David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 776 (2020-04-28)

Notes (S775)

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Notes (S777)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (1),  Minor Issues (2),  Continuous Improvement (2)
	Images from 2020-04-28 >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2020-04-28)

Main aims

1. Targets: Acquire images of a number of deep sky objects and comets.   Observations concentrated on following up on a number of recent supernovae.
2. Automated Start: Test that fully automated start was still possible.

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  2.6.6dev3
   
• AstroMain 3.21 ,  Astroguard 1.2.11,   AstroPlan 1.14.2,  AstroShCap 1.2.15, AstroVOE 1.3.5, UPB 1.4.17 
  (AstroWeather 1.8.6, AstroAllSky 3.5.1)
  

Highlights

• Good Conditions.  Ggood seeing (2.5 arc secs) & calm conditions
• Targets.  12 targets successfully imaged
• Automated Start.  Fully automated start worked as per design up until a point during Observatory Equilibration when the AstroMain program froze. Other things (Observatory Opening, Camera Start-up/Scope Connect, Observing Plan creation) all worked fine.

Lowlights

• Automated Start.  Fully automated start failed at a point during Observatory Equilibration when the AstroMain program froze (when user clicked on program form with mouse?). 10 mins of observing time lost.  Due to the stoppage it wasn't possible to test if operations would have gone on to perform automated Focusing Near Zenith or not.

Summary Plots & Logs

Observing Plan

Observing Result

Dome & Scope Slewing Performance

Slew/Centering Performance

Guiding 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) Pre-Session Weather forecast was for clear skies and calm conditions until around 04:00 when cloud was expected to begin developing. Minimum temperature forecast was 6°C. ( The TV Weather Forecast however showed that cloud would probably develop overnight at some point) In the event conditions were clear and calm to 23:45 at which point cloud / ? fog rapidly developed and forced the closure of the dome shutter for the remainder of the night. Temperature fell to minimum of 1°C at 23:45 before climbing to 6.5°C under the cloudy skies.

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 23:44:29 Session Created Live Session Created (2020-04-28 S00776, ImageSaveNum: 776001) 23:46:06   Scope Switched On Telescope power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 23:48:05   Services Started Observatory Services started 23:48:52 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 23:48:56 Session Pending Session pending (2020-04-28) 23:48:58 Session Initiating Session initiating (2020-04-28) 23:49:00   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.14.2) 23:49:46   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2020-04-28 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 500) 23:50:00   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 23:50:05   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 23:50:16 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 23:51:01   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 45s) 23:51:04   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 00:01:19 Session Resumed Live Session Resumed (2020-04-28 S00776, ImageSaveNum: 776001) 00:01:30   Obs.Manager Started Obs.Manager started 00:01:32   Obs.Overseer Started Obs.Overseer started 00:01:36   Services Started Observatory Services started 00:01:46   Scope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Powerbox. 00:02:01   Scope Switched On Telescope power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 00:03:36   Services Started Observatory Services started 00:03:56   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 00:04:02   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 00:05:21       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:09:10       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 00:09:47       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:12:55       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 00:13:58 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 00:14:02 Session Pending Session pending (2020-04-28) 00:14:04 Session Initiating Session initiating (2020-04-28) 00:14:06   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2020-04-28 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 500) 00:14:09   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 00:14:11   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 00:14:23 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 00:14:26   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 00:14:28   Equilibration Skipped Dome Equilibration skipped by user 00:14:30 Session Running Session running 00:14:32   Queue Started Observing Queue started (12 targets selected) 00:14:34     Target Started (1/12) Target started (1/12, C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)) 00:26:04     Target Completed Target partially completed (1/12, C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)) 00:26:06     Target Started (2/12) Target started (2/12, IC 1222) 00:29:57       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:33:08       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 00:49:03     Target Completed Target completed (2/12, IC 1222) 00:49:05     Target Started (3/12) Target started (3/12, UGC 10528) 00:51:45       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:54:29       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 01:10:16     Target Completed Target completed (3/12, UGC 10528) 01:10:19     Target Started (4/12) Target started (4/12, IC 3705) 01:14:30       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:17:41       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 01:33:29     Target Completed Target completed (4/12, IC 3705) 01:33:31     Target Started (5/12) Target started (5/12, IC 4017) 01:36:44       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:39:58       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 01:55:55     Target Completed Target completed (5/12, IC 4017) 01:55:57     Target Started (6/12) Target started (6/12, NGC 5157) 02:17:36     Target Completed Target completed (6/12, NGC 5157) 02:17:38     Target Started (7/12) Target started (7/12, GCVS R CrB) 02:27:10     Target Completed Target completed (7/12, GCVS R CrB) 02:27:12     Target Started (8/12) Target started (8/12, UGC 10227) 02:30:23       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:33:23       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 02:49:12     Target Completed Target completed (8/12, UGC 10227) 02:49:15     Target Started (9/12) Target started (9/12, UGC 10288) 02:52:57       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:55:40       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 03:11:21     Target Completed Target completed (9/12, UGC 10288) 03:11:23     Target Started (10/12) Target started (10/12, GCVS SS Her) 03:20:49     Target Completed Target completed (10/12, GCVS SS Her) 03:20:51     Target Started (11/12) Target started (11/12, HIP 87937) 03:24:17       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:27:10       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 03:28:38     Target Completed Target partially completed (11/12, HIP 87937) 03:28:40     Target Started (12/12) Target started (12/12, GCVS CY Lyr) 03:30:11       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:33:00       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 10) 03:36:36     Target Completed Target completed (12/12, GCVS CY Lyr) 03:36:39   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 03:36:43 Session Closing Session closing 03:37:38   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 49s) 03:38:24   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 46s) 03:38:36   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 9s) 03:39:06   Scope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Powerbox. 03:39:54   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 03:39:56 Session Housekeeping Housekeeping Started (Cleanup FITS, Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 03:40:03 Session Finished Session Finished

