David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 900 Attempt (2021-06-04)

Notes (S899)

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Notes (S900)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (1),  Small Defects (2), Continuous Improvement (2)
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Session Attempt (2021-06-04)

Main aims

1. AstroMain.  Try out AstroMain 3.40.3, following further refactoring of code connected with reporting and logging.  Check out fixes and enhancements. Check for any new issues / introduced bugs.
2. Guiding.  Collect information to understand the impact of focuser movements & associated change in weight distribution on guiding
3. Targets. Acquire images of a various targets as allowed by time & conditions

Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
• 80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
• CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft5, PHD2,  DeviceHub 6.5.1.4,  MeadeLX200GPS / MeadeGeneric 1.1.0.337, UPB 1.5, ASCOM 6.5 SP1
• Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.9Dev5
   
• AstroMain 3.40.3,  AstroPlan 1.22.1,  AstroShCap 1.3.11, AstroGuard 1.6,   AstroVOE 1.7, AstroSN 1.5.1,  AstroProtect 1.6
  (AstroWeather 1.12.4, AstroAllSky 3.10.4, AstroObsCam 1.5.5 )

Highlights

•   AstroMain.  Autostart Monitoring ran but there were no opportunities to start session within the specified AutoStart window.

Lowlights

•   Conditions. Conditions unsuitable for observing until close to dawn.

Notes:

• None

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)

Actual Weather vs Pre-Session Weather Forecast

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 23:34:34 Dome Shutter Pulsar Shutter is deemed to be asleep (last fresh data was at 23:06:23) 23:34:53 Dome Shutter Pulsar Shutter has woken up (fresh data started at 23:34:53, outage 28.5mins)

Session Alerts

Time     Alert Detail -- No Alerts                --

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Operational Issues (2021-06-04, S900A)

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

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

•  None

Minor Issues

• Observatory Manager became frozen after 'AutoStart Waiting' reached end of AutoStart Window and returned to Manual Mode (Attempted Session 2021-06-04).  Logs show that the Observatory Overseer began issuing Frozen Obs.Manager Alerts from 00:47:42 onwards.   This coincides with the time (00:47) that the observatory was returned to Manual Mode from its earlier AutoStart Monitoring Mode.  An 'Auto-Select Focuser Position' dialog requesting user confirmation  to move the TCF-S focuser to the proposed best focus position, was unexpectedly showing when the Observatory session was checked in the morning.  Since this dialog couldn't have been produced by Job Queue (since a live Observing Session hadn't been started,  it is probable that it was started instead by the Obs.Manager.   It is highly probable that the dialog was put up at 00:47 when the session moved to manual mode.   The dialog and a log message at  00:47:27 'Set Camera.Filter,  Confirming C filter (1)'  suggests that code was being executed that was trying to Move Focuser into the calculated Best Focus Position for C Filter.  Without the user being present  the Obs.Manager was left waiting in vain for a response to the dialog  (i.e. it became frozen). This issue is almost certainly due to an unplanned consequence of adding extra code in 3.40.3 to move the focuser back to best positon for C filter when returning to Manual Mode.  Fixed in AstroMain 3.40.4 by adding a Mode parameter to SetFocAutoPosition() routine allowing the dialog to be skipped when mode is specified as cdAutoMode.
  Fixed 2021-06-05 (AstroMain 3.40.4)

Small Defects

• Weather Station Flag on Observatory Tab isn't reset when Services Stopped. Green Flag continues to be shown even though Weather Station service is no longer running. (ie. when Weather Station data is no longer being received from AllSKy/Weather Computer)
  Fixed 2021-06-07 (AstroMain 3.40.5)
   
• Dome Shutter Warning Event was issued that Shutter was deemed to be asleep when it wasn't.  An event "Pulsar Shutter is deemed to be asleep (last fresh data was at 23:06:23)" was generated ahead of atttempted session on 2021-06-04 and written to the Database Events table at 23:34:34 This occured after AstroMain program was updated with a new version and there was a delay between old program run and the new run, creating a 'false alarm'.  The event was generated as the last change in Shutter data was more than 20 minutes ago.  But without This situation should be recognised by the monitor and no event warning should be issued.   Fix implemented in AstroMain 3.40.5 by ensuring that Dome is open and that we are looking at a data row less than 3 minutes old.
  Fixed 2021-06-07 (AstroMain 3.40.5)

Continuous Improvement

• More improvements to Log and Report Messaging.  Variety of changes made to improve the clarity and presentation of log and report messages.
    Done 2021-06-05 (AstroMain 3.40.4)
   
• Add Forecast Sky Luminosity (Log L) to AstroMain's Realtime & Reduced File Analysis.  Copy 'Calculated Log L' code from AstroPlan to AstroMain and access from Image Analysis routines to compare with actual sky brightness measurements.  GetSkyLogLuminosity() functions added to AstroMain 3.40.5.  At the moment LogL is not reported during Live Sessions, but is accessed from AnalyseSunMoon() routine to report Luminosity and LogL during post-session analysis of reduced frames.   A future enhancement would be to add LogL to the session's (summ).dat file.
  Done 2021-06-07 (AstroMain 3.40.5)

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