David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 778 (2020-05-04)

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Notes (S779)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (1),  Major Issues (2),  Minor Issues (13),  Continuous Improvement (5)
	Images from 2020-05-04 >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2020-05-04)

Main aims

1. Targets: Acquire images of a number of variable star, nearby star, deep sky objects and comets. 
2. OJ 287: Acquire images the QSO / AGN object OJ 287, recently feature on BBC Website 'Dancing Garguntum Blackholes: perform on queue"
3. Guidescope Focusing: Test out new method of focusing Guidescope (fmodeSharpCapV3).

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 3.21.4,  Astroguard 1.2.11,   AstroPlan 1.14.2,  AstroShCap 1.2.19, AstroVOE 1.3.6, UPB 1.4.17 
  (AstroWeather 1.8.7, AstroAllSky 3.5.1)
  

Highlights

• Good Conditions.  Good seeing (2.5 arc secs) & calm conditions
• Targets.  x targets successfully imaged
• OJ 287. 
• Guidescope Focusing.  New method to focus guidescope worked.

Lowlights

• Dome COM Port.  Dome Port changed during initial manual operations. requiring parking the scope and restart of observatory software.

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 moderately clear skies (22-37% cloud),  calm conditions and a minimum temperature of 4°C. In the event conditions were clear and calm through the whole night, with a minimum temperature of 1°C