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Operational Issues (2020-04-28, S776)

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

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• AstroMain program froze whilst Session Equilibrating.  AstroMain program froze at 23:56.  Issue may have been caused by or associated with user clicking on Main Program window, or this may merely be the point when the frozen UI becomes obvious (ie 'Not Responding' appears in Window title) . Log files shows that Obs.Overseer recognoses that UI is pening at 23:55:59 and is not responding by 23:56:03, and that Obs.Manager is frozen at 23:56:08.  This is around the time  that Obs.Manager should have either put out a "Temperatures at 23:56" report line or have entered  'Session Running' State / Focus Near Zenith. There is no other information to definitively diagnose the problem or provide a strong clue.  Issue closed on 2021-01-04 following a review that showed that the AstroMain was essentially stable (following a series of improvements and fixes), with an absence of any unexplained program hangs or crashes during the 35 sessions between  2020-09-18 & 2021-01-03.
  Closed 2021-01-04 (AstroMain 3.33)

Minor Issues

• Unable to download minor planets orbital elements file MPCORB.DAT from MinorPlanetCenter using AstroMain's download facility.   Attempting to download minor orbital elements from "https://minorplanetcenter.net//iau/MPCORB/"  produced  the following error message :
    'The request was aborted: Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel'. 
  The issue was fixed by inserting the following code line   
    ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = 3072     ' Note SecurityProtocolType.Tls12 is not recognised
  Done 2020-04-29 (AstroMain 3.21.1) 
   
• Some Telescope Centering Jogs failing to move scope closer to target (including 2 rogue jogs).  9 out of 12 target required more than one centering operation, 3 targets required 3 operations to meet acceptable pointing tolerance. Problems is seen fairly frequently. May need to resync scope.  Closed 2020-01-04 as review shows that issue has been resolved (combination of latest DeviceHub, better synchronisation procedures)
   Closed 2021-01-04  (Observatory)

Continuous Improvement

• Relocate profile no. label on new Best Focus Plot to a position below the bottom axis line. The same labelling could be added to the Zenith FWHM & Focus Temperature Charts
  Done 2020-04-29 (AstroMain 3.21.1)
   
• Add profile no. label (like one on Best Focus Plot) to Zenith FWHM & Focus Temperature Charts
  Done 2020-04-29 (AstroMain 3.21.1)

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