David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 724 (2019-11-29)

Notes (S723)

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Notes (S725)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (1),  Minor Issues (4),  Continuous Improvement (2)
	Guiding Review
	Images from 2019-11-29  >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2019-11-29)

Main aims

1. Guiding Charts:  Conduct first live test of new guiding chart feature and begin to use them to improve guiding.
   
2. Targets: Acquire images of a selection of new targets plus monitoring of previous variable stars, nearby stars and comets.

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
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.6dev2
   
• AstroMain 3.18 ,  Astroguard 1.2.9,   AstroPlan 1.13.5,  AstroShCap 1.2.10, AstroVOE 1.3.4, UPB 1.4.17  (AstroWeather 1.8.1, AstroAllSky 3.5.1)

Highlights

• Observatory System. Observatory system worked well closing shutter and suspendig session when there was cloud and threat of rain in the 15min forecast.
• PHD2 Calibration:  New calibration obtained for the newly positioned camera. 
• Declination Backlash : Declination backlash measured and largely eliminated by setting the Anti-Backlash value for the LX200's Dec axis  to 150%.   (This was achieved by measuring the backlash using PHD2's Guiding Assistent, changing the  Anti-Backlash setting for the scope using virtual handbox  in PemPro, and then remeasuring the backlash.  

Lowlights

• Small bugs/issues.  There were a few minor issues  associated with recently added features

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 (API data from darksky.net) Forecast showed clear skies for first 3 hours, with light cloud continuing till dawn (max cloud cover 28%) In the event after beginning observatory operations around 19:15 high cloud developed from 22:00 onwards (becoming most noticeable around 02:00 and 05:00 onwards) which impacted the quality of images (a feature that normally suspends operations when number of stars falls below a specific number couldn't be used due to moonlit conditions)

