David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 883 (2021-04-12)

Notes (S882)

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Notes (S884)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (4),  Continuous Improvement (1)
	Images from 2021-04-12 >>     [ Local Files >> ]

Session Aims & Highlights (2021-04-12)

Main aims

1. Targets. Acquire images of a selection of variable stars, nearby stars, comets & deep sky targets as allowed by conditions

Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
• 80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
• CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft5, PHD2,  DeviceHub 6.5.1.0,  UPB 1.5, ASCOM 6.5 SP1
• Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.9Dev4
   
• AstroMain 3.38.14,  AstroPlan 1.21.6,  AstroShCap 1.3.11, AstroGuard 1.6,   AstroVOE 1.7, AstroSN 1.5,  AstroProtect 1.6
  (AstroWeather 1.12.4, AstroAllSky 3.10.3, AstroObsCam 1.5.5 )

Highlights

•   CCDSoft [0000] Issue.  Information collected that shows that [0000] issue can be caused when HardSuspend aborts a CCDSoft Camera image with exposured time < 60s.

Lowlights

•   .

Summary Plots & Logs

Observing Plan

Observing Result

Dome & Scope Slewing Performance

Slew/Centering Performance

Guiding Performance Points from Guide Runs 2, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21 have inccorrectly been ascribed large RMS values but they really have normal RMS values. They appear black (RMS > 5") due a Guide Frame Plate Scale bug, but actually have similar guiding performance to other guide runs. Dec Notes : Run 11 (red) impacted by wrong or non-enabled Dec Guide Mode

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)

