David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session S784 Attempt (2020-05-23)

Notes (S783)

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Notes (S784)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (1),  Major Issues (2),  Minor Issues (4),  Continuous Improvement (8)
	Images from 2020-05-19 >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2020-05-23)

Main aims

1. Software Testing: Test new 3.23 version of AstroMain which has had multiple changes since 3.22.3. Check for absence of introduced bugs / new issues. Check bug fixes and new features/enhancements
2. Wind: Understand impact of wind on imaging and guiding. Conditions very marginal for getting any useful images due to wind (15 mph)

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  2.6.8
   
• AstroMain 3.23,  AstroGuard 1.2.11,   AstroPlan 1.15.1,  AstroShCap 1.2.22, AstroVOE 1.3.6, UPB 1.5 
  (AstroWeather 1.9.4, AstroAllSky 3.5.1)
  

Highlights

• Software Testing.  Testing of new 3.23 version of AstroMain was partly successful. Many tests couldn'y be made due to the Session being quickly aborted
• Rain Protection.  Weather Data Comms & Obs.Manager operated well and closed the observatory dome at 00:18 when cloud developed

Lowlights

• SBIG Camera.  Unable to connect to SBIG Camera

Summary Plots & Logs

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 showed variable skies range from 5 to 50% cloud cover,  light winds (wind 7mph) and a minimum temperature of 6°C. In the event conditions were clear and calm through the whole night, with a minimum temperature of around 4°C

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 00:36:39 Session Created Live Session Created (2020-05-23 S00xxx, ImageSaveNum: xxx001) 00:38:45   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 00:40:29   Services Started Observatory Services started 00:41:41 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 00:41:43 Session Pending Session pending (2020-05-23) 00:41:45 Session Initiating Session initiating (2020-05-23) 00:41:47   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.15.1) 00:42:10   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2020-05-23 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 512) 00:42:20   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 00:42:36 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 00:42:38 Wait on Weather Waiting for acceptable weather conditions 00:43:15 Observatory (Manual) Observatory placed in Manual Mode 00:46:00   Dome Parked Dome already parked (parking time is unknown) 00:46:47   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 44s) 00:47:17   Scope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Powerbox. 00:48:12   Camera1 Disconnected SBIG Camera closed down & disconnected 00:48:34   Services Stopped Night Services stopped

Session Alerts

Time     Alert Detail -- No Alerts                --

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Operational Issues (2020-05-23, Session S784 Attempt)

• Critical Issues (1)
• Major Issues (2)
• Minor Issues (4)
• Continuous Improvement (8)

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Critical Issues

• AstroMain GUI acting very sluggish, taking 10-20s to respond to mouse clicks / mouse drags etc.  Logfile shows messages every 20s saying 'UI is Pending', 'UI is Not Responding' and Obs.Worker is Frozen. Problem picked up with new version of AstroMain (3.23 build1), but tracking back the problem is also present in 3.22.4 and 3.22.5 work version. Investigating showed that the problem related to new code for using Focuser 1 Temperature  (MonitorFoc1Temperature & MonitorFoc1AvTemperature) . Problem was due to a probable race condition caused by a call to objConsole.UpdateFoc1Fields() (which posts MonitorFoc1AvTemperature on the TCF-S Focuser Tab) being made directly before the new code section that calculates MonitorFoc1AvTemperature.  Moving the call to objConsole.UpdateFoc1Fields() to after the new code section resolved the problem.  Fix was successfully tested using 3.23 build2.
  (the issue might give a possible insight to the rare and difficult to diagnsoe problem that AstroMain U will sometimes hang/freeze during live sessions
  Fixed 2020-05-23 (AstroMain 3.23 build2)

Major Issues

• Unable to Connect Camera / SBIG driver: Camera not found.   This forced the premature end of the session as it wasn't possible to visit the observatory to sort out the problem which included turning off / turning on power to the SBIG Camera.   The problem was resolved the following day.   Turning off//turning on power to SBIG camera wasn't sufficient to allow a camera connection to be made, CCDSoft gave the same error message.   Without a better solution the issue was resolved by restarting the Observatory Computer. This solved the problem but it not an optimal solution if issue was to occur during a live session.  A Philips HUE smart plug has been installed in the observatory in Feb 2021 which allows the power to SBIG camera to be turned off/turned on remotely.
    Resolved 2021-02-04 (Observatory)
   
• Automated Operation was allowed to continue without a working connection to SBIG Camera. Camera connection issue surfaced during Starting phase of operation but Obs.Manager continued to Connect to Telescope and move to 'Equilibrating Phase leading to Opening the Shutter and starting to execute the Observing Plan. Obs.Manger should check for a working connection to CCD Camera and if not found, send an Alert to user and gracefully abort the session pending resolution of the problem. Fixed by improvements to AutoStart routines.
    Fixed (AstroMain)

Minor Issues

• Log file report exception during InsertSessionEvent after stopping observatory services. InsertSessionEvent  gives error. 'Database is not open'. Problem resolved by delaying CloseDB() call to after Observatory Services  and other closing calls to InsertSessionEvents are handled.
  Fixed 2020-05-25 (AstroMain 3.23.2)
    
• Log file shows Scope.GetRaDec exceptions when the objScope is nothing or not connected.
  Fixed 2020-05-24 (AstroMain 3.23.1)
    
• Log file shows multiple exceptions message for CCDTempChart.ExtendGraph
  Fixed 2020-05-24 (AstroMain 3.23.1)
   
• Correct report lines using 'Is'   when 'is' is more appropriate.   e.g. 'Session Is already active' should be 'Session is already active'.
  Fixed 2020-05-24 (AstroMain 3.23.1)

Continuous Improvement

• Increase height of ObsViewer to get an extra row of information at the bottom of the Observatory dashboard).  This was done, along with a fix so that the saved ObsPic captures exactly match the size of the Obs.Viewer's Client Area.
  Done 2020-05-24 (AstroMain 3.23.1)
   
• Add Outside Humidity Flag/Value to Obs.Viewer (as Out H.) and adjust the names and positions of other Flag/Values (Out T., OTA T., Obs T, UPB T. UPB H and Dome Relay)
  Done 2020-05-24 (AstroMain 3.23.1)
   
• Rename the Start Service messages ' Already started', Already active'  etc to  'Started already'. This is to give a better looking more tabular looking report output, to make Started and Started Already be clearer.
  Done 2020-05-24 (AstroMain 3.23.1)
   
• Move 'Lock Dome', / 'Unlock Dome' button to More tab.
  Done 2020-05-25 (AstroMain 3.23.2)
    
• Include tests of Outside Temperature and Outside Humidity in 'CanOpen' function.   Opening the observatory when tempearture is < -12degC or Humidity is > 97% should be allowed.  The same conditions should be used to for observatory to close if it is open.  The humidity test should hopefully provide protection against haar / fog conditions. Added to CanOpen function in v3.23.2 but functioned is not yet activated.
  Done 2020-05-25 (AstroMain 3.23.2)
    
• Wait on Weather report notices should include the LPad10 note 'Hold' or 'Holding'
  Fixed 2020-05-25 (AstroMain 3.23.2)
    
• What causes CCDSoft to be continually connected to from the start of a session.  Using disconnect from within CCDSoft doesn't work, only using the Close Camera button in AstroMain disconnects the camera.
  Behaviour is understood (AstroMain)
   
• Manual initiated operation to Shutdown observatory should include  sections for closing PHD2 and SharpCap connections
  To do (AstroMain)

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