 05:38:50     Target Completed Target completed (18/21, GCVS SY Cnc) 05:38:52     Target Started (19/21) Target started (19/21, C/2019 Q4 (Borisov)) 06:01:50     Target Completed Target completed (19/21, C/2019 Q4 (Borisov)) 06:01:52     Target Started (20/21) Target started (20/21, GCVS YZ Cnc) 06:05:09       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - unable to find a star (TCF-S) 06:11:47     Target Completed Target completed (20/21, GCVS YZ Cnc) 06:11:49     Target Started (21/21) Target started (21/21, GCVS DX Cnc) 06:14:12       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - star is too dim (TCF-S) 06:18:33     Target Completed Target completed (21/21, GCVS DX Cnc) 06:18:36   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 06:18:38 Session Closing Session closing 06:19:29   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 45s) 06:19:59   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 30s) 06:20:39   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 39s) 06:21:24 Session Housekeeping Housekeeping Started (Cleanup FITS, Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 06:21:38 Session Finished Session Finished

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Operational Issues (2019-10-15, S710)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (1)
• Minor Issues (1)
  
• Continuous Improvement (1)

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• Dome rotation was slipping whilst making a number of slews. At least 3 slews were very slow. This followed on from a very slow final slew during last session (S709). Resolved following day by slackening off the lower knob before tightening the upper knob.
  Fixed 2019-10-16 (Observatory)
  

Minor Issues

• Fully Automated Execution not moving beyond  the 'Starting' State , Program not moving on after Connecting Camera. This was due to a bug within newly modified code for starting equipment at beginning of session without the Obs.Manager freezing for 20-30s in the process. A flag was left lowered when it should have been raised to signifiy that CameraConnection Routine had finished. The bug in AstroMain / Manager was fixed and the program recompiled and installed on Observatory Computer without minimal loss of observing time.
  Fixed 2019-10-15 (AstroMain 3.14.6.b) 
  

Continuous Improvement

• Session should have suspended when clouds developed at around 03:50. Current logic kept session running as Clarity values didn't fall below 24 and there were still some stars. However sustained poor quality skies needs to be picked up and used as one of the criteria to suspend the session.  New option added to suspend session if number of AllSkyStars falls below a user specified threshold.   
  Fixed 2019/2020 (AstroMain)
  

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