Actual Weather vs Pre-Session Weather Forecast

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 20:57:30 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity starting between 21:16 & 03:59 21:16:43   AutoStart Waiting AutoStart waiting till earliest start time at 21:16 21:16:44   AutoStart Delayed Session delayed due to cloud 21:26:59 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (21:26) 21:27:30 Session Created Live Session Created (2021-04-12 S00883, ImageSaveNum: 883001) 21:27:32   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 21:29:29   Services Started Observatory Services started 21:29:38 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 21:29:41 Session Pending Session pending (2021-04-12) 21:29:43 Session Initiating Session initiating (2021-04-12) 21:29:45   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.21.6) 21:30:58   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (, Plan ID: 622) 21:31:11   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 21:31:17   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 21:31:28 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 21:32:24   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 21:32:40   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 21:37:39   Equilibration Ended Dome Equilibration ended (5.0 mins total) 21:37:42 Session Running Session running 21:37:44   Queue Started Observing Queue started (22 targets selected) 21:39:00       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:42:07       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 21:44:08       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 21:44:12       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 21:46:32       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 21:48:27       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 21:48:44       Focusing Checked Foc2 Focusing Check Succeeded 21:53:37     Target Started (1/22) Target started (1/22, NGC 3310 w/SN2021gmj) 22:13:32     Target Completed Target partially completed (1/22, NGC 3310 w/SN2021gmj) 22:13:34     Target Started (2/22) Target started (2/22, NGC 4165 w/SN2021gno) 22:17:36       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:19:37       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 22:32:54     Target Completed Target completed (2/22, NGC 4165 w/SN2021gno) 22:33:23     Target Started (3/22) Target started (3/22, Nova Per 2020 (CV)) 22:36:41       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:38:40       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 22:47:18     Target Completed Target completed (3/22, Nova Per 2020 (CV)) 22:48:15     Target Started (4/22) Target started (4/22, NGC 4227 w/SN2021biz) 22:53:34       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:55:38       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 23:11:13     Target Completed Target completed (4/22, NGC 4227 w/SN2021biz) 23:11:16     Target Started (5/22) Target started (5/22, NGC 3384) 23:14:27       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:16:17       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 23:32:17     Target Completed Target completed (5/22, NGC 3384) 23:32:30     Target Started (6/22) Target started (6/22, GCVS CN Leo) 23:36:23       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:38:25       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 23:45:21     Target Completed Target completed (6/22, GCVS CN Leo) 23:45:41     Target Started (7/22) Target started (7/22, NGC 4281) 23:49:01       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:51:07       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 00:06:41     Target Completed Target completed (7/22, NGC 4281) 00:08:03     Target Started (8/22) Target started (8/22, M61 w/AT2021ilb) 00:11:34       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:13:45       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 00:29:38     Target Completed Target completed (8/22, M61 w/AT2021ilb) 00:29:55     Target Started (9/22) Target started (9/22, NGC 5018 w/SN2021fxy) 00:33:59       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:36:01       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 10) 00:52:01     Target Completed Target completed (9/22, NGC 5018 w/SN2021fxy) 00:52:03     Target Started (10/22) Target started (10/22, AT2021hut) 00:55:46       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - unable to find a star (TCF-S) 00:57:48 Critical Cloud Alert Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Shutter) 00:57:50   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend is called due to Critical Conditions (cloud) 00:57:52   CCDSoft Issue CCDSoft has encountered an image save issue [0000] 00:57:54   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft restarting in attempt to fix image save issue [0000] 00:57:56   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (reducing clarity) 00:58:10   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -25°C) 00:59:49 Session Suspended Session suspended 01:00:38   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 49s) 01:01:20     Target Aborted (10/22) Target aborted (10/22, AT2021hut) due to cloud 01:01:22   Queue Paused Queue paused For Session Suspension 01:10:39     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (10/22, AT2021hut) due to cloud 01:13:04 Session Resuming Session resuming 01:13:49   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 01:13:51 Session Running Session running 01:13:53   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 01:13:55     Target Started (11/22) Target started (11/22, MCG +6-30-84 w/SN2021K) 01:16:44       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:18:49       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 11) 01:34:41     Target Completed Target completed (11/22, MCG +6-30-84 w/SN2021K) 01:36:01     Target Started (12/22) Target started (12/22, C/2020 T2 (Palomar)) 01:40:18       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-S) 01:56:17     Target Completed Target completed (12/22, C/2020 T2 (Palomar)) 01:56:20     Target Started (13/22) Target started (13/22, UGC 10310) 02:00:26       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:02:33       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 12) 02:24:38     Target Completed Target completed (13/22, UGC 10310) 02:24:40     Target Started (14/22) Target started (14/22, IC 863 w/SN2021foa) 02:28:36       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:30:49       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 13) 02:46:56     Target Completed Target completed (14/22, IC 863 w/SN2021foa) 02:46:58     Target Started (15/22) Target started (15/22, IC 992 w/SN2021dwg) 02:51:32       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-S) 03:08:17     Target Completed Target completed (15/22, IC 992 w/SN2021dwg) 03:08:19     Target Started (16/22) Target started (16/22, 61 Cyg) 03:12:18       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:14:08       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 14) 03:15:25     Target Completed Target completed (16/22, 61 Cyg) 03:15:27     Target Started (17/22) Target started (17/22, GCVS BL Lac) 03:18:49       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:20:41       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 15) 03:24:15     Target Completed Target completed (17/22, GCVS BL Lac) 03:24:30     Target Started (18/22) Target started (18/22, AT2021hkn) 03:29:54       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:31:44       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 16) 03:47:43     Target Completed Target completed (18/22, AT2021hkn) 03:47:46     Target Started (19/22) Target started (19/22, GCVS HH And) 03:52:51       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:54:52       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 17) 03:56:38     Target Completed Target completed (19/22, GCVS HH And) 03:56:40     Target Started (20/22) Target started (20/22, WDS GRB 34) 03:59:32       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 04:01:22       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 18) 04:03:14     Target Completed Target completed (20/22, WDS GRB 34) 04:03:16     Target Started (21/22) Target started (21/22, HIP 87937) 04:06:51       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 04:08:40       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 19) 04:11:26     Target Completed Target completed (21/22, HIP 87937) 04:11:28     Target Started (22/22) Target started (22/22, 7P/Pons-Winnecke) 04:15:06       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 04:16:57       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 20) 04:30:15     Target Completed Target completed (22/22, 7P/Pons-Winnecke) 04:30:18   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 04:30:20 Session Closing Session closing 04:31:13   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 50s) 04:31:53   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 32s), Az: 90.0 deg 04:32:30   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 29s) 04:33:00   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 04:33:50   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 04:33:52 Session Housekeeping Housekeeping Started (Cleanup FITS, Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 04:34:13 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts

Time     Alert Detail 21:54:51 Dome Discrepency Difference between Telescope Az and Dome Az is > 8 deg (NGC 3310) 00:57:49 CCDSoft Image file [0000] hasn't been saved to disk, possible CCDSoft issue 01:14:36 CCDSoft Image file has been saved to disk following CCDSoft Restart