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 17:24:17 Session Created Live Session Created (2019-11-29 S00724, ImageSaveNum: 724001) 17:24:39   Scope Switched On Scope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 17:26:24   Obs.Manager Started Obs.Manager started 17:26:26   Obs.Overseer Started Obs.Overseer started 17:26:30   Services Started Observatory Services started 17:30:19 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 17:30:20 Session Pending Session pending (2019-11-29) 17:30:22 Session Initiating Session initiating (2019-11-29) 17:30:24   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.13.5) 17:31:27   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2019-11-29 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 423) 17:31:40   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 17:31:49   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 17:32:02 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 17:32:04 Wait on Weather Waiting for acceptable weather conditions 17:37:03 Session Suspended Session suspended 17:37:05   Shutter Closed Shutter already closed (closure time is unknown) 17:37:07   Queue Started Observing Queue started (56 targets selected) 17:41:05     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (1/56, GCVS Z And) due to cloud 17:50:08     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (2/56, GCVS BL Lac) due to other condition 18:01:47     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (3/56, GCVS V Sge) due to cloud 18:09:12     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (4/56, GCVS FG Sge) due to rain 18:16:24     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (5/56, 61 Cyg) due to rain 18:25:52     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (6/56, GCVS AM Her) due to rain 18:39:37     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (7/56, 68P/Klemola) due to cloud 18:54:28     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (8/56, GCVS SS Cyg) due to cloud 19:02:03     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (9/56, GCVS HH And) due to cloud 19:12:49     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (10/56, GCVS TT Ari) due to other condition 19:16:17 Session Resuming Session resuming 19:17:02   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 45s) 19:17:05 Session Running Session running 19:17:07   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 19:18:11       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 19:20:17       Focusing Failed Foc2 Focusing Failed - failed QC check (Quadratic) 19:20:19     Target Started (11/56) Target started (11/56, GCVS RR Tau) 19:29:09     Target Completed Target partially completed (11/56, GCVS RR Tau) 19:29:12     Target Started (12/56) Target started (12/56, C/2017 T2 (PanStarrs)) 19:39:29     Target Completed Target partially completed (12/56, C/2017 T2 (PanStarrs)) 19:39:32   Queue Aborted Job Queue aborted 19:44:56       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - star is too dim (TCF-S) 19:48:17       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 19:50:39       Focusing Aborted Foc1 Focusing Aborted 19:51:41       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 19:54:20       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 19:54:32       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 19:55:52       Focusing Failed Foc2 Focusing Failed - star lost 19:58:03 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 19:58:05 Session Pending Session pending (2019-11-29) 19:58:07 Session Initiating Session initiating (2019-11-29) 19:58:09   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2019-11-29 V1 ACTIVE PLAN S724, Plan ID: 423) 19:58:11   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -25°C) 19:58:13   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 19:58:27 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 19:58:30   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 19:59:38   Equilibration Skipped Dome Equilibration skipped by user 19:59:40 Session Running Session running 19:59:42   Queue Started Observing Queue started (44 targets selected) 19:59:44     Target Missed (13/56) Target's time slot was missed (13/56, WDS GRB 34) 19:59:46     Target Missed (14/56) Target's time slot was missed (14/56, C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)) 19:59:48     Target Started (15/56) Target started (15/56, GCVS DY Per) 20:03:47       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:05:45       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 20:10:40     Target Completed Target completed (15/56, GCVS DY Per) 20:10:42     Target Started (16/56) Target started (16/56, GCVS GK Per) 20:13:16       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:15:14       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 20:18:09     Target Completed Target completed (16/56, GCVS GK Per) 20:18:11     Target Started (17/56) Target started (17/56, GCVS CI Cyg) 20:21:10       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:23:00       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 20:26:39     Target Completed Target completed (17/56, GCVS CI Cyg) 20:26:42     Target Started (18/56) Target started (18/56, GSC 1224:29) 20:34:00     Target Completed Target completed (18/56, GSC 1224:29) 20:34:03     Target Started (19/56) Target started (19/56, GCVS RX And) 20:36:39       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:38:28       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 20:40:59     Target Completed Target completed (19/56, GCVS RX And) 20:41:27     Target Started (20/56) Target started (20/56, GCVS S Cyg) 20:44:23       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:46:19       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 20:46:22       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 20:48:02       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 10) 20:58:35     Target Completed Target completed (20/56, GCVS S Cyg) 20:58:37     Target Started (21/56) Target started (21/56, GCVS U And) 21:01:37       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:03:25       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 11) 21:13:38     Target Completed Target completed (21/56, GCVS U And) 21:13:40     Target Started (22/56) Target started (22/56, NGC 2805) 21:38:08     Target Completed Target completed (22/56, NGC 2805) 21:38:10     Target Started (23/56) Target started (23/56, GCVS FU Ori) 21:41:43       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:43:54       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 12) 21:46:32     Target Completed Target completed (23/56, GCVS FU Ori) 21:46:34     Target Started (24/56) Target started (24/56, GCVS FO Ori) 21:49:21       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:51:25       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 13) 21:54:58     Target Completed Target partially completed (24/56, GCVS FO Ori) 21:55:00     Target Started (25/56) Target started (25/56, NGC 985) 21:57:49       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - star is too dim (TCF-S) 22:14:26     Target Completed Target completed (25/56, NGC 985) 22:14:28     Target Started (26/56) Target started (26/56, NGC 985) 22:15:06       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - star is too dim (TCF-S) 22:31:18     Target Completed Target completed (26/56, NGC 985) 22:33:38     Target Started (27/56) Target started (27/56, GCVS CM Tau) 22:35:36       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:37:37       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 14) 22:51:59     Target Completed Target completed (27/56, GCVS CM Tau) 22:53:08     Target Started (28/56) Target started (28/56, GCVS SU Tau) 22:55:00       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:56:54       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 15) 23:01:50     Target Completed Target completed (28/56, GCVS SU Tau) 23:02:14     Target Started (29/56) Target started (29/56, GCVS DX Cnc) 23:05:10       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - star is too dim (TCF-S) 23:09:35     Target Completed Target completed (29/56, GCVS DX Cnc) 23:12:06     Target Started (30/56) Target started (30/56, GCVS SY Cnc) 23:14:46       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - unable to find a star (TCF-S) 23:18:11     Target Completed Target completed (30/56, GCVS SY Cnc) 23:21:15     Target Started (31/56) Target started (31/56, GCVS CN Ori) 23:23:45       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:25:43       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 16) 23:29:08     Target Completed Target completed (31/56, GCVS CN Ori) 23:29:36     Target Started (32/56) Target started (32/56, GCVS NV Ori) 23:32:33       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:34:20       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 17) 23:37:50     Target Completed Target completed (32/56, GCVS NV Ori) 23:37:52     Target Started (33/56) Target started (33/56, GCVS U Gem) 23:41:15       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:43:28       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 18) 23:46:45     Target Completed Target completed (33/56, GCVS U Gem) 23:46:48     Target Started (34/56) Target started (34/56, UGC 4596) 23:49:08       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:51:18       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 19) 00:07:31     Target Completed Target completed (34/56, UGC 4596) 00:08:15     Target Started (35/56) Target started (35/56, SHK 1) 00:10:59       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:13:13       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 20) 00:29:44     Target Completed Target completed (35/56, SHK 1) 00:30:07     Target Started (36/56) Target started (36/56, GCVS ER UMa) 00:32:59       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - star is too dim (TCF-S) 00:37:07     Target Completed Target completed (36/56, GCVS ER UMa) 00:39:56     Target Started (37/56) Target started (37/56, LAMOST-HVS1) 00:42:54       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:44:59       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 21) 00:48:27     Target Completed Target completed (37/56, LAMOST-HVS1) 00:48:51     Target Started (38/56) Target started (38/56, NGC 3245A) 00:51:16       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - star is too dim (TCF-S) 01:01:00 Program Crashed Program crashed due to unhandled NET exception 01:16:00 Session Closing Observatory Closed by Astroguard after AstroMain stopped responding for 15 mins 01:17:00   Shutter Closed Shutter closed by AstroGuard (closing time 47s) 01:17:01   Dome Parked Dome already parked. Checked by AstroGuard 01:17:30   Telescope Parked Telescope parked by AstroGuard (parking time 7s)

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Operational Issues (2019-11-29, S724)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (1)
• Minor Issues (4)
• Continuous Improvement (2)