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 21:29:05 Session Created Live Session Created (2020-05-04 S00778, ImageSaveNum: 778001) 21:29:16   Obs.Manager Started Obs.Manager started 21:29:18   Obs.Overseer Started Obs.Overseer started 21:29:22   Services Started Observatory Services started 21:29:30   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 21:31:10   Services Started Observatory Services started 21:31:53 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 21:31:57 Session Pending Session pending (2020-05-04) 21:31:59 Session Initiating Session initiating (2020-05-04) 21:32:01   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.14.3) 21:32:18   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2020-05-04 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 502) 21:32:30   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 21:32:36   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 21:32:47 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 22:34:23 Wait on Weather Waiting for acceptable weather conditions 22:39:24 Session Suspended Session suspended 22:39:26   Shutter Closed Shutter already closed (closure time is unknown) 22:39:28   Queue Started Observing Queue started (21 targets selected) 22:48:05 Session Resuming Session resuming 22:48:49   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 45s) 22:48:52 Session Running Session running 22:48:54   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 22:49:47       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:53:20       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 22:53:22     Target Started (1/21) Target started (1/21, GCVS CN Leo) 22:59:07     Target Completed Target partially completed (1/21, GCVS CN Leo) 22:59:09     Target Started (2/21) Target started (2/21, GCVS AM CVn) 23:01:36       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:04:28       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 23:07:20     Target Completed Target completed (2/21, GCVS AM CVn) 23:07:22     Target Started (3/21) Target started (3/21, C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)) 23:09:46       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:12:46       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 23:34:30     Target Completed Target completed (3/21, C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)) 23:34:32     Target Started (4/21) Target started (4/21, M40) 23:36:46       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:39:35       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 23:45:28     Target Completed Target completed (4/21, M40) 23:45:30     Target Started (5/21) Target started (5/21, NGC 5157) 23:49:31       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 23:50:30       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:53:50       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 00:09:41     Target Completed Target completed (5/21, NGC 5157) 00:09:43     Target Started (6/21) Target started (6/21, IC 1222) 00:11:10       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 00:12:01       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:15:10       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 00:20:50   Services Started Observatory Services started 00:21:36   Services Started Observatory Services started 00:23:17   Services Started Observatory Services started 00:30:54     Target Completed Target completed (6/21, IC 1222) 00:30:56     Target Started (7/21) Target started (7/21, GCVS AM Her) 00:33:51       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 00:34:59       Focusing Failed Foc2 Focusing Failed - star lost 00:35:43       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:38:47       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 00:43:40     Target Completed Target completed (7/21, GCVS AM Her) 00:43:42     Target Started (8/21) Target started (8/21, GCVS S Cyg) 00:47:18       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:50:16       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 00:57:43     Target Completed Target partially completed (8/21, GCVS S Cyg) 00:57:45     Target Started (9/21) Target started (9/21, GCVS BL Lac) 00:59:15       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 01:12:23     Target Aborted (9/21) Target aborted (9/21, GCVS BL Lac) due to GRB Alert 01:12:26     Target Started (10/21) Target started (10/21, UGC 10528) 01:29:49     Target Completed Target partially completed (10/21, UGC 10528) 01:29:51     Target Started (11/21) Target started (11/21, HIP 87937) 01:32:53       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:36:05       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 10) 01:38:47     Target Completed Target completed (11/21, HIP 87937) 01:38:49     Target Started (12/21) Target started (12/21, GCVS CY Lyr) 01:41:54       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:44:39       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 11) 01:48:17     Target Completed Target completed (12/21, GCVS CY Lyr) 01:48:19     Target Started (13/21) Target started (13/21, GCVS SS Her) 01:50:34       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 01:52:34       Focusing Failed Foc2 Focusing Failed - failed QC check (Quadratic) 01:53:20       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:56:19       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 13) 01:58:28     Target Completed Target partially completed (13/21, GCVS SS Her) 01:58:30     Target Started (14/21) Target started (14/21, GCVS U Her) 02:00:57       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 02:01:58       Focusing Failed Foc2 Focusing Failed - star lost 02:02:43       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:05:41       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 15) 02:10:28     Target Completed Target partially completed (14/21, GCVS U Her) 02:10:30     Target Started (15/21) Target started (15/21, GCVS R CrB) 02:12:47       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 02:27:07   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 46s) 02:28:44     Target Aborted (15/21) Target aborted (15/21, GCVS R CrB) due to GRB Alert 02:28:47     Target Started (16/21) Target started (16/21, C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)) 02:30:17   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 10s) 02:30:18     Target Aborted (16/21) Target aborted (16/21, C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)) due to aborted 02:30:20   Queue Paused Queue pausing for HardSuspend 02:30:23 Session Suspended Session suspended 02:30:25   Shutter Closed Shutter already closed (closed at 02:30, closing time 10s) 02:30:29   Queue Aborted Job Queue aborted 02:31:22   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 44s) 02:33:24 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 02:33:27 Session Pending Session pending (2020-05-04) 02:33:29 Session Initiating Session initiating (2020-05-04) 02:33:31   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2020-05-04 V1 ACTIVE PLAN S778, Plan ID: 502) 02:33:34   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -25°C) 02:33:40   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 02:34:00 Program Hung AstroMain program stopped responding 02:38:02 Session Resumed Live Session Resumed (2020-05-04 S00778, ImageSaveNum: 778131) 02:38:12   Obs.Manager Started Obs.Manager started 02:38:14   Obs.Overseer Started Obs.Overseer started 02:38:18   Services Started Observatory Services started 02:38:24   Scope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Powerbox. 02:38:31   Scope Switched On Telescope power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 02:40:26   Services Started Observatory Services started 02:41:10 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 02:41:14 Session Pending Session pending (2020-05-04) 02:41:16 Session Initiating Session initiating (2020-05-04) 02:41:18   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.14.3) 02:41:38   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2020-05-04 V2 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 503) 02:41:52   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -25°C) 02:41:57   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 02:42:09 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 02:42:12   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 02:42:14   Equilibration Skipped Dome Equilibration skipped by user 02:42:16 Session Running Session running 02:42:18   Queue Started Observing Queue started (2 targets selected) 02:43:29       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:46:45       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 16) 02:47:14     Target Started (1/2) Target started (1/2, UGC 10528) 02:51:47       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:54:30       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 17) 03:10:10     Target Completed Target completed (1/2, UGC 10528) 03:10:12     Target Started (2/2) Target started (2/2, HIP 87937) 03:13:41       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:16:29       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 18) 03:19:10     Target Completed Target completed (2/2, HIP 87937) 03:19:13   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 03:19:16 Session Closing Session closing 03:20:09   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 50s) 03:22:29   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 140s) 03:22:42   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 9s) 03:23:12   Scope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Powerbox. 03:24:01   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 03:24:03 Session Housekeeping Housekeeping Started (Cleanup FITS, Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 03:24:21 Session Finished Session Finished

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Operational Issues (2020-05-04, S778)

• Critical Issues (1)
• Major Issues (2)
• Minor Issues (13)
• Continuous Improvement (5)

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Critical Issues

• Dome Relay Protection apparently not working.  Prior to session a day time test was being conducted involving the opening of the shutter from AstroMain.  It was light and the CloudSensor reported an Unsafe Relay condition.  It had been expected that the Relay condition would have triggered the Pulsar Dome Control unit to intervene to close the shutter after 30s of the start of shutter opening. However this didn't happen and the shutter remained open until it was closed from AstroMain. Having a reliable working Relay control system is a critical component to the safe operation of the Observatory, and hence this issue is deemed critical.  Testing (2020-05-13) confirmed that Relay Protection was not working . However a repair to relay (2020-05-15) brought the Relay Protection back into service and was successfully confirmed by repeat testing.
  Fixed 2020-05-15 (Observatory)