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Operational Issues (2021-04-12 S883)

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

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• CCDSoft encountered image save issue  (00:57).  Image file [0000] wasn't saved to disk  at 00:37 whilst taking images for Target 10/22 (AT2021hut) which is a known occasional issue.   Issue automatically resolved by restarting CCDSoft without further loss of images.  As per last session (S882) the issue occurred at same time the session was performing a hard abort, whereby image is aborted via call to Camera.Abort and the aborting image. When this is done with image exposed for less than 60s the image isn't downloaded and there is no image to save.
  Automatically resolved 2021-04-12 (AstroMain)
   
• Guiding Results for Target 2/22 (NGC 4165) showing unexpectedly large RMS values (167") and unusual GuideSummary Chart plots (22:16 to 22:31).  Beside NGC 4165 (Run 2) the issue also affected five other targets: IC 992 (Run15), GCVS BL Lac (Run 17), AT2021hkn (Run 18),  WDS GRB 34 (Run 20) & HIP 97937/Barnards Star (Run 21).  A screen capture of PHD2 History Graph for NGC 4165 guide run doesn't show any problem and images of NGC 4165 and AT2021hkn don't show any particular guiding issue, and certainly nothing like that suggested by Guide Summary Chart & Guide Stats.  PHD2 log doesn't show anything unusual in Event messages, dx, dy, RADistanceRaw, DecDistanceRaw values look normal, and can't explain the RMS values sent to GuideChart or tabulated.  The session's (guide).dat tabulates guide data sent to the GuideSummary Chart and this shows the anomolously large dx,dy, Dist values.  Issue hasn't been noticed before and it was surprising to find 6 incidences in this session.   Guiding Params are reported with a ImageScale: -99.000"/px for the problem guide runs whilst they are reported as ImageScale: 1.031"/px  for normal guide runs.   Bug identified to be due exception in PHD2.GetPixelScale() routine which then return vcNull.
  get_pixel_scale at 22:16:21 (used for NGC 4165 guide chart header), returned  a response with "result":1.03132,  whilst get_pixel_scale request at 22:16:43 (used for NGC 4165 Dist dx, dy conversion) didn't lead to any response from PHD2 and hence vcNull (-99) was returned by the function. Fixed in AstroMain 3.38.15 by replacing vcNull with suitable replacement value (1.02)
  Fixed 2021-04-13 (AstroMain 3.38.15)
   
• Guide Star S/N falling in value through Guiding Run 1. Target 1/22 (NGC 3310) was near zenith and sky was clear throughout the guide run. Guide star was GSC 3816:144 (mag 10.33) and is not known as a variable star.   Being near to zenith it is possible that the guidescope's view of the sky became gradually occuluded during the observation secondary scope by roof. This is the probable explanation in this case.   Even if a check was made on the stars seen initially with the guidescope it couldn't have foreseen that the guide star would gradually dim as the guidescope's view become occuluded.
  Issue explained (Observatory)
   
• Centering of Target 3/22 (Nova Per 2020) failed. Locate frames backtracking to final image from previous target and not linking. Problem believed to be due to CCDSoft Camera becoming somehow reset from SBIG ST-10/10XE  to SBIG ST-2000XM.   Resolved in session by changing CCDSoft Camera back to correct SBIG camera.  A similar issue occurred in some previous session.   It is assumed that the issue occurred by an erronous mouse click produced during remote operation of the observatory computer.
  Resolved in session 2021-04-12 (AstroMain/Session/CCDSoft) 

Continuous Improvement

• Query. CCDSoft encountered image save (0000) issue following a HardSuspend/Camera.Abort . Is a CCDSoft restart actually still required in this situation or not. An investigation was carried out which concluded that a CCDSoft Restart is not necessary in this situation - it can be assumed that image hasn't been saved due to Camera.Abort being called from AbortTargetExplicit() when an immediate HardSuspend has been commanded by Observatory Manager.  Code has been modified in AstroMain 3.40.2  so that in event of an unexpected unsaved image the SignalUnsavedImageFile() and RestartCCDSoft() are not called if bHardSuspend=True.
  Done  2021-05-29 (AstroMain 3.40.2)

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