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• AstroMain program crashed at 01:01 due to an unhandled exception. After 15 minutes of inactivity the AstroGuard program intervened to shutdown the observatory, closing the shutter and parking the dome and the telescope.  Due to backup protection there was no risk to the observatory, but a couple of hours of good observing time was lost. Opening  VS 2017's debugger showed that exception had occured in CloseOutImage routine belonging to the new Guiding Charts class when an attempy was made to write to the chart's graphics object (g) when it was apparently in use elsewhere.   Unclear what other process was using the object, but issue fixed by covering the object with 'try, catch, end try' blocks
  Fixed (AstroMain 3.18.1)

Minor Issues

• Main Scope was initially badly out of focus and ruined the images from first two targets.  Images from frst two targets had doughnut stars due to the scope being badly out of focus. Scope was so far from focus that image linking failed as stars could not be detected by CCDSoft/ThSky and autofocusing failed as a focus star couldn't be found or it was too dim to be used. Problem was spotted and intervention made to move the focus the scope remotely.  Examing Monitor file shows the TCF-S Focuser was at a position of 4127 from the time the session was created at 17:28 until 19:17 when it changed to 1486  which is a long way from the expected focus position.     The logs indicate that after opening  the shutter the scope was slewed to Focus Field 0 (HIP 106) and after moved the focuser to 1486, a 1s 3x3 snap image was taken containing mutiple dougnnut stars. Despite this a focus star was selected, but the following 1s 2x2 box image a FWHM couldn't be determined from the doughnut shaped focus star and the routine aborted after a "Arithmetic operation resulted in an overflow" error before beginning a focus profile.
  
  Final focus profile in previous session (S723, Profile 50, Temp -0.9 degC ) had a best focus of 2129, producing a focus offset of -1398.
  Based on Temp Compensation Reference of 3405 at 0degC, OTA temp of 4 degC at 19:17 (having started at 2.1 degC and reached a high of 4.4 degC whilst shutter was still closed with dew heaters on high)., Temp Coefficient of -133.6 steps/degC and focus offset of -1398, this calculates out as a temperature compensated focus position of ~1473 which explains why the focuser was moved to 1486.
  Once the scope was correctly focused (Profile 3, Temp 1.7 degC) best focus was found to be at 4346 producing a focus offset of 1167.  This means that either the Main Mirror had somehow moved in between sessions or the sky conditions affecting focus where dramatically different between session 724 (av offset +1150) and the earlier 723 session (av offset -1150)
  Fixed with introduction of precursive wide focus search 2020 (AstroMain)
   
• Focus Profile for TS80 seconday scope produced an inappropriate best focus position. In TS80 Focus Profile 10 (20:46) a bad focus position (7862) was produced even though a good set of FWHM points were provided by SharpCap and a good quadratic curve fit was displayed centred on a best focus position at 8050 . In the event the problem was spotted and the correct focus offset saved for the focuser but this would have led to poor quality imaging and poor guiding if the intervention hadn't been made.
  Report File shows the message ' Rejecting Curve Fitted Best Focus Position (8055)',  Using Alternate Best Focus Position (7862), based on average of bf1, bf2, bf3 estimates.  bf3 (FP Peak) is given as 7845 but this was a null FWHM point.  It looks like the alternate methods use -99 as a real FWHM value rather than a null .
  Fixed (AstroMain 3.18.1). Improved Aug 2020 with introduction of Wide Focus Search Option .
  
  TS80 Focus Profile 1 was created with graph range 3000 to 4500 which was appropriate for TCF-S focuser but not the TS80 focuser.
  Best focus was shown as 7905 . This was rejected by quadratic fit checking.  Data was poor but suggested a best focus at >= 8135
   Data was Peak FWHM blank (vcNull),  Zen FWHM -98.79.  AstroMain 3.18.1 fixed issue with zen FWHM.
   
• Y Axis labels are not be drawn for the secondary history graph on Guiding Charts
  Fixed (AstroMain 3.18.1)
   
• 24 hour weather forecast has two rogue Rain bars showing 100% rain probability that occur in each forecast. It is probable that these are caused by testing code lines that overwrite the actual forecast with test values when the forecast plotting was recently updated to show forecast Snow
  Fixed (AstroWeather 1.8.2)

Continuous Improvement

• Killing 'Stranded' Tasks routine in AstroLaunch needs to have produce a 'Finished' or 'Done' report message.
  Done (AstroLaunch 1.3.6)
   
• Final TS80 Focus Profile plot (14/14 points) weren't saved to file.  This occured during earlier daytime test and probably didn't get saved as the best focus couldn't be found from the data. Same problem affected Profile 4 during session.  Believed to be resolved following review of issue on 2021-05-29, following reported incidence of event in session S885 (2021-04-14) which proved to be a false. (everything working ok).
  Closed  2021-05-29 (AstroMain)

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Secondary Scope - Focusing

Secondary Scope focusing is now working reasonably well.  Focus Profile examples from the session  are shown below:

Automated Focus Profiles taken on Secondary Scope,  2019-11-18 Orange dots are MultiStar FWHM measurements from SharpCap Blue dots are single star HFD measurements from PHD2

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