Major Issues

• Foc2 Guidescope Focusing ( fModeSharpCapV3) not fully working.    New V3 focusing isn't working as hoped. Whilst the basic mechanism is working and SharpCap is being made to take small focus box frames, the focus boxes are getting correctly positioned over the identified focus star. Frames from several Profile attempts all show with Pan 1488, Tilt 980, which corresponds to a box situated in the center of the CMOS chip, instead of the requested Pan/ Tilt positions.    Log file shows message 'Problem Setting Camera Pan' in response to trying to set the Pan position. Whilst the log file appears to give a positive message for Tilt operations (e.g. Setting Camera Tilt (Y) to 1959)  the operation fails to affect the actual Tilt position used as indicated by the associated .'CameraSettings.txt' file. This is a major issue as the V3 method heavily depends on being able to correctly set Pan/Tilt.   Testing using SharpCp script console identified the source of the problem and the offending code line ( an unnecessary print statement) removed
  Fixed 2020-05-05 (AstroShCap 1.2.20)
   
• AstroMain program froze at 02:34 .  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 pending at 02:33:52 and is not responding by 02:33:56, and that Obs.Manager is frozen at 02:34:01.  This was just as automated control moved session state into Equilibrating. UI & Obs.Manager previously froze in session S776 whilst in Equilibrating. 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

• Autocreated observing plan for session began at -11 deg sun altitude (rather than -10 deg as hoped).   It would seem that Start/End Time needs to be manually set to 10.  The field had 11 which is why -11deg was used as the plan's start point. Need a more robust way of fixing a start time that is saved between sessions.  
  Fixed 2020-05-05 (AstroMain 1.14.4)
   
• First two attempts to take Focus Profile for Guidescope using 'Insert Foc2 Focusing' failed. Problem was examined during the session and the issue was found to be due to the presence of AstroCap version 1.12.18, instead of the required version 1.12.19.   Problem solved by uploading the correct version
  Resolved (AstroShCap 1.12.19)
   
• Webpage shows an unnecessary (closure time is unknown) message in Shutter Status during Session Equilibration. During equilibration and before shutter had been opened, the webpage shows 'CLOSED  (closure time is unknown)'. The qualifier which is sent from AstroMain regarding last closure time is unnecessary and inappropriate. Shutter status message in this situation should be changed to show 'CLOSED'  only.
  Fixed 2020-05-05 (AstroMain 3.21.5)
   
• Best Focus Chart failed due to an invalid StartTime.  Best Focus chart initialised with vcNullDate, Hours 14. FMin 2200, and consequently failed to show any BestFocus data from the session. First best focus point 3227 which would have been expected to produce a FMin setting of 2600. The FMin value of 2200 could be produced by starting from first Monitor point with focus value of 2927
  Fixed 2020-05-05 (AstroMain 3.21.5)
   
• Slew to 1st target (CN Leo) had multiple NaN results logged for CalcAngularSeparation. Multiple message lines in log file for Target 1/21 (GCVS CN Leo Despite this the slew was successful.  Examining logfile shows the number of NaN exceptions from CN Leo (12) was indeed anomalous, there being just 4 NaN exceptions from all the other targets combined. Issue is closed for now, but othersessions will be examined in order to understand any pattern or consequence
  Fixed 2020-05-31 (AstroMain 3.24.3)
   
• Session Equilibration failed to open the dome shutter and begin temperature equilibration of the observatory & telescope with the outside air.   Instead the session waited until 7 minutes before the Plan Start Time (21:46) and then put the session into Suspended Mode at 21:39 (suspend due to non-defined reason (0 ) ).  Session resumed at 22:48, but by time Near Zenith focusing was completed there wasn't time to fully complete the first target (CN Leo). Due to the light conditions during equilibration, the number of stars was still low and the Obs.Manager produced a soft suspend call (or equivalent of) that was only relaxed when sufficient stars where detected by the AllSky Camera.   In this situation the user should have either turned off the 'Suspend when stars <20 (16 with Star Trim of 4) or set a higher star trim setting.   Should the system have used some smart logic to ignore the 'Suspend when stars <20' when Sun Alt still descending through Nautical Twilight provided the Clarity reading was high enough and consistent with a clear sky ? (this will be set up as a Continuous Improvement request)
  Closed, For User Awareness 2020-05-05 (AstroMain)
   
• Certain report message appear on webpage / ipad with incorrect format.   e.g.
     Session 2020-05-04    ..Info  Sun has reached Sun Alt of -6 degs (.. are extra spaces that shouldn't be there)
     'Waiting on Weather   HOLD  Wait for conditions to impro'   ( should be '...improve')
  Need to check if this is IPAD display or problem with Report File itself. Checking shows there is no problem with displaying report file in windows (IE11) or inherent problem with displaying full report fille on IPad (Safari), so this seems to be a safari glitch or problem with creation/display of shortened version of the report file (last 200 line or so).
  Closed 2020-05-05 (AstroMain)
   
