David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 779 (2020-05-05)

Notes (S778)

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Notes (S780)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (4),  Continuous Improvement (5)
	Images from 2020-05-05 >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2020-05-05)

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 3.21.5,  AstroGuard 1.2.11,   AstroPlan 1.14.4,  AstroShCap 1.2.20, 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 22:16:01 Session Created Live Session Created (2020-05-05 S00779, ImageSaveNum: 779001) 22:16:38   Scope Switched On Telescope power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 22:18:47   Services Started Observatory Services started 22:19:36 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 22:19:38 Session Pending Session pending (2020-05-05) 22:19:40 Session Initiating Session initiating (2020-05-05) 22:19:42   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.14.4) 22:20:14   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2020-05-05 V4 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 507) 22:20:27   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -15°C) 22:20:33   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 22:20:48 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 22:25:34   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 44s) 22:25:37   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 22:34:50   Equilibration Ended Dome Equilibration ended (9.3 mins total) 22:34:52 Session Running Session running 22:34:54   Queue Started Observing Queue started (19 targets selected) 22:35:50       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:38:33       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 22:38:36       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 22:39:57       Focusing Failed Foc2 Focusing Failed - star lost 22:39:58     Target Started (1/19) Target started (1/19, GCVS CN Leo) 22:49:58     Target Completed Target partially completed (1/19, GCVS CN Leo) 22:50:00     Target Started (2/19) Target started (2/19, NGC 4568) 22:52:47       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:55:58       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 23:11:45     Target Completed Target completed (2/19, NGC 4568) 23:11:47     Target Started (3/19) Target started (3/19, C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)) 23:11:49 Critical Cloud Alert Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Shutter) 23:11:51   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend is called due to Critical Conditions (cloud) 23:12:02     Target Aborted (3/19) Target aborted (3/19, C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)) due to cloud 23:12:04   Queue Paused Queue pausing for HardSuspend 23:12:07 Session Suspended Session suspended 23:12:54   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 49s) 23:14:09 Session Resuming Session resuming 23:14:54   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 45s) 23:14:56 Session Running Session running 23:14:58   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 23:15:00     Target Started (3/19) Target started (3/19, C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)) 23:38:59     Target Completed Target partially completed (3/19, C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)) 23:39:01     Target Started (4/19) Target started (4/19, GCVS RZ LMi) 23:41:50       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 23:42:58       Focusing Failed Foc2 Focusing Failed - star lost 23:43:45       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:46:45       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 23:50:17     Target Completed Target partially completed (4/19, GCVS RZ LMi) 23:50:19     Target Started (5/19) Target started (5/19, NGC 3643) 23:54:16       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:57:20       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 00:13:11     Target Completed Target completed (5/19, NGC 3643) 00:13:13     Target Started (6/19) Target started (6/19, NGC 4277) 00:32:54     Target Completed Target partially completed (6/19, NGC 4277) 00:32:56     Target Started (7/19) Target started (7/19, NGC 4636) 00:38:25       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:41:37       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 00:57:32     Target Completed Target completed (7/19, NGC 4636) 00:57:34     Target Started (8/19) Target started (8/19, NGC 5157) 01:01:15       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:04:39       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 01:17:19     Target Completed Target partially completed (8/19, NGC 5157) 01:17:22     Target Started (9/19) Target started (9/19, 61 Cyg) 01:21:50       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:24:32       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 01:26:07     Target Completed Target completed (9/19, 61 Cyg) 01:26:09     Target Started (10/19) Target started (10/19, Basel 15) 01:28:27       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:31:04       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 10) 01:36:49     Target Completed Target completed (10/19, Basel 15) 01:36:51     Target Started (11/19) Target started (11/19, M14) 01:40:11       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:43:09       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 11) 01:48:53     Target Completed Target completed (11/19, M14) 01:48:55     Target Started (12/19) Target started (12/19, HIP 87937) 01:51:40       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:55:01       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 12) 01:57:20     Target Completed Target completed (12/19, HIP 87937) 01:57:22     Target Started (13/19) Target started (13/19, IC 1222) 02:00:32       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:04:22       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 13) 02:20:16     Target Completed Target completed (13/19, IC 1222) 02:20:19     Target Started (14/19) Target started (14/19, M92) 02:33:14     Target Completed Target partially completed (14/19, M92) 02:33:16     Target Started (15/19) Target started (15/19, GCVS U Her) 02:35:30       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:38:08       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 14) 02:45:34     Target Completed Target completed (15/19, GCVS U Her) 02:45:36     Target Started (16/19) Target started (16/19, UGC 10528) 02:47:32       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:50:30       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 15) 03:06:31     Target Completed Target completed (16/19, UGC 10528) 03:06:33     Target Started (17/19) Target started (17/19, M16) 03:09:38       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:12:29       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 16) 03:12:34     Target Completed Target completed (17/19, M16) 03:12:36     Target Started (18/19) Target started (18/19, GCVS CY Lyr) 03:14:34       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:17:26       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 17) 03:21:04     Target Completed Target completed (18/19, GCVS CY Lyr) 03:21:06     Target Started (19/19) Target started (19/19, GCVS CI Cyg) 03:23:13       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:26:03       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 18) 03:29:40     Target Completed Target completed (19/19, GCVS CI Cyg) 03:29:43   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 03:29:48 Session Closing Session closing 03:30:43   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 49s) 03:32:29   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 106s) 03:32:41   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 9s) 03:33:12   Scope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Powerbox. 03:33:59   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 03:34:01 Session Housekeeping Housekeeping Started (Cleanup FITS, Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 03:34:14 Session Finished Session Finished

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Operational Issues (2020-05-05, S779)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (0)
• Minor Issues (4)
• Continuous Improvement (5)

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Insufficient time is provide at start of run for Near Zenith Focusing (Foc1 and Foc2) . Insufficient time is provided for Near Zenith Focusing and this causes the first target to be only partially completed as last frame(s) are cancelled to prevent the target overrunning its time slot.
  Fixed 2020-05-12 (AstroMain 3.22)
   
• Foc2 Focusing (V3) is still failing to produce Focus Frames of the intended star.  Although a bug has been fixed in ShCap that was previously stopping the setting of Camera's Pan parameter, Pan and/or Tilt are still not being correctly set. (It was conjectured that Pan and Tilt may need to be set with negative values to get a box in righthand or lower part of FOV but this proved not to be the case). Testing revealed that the problem was caused by Pan/Tilt assignments being made immediately following the 'Capture Area' assignment. Inserting a Thread.Sleep of 1000-1500ms allowed time for SharpCap/Camera to complete the Capture Area assignment and update the Camera control ready to recieve Pan/Tilt assignments.
  Fixed (AstroShCap 1.2.21) .
   
• Observatory Shutter unexpectedly closed at 23:12 under clear skies (HardSuspend)  At 23:11:49 and under clear skies the Obs.Manager gave a Critical Conditions (Cloud) alert and initiated a Hard Suspend that put the Observatory into a suspended state and closed the Shutter.   After 2 minutes the session automatically resumed.  The Obs.Manager reported that Clarity value of 19.2 had been seen (which is low enough enough to indicate cloud and advisory action should be taken. The Cloud Sensor archive file (records every minute) records clarity of 36-38 at this time.   The detailed Cloud Sesnor file (records every 5 -10s)  records clarity value of 19.2 at 23:11:42. Records either side of the 'bad record' have clarity values of 37-38. It is noted that the bad record has a sensor temperature value of 0. This is 18.5 in the offset records.  Adding 19.2 and 18.5 equals with 37.7.   So clearly there is a glitch in the Cloud Sensor Hardware or software.  Obs.Manager needs to be made more robust to the occasional bad record coming through, testing the information against previous data record,  checking it for anomalous Sensor Temperature values and allowing at 2 cycles of the Observatory Manager (10s) before taking action. A partial fix has been in AstroMain 3.21.6 which fixes Clarity value where Sensor Unit Temperature has a value of 0.0.  This will allow measurement of the frequency of rogue temperature values and prevent at least a subset of the Unexpected Dome Closure.
  (Update : The number of bad Cloud Sensor records (Sensor Unit temperature = 0.0) are now tracked from AstroMain 3.22 onwards)
  A follow up on 2020-10-05 showed that there had been no 'bad'Cloud Sensor records in the sessions (S780 to S815 inclusive) and the problem is confirmed as fixed/resolved..
  Fixed 2020-05-06 (AstroMain 3.21.6)
    
• IE11 and Safari showing Inconsistencies in the Report Files white space gaps on the Current Session Web Page.  Issue shows itself as a 2 character gap difference in the white space between AddComment and ReportComment parts of various lines.  At first this might points to a possible problem associated with Tab2 usage (?) or difference between AddComment + ReportComment and Report3 (ReportComment2B).  However the full Report file displays ok in Safari, showing that the problem is restricted to just the shortened report (last 200 lines), which is custom generated. Closed following review on 2021-05-26 (issue is either resolved or no longer deemed to be an issue today)
  Resolved or no longer an issue 2021-05-26 (AstroMain)

Continuous Improvement

• Extend information reported when session enters Equilibration State. It would be helpful to show the Expected time to open the Shutter (if it is closed), and the expected time to start to start Near Zenith Focusing. This information allows the user to understand what it going to happen and when, and help check whether equilibration is running or is somehow stuck.
  Added  2020-05-12 (AstroMain 3.22)
   
• Add legend for 'Focus Position (model)'  line to Best Focus Chart.
  Done (AstroMain 3.21.6)
   
• Foc 2 Focusing (V3) needs to collect and record other salient information.  Max Pixel, SN, Mag, HFD, Elong etc.  Foc2 Focusing (V3) only records HWFM, Focuser Position and Tube Temperature. It should collect and display data consistent with that collected by Foc1 focusing.
  Done 2020-05-12 (AstroMain 3.22)
   
• ShCap report needs better tabulation of data from Foc2 focusing routines.   Also need to remove the  'At notify_session' debug statement from the console output.
  Done (AstroShCap 1.2.21)
   
• Reduce or at least understand relatively large time delay between Foc2 LocateFocusStar finishing and the Confirm Take Profile Dialog appearing. It seems the time delay is entirely due to waiting on the focuser to move position (including removal of backlash)
  Closed (AstroMain / AstroShCap)

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