• Logfile contains some format/typo errors.   e.g.
    Setting 'Trace level ToTrue'   (should be 'Trace level to True' )
    COM Port already Set To7 (should be 'COM Port already set to 7'  or '..to COM7'
  Fixed 2020-05-05 (AstroMain 3.21.5)
   
• WebPage showing Focus Profile 2 without showing Profile 1 . Although this certainly just a temporary glitch (whilst images are still uploaed) is there a way to stop these anomalies from happening ?. Later the Recent Frames section showed 778034 (Comet Y4 (Atlas) as the latest frame even though 778043 was loaded and displayed as the 'second most recent frame'.  Issue deemed resolved following review 2021-05-13.
  Resolved (Website)
   
• Focus Temperature Chart didn't allow suitable temperature range for the drop in temperature. Probably happened because the session was started early (21:30, sun alt -4) when temperatures were still dropping rapidly. A partial fix has been put into AstroMain 3.21.6 so that Y Axis Max value is set at ~ 3deg higher than initial temperature rather than ~4 deg  deg higher,   this provides 7 deg of visible temperature drop on the chart versus only 6 deg beforehandIssue deemed resolved following review 2021-05-13.
  Resolved (AstroMain 3.21.6)
   
• Zenith FWHM plot wasn't resumed correctly following session restart. The S778 session had to be killed at around 02:34 due to frozen UI in AstroMain. When the session was resumed at 02:38 the Zenith FWHM chart didn't resume correctly from last point (based on startime of21:00) - whilst the earlier chart image was reloaded ok, the StartTime (02:30) and Hours (4) were restarted from the first new point. and thus new data and the time labels overposted the earlier data/labels and the plot cropped to the new shorter duration. The Focus Temperature and CCD Temperature charts both resumed ok, so its worth looking at differences in the code between the charts with and without resume problems.  Checking shows that ZenithFwhmChart has an extra 'bStarted' variable to indicate of chart is started, but this variable would have been initialised to False when the object was recreated when AstroMain program was restarted. (BestFocusChart also uses a bStarted variable)
  Fixed 2020-05-05 (AstroMain 3.21.5)
   
• Zenith FWHM Chart had a soft data point lying below the bottom of chart .   A small cyan data point (FWHM 8.5) was plotted below of the bottom of the chart area  (ie FWHM > 8.0) and should have been ignored and not drawn.
  Fixed 2020-05-05 (AstroMain 3.21.5)
   
• Target 9/21 (GCVS BL Lac) had a session event saying  'Target aborted due of GRB Alert' but this doesn't seen realistic.  It is unlikely that BL Lac target was aborted by a GRB Alert (a regular ToO would be more likely).   There is no indication that a GRB (ToO Fast React) or ToO of any kind was inserted into the Job Queue during the session. The only reason to have generated this reference to a GRB is because  ReasonToAbort was set to either AbortReason.GRB (=2) or it was set to 2 or set to 'reason' where 'reason' =2 . It is unclear from the code how either of these happened so the case is unexplained.
  Closed, but monitor for further occurances 2020-05-15 (AstroMain 3.22.2)
   
• NightSummary6 chart is missing a tick & label for -12deg sun alt (morning).  It is unclear why this was missing. Issue closed as monitoring of the log over many sessions shows that this is not a general problem, and probable only occurs in the rarest of situations.
  Closed  Dec 2020 (AstroAllSky)

Continuous Improvement

• Show appropriate extract of AstroShCap display log on web page.  Full file version of AstroShCap Report File is placed on Website at selected key points, e.g end of a ShCap Focus Profile.
  Added 2020-05-05 (AstroMain 3.21.5 / AstroPlan 1.14.4 / Website)
   
• Add handling to Zenith FWHM, Focus Temperature and Best Focus Charts to avoid overposting the Profile No labels below the bottom axis
  Done 2020-05-12 (AstroMain 3.22)
   
• Adjust order of curves on CCD Temperature Chart so that CCD Temperature is topmost curve. In S778 the most important CCD Temp (Red) is hidden by the less important Cooling Temperature curve (Green).
  Done 2020-05-05 (AstroMain 3.21.5)
   
• Add smart logic to Obs.Manager so that 'Suspend when stars <20' option can be ignored/overriden when Sun Alt is still descending through Nautical Twilight provided the Clarity reading was high enough and consistent with a clear sky ?  This is to avoid Session being put into Suspended State during initial Equilibration of the Observatory.  Option is now renamed as 'Suspend when Few Stars' and the 'Star Trim' field is renamed 'Few Stars Threshold'. Option to suspend when there are too few stars is automatically disabled when Sun Alt is > -12
  Done 2020-05-12 (AstroMain 3.22)
   
• Target Started & Target Completed session events should be marked with 'ToO' or 'GRB'.
  Done 2020-05-15 (AstroMain 3.22.2)

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