David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 926 Attempt 4 (2021-10-20)

Notes (S926C)

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Notes (S926)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (3), Small Defects (5), Continuous Improvement (7)
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Session Aims & Highlights (2021-10-20)

Main aims

1. TPoint Model. Check quality of TPoint model created following a sky mapping run conducted the previous night (S926C, 2021-10-19).
2. Dec Motor. Make guiding runs to examine the performance of a new Dec Motor Unit that had been recently installed. 
3. Targets.  Acquire images of a selection of variable stars, nearby stars, comets & deep sky targets as allowed by time & conditions.
4. SkyQuality Chart.  Continue assessment of changes to appearance of new SkyQuality chart.
5. AstroMain. Check on fixes and new features added to AstroMain 3.44.6

Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
• 80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
• CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft5, PHD2 2.6.10,  DeviceHub 6.5.1.4,  MeadeGeneric 1.3.1.361, UPB 1.5, ASCOM 6.5 SP1
• Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.10
   
• AstroMain 3.44.6,  AstroPlan 1.26  AstroShCap 1.3.2, AstroGuard 1.6.2,  AstroVOE 1.8,  AstroSN 1.6,  AstroProtect 1.6
  (AstroWeather 1.13, AstroAllSky 3.12.4, AstroObsCam 1.6.4, AstroLaunch 1.7)

Highlights

• TPoint Model.  T-Point Model seems ok,  Targets successfully slewed to with pointing error of only
   SkyQuality Chart.  Data plotting and data legend, and upload to website all worked ok. Appearence was ok.
   
•  Dec Motor.  New Dec Motor Unit worked ok through the session. During to poor seeing/wind and cloud there was little opportunity to test its guiding performance.
   
•  Targets.   Wind/ prevented the acquistion of any good images from session.  Development of Cloud/FurtherWind and Rain forced the session to be ended early.

Notes:

  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)

Actual Weather vs Pre-Session Weather Forecast

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 23:33:12 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 23:33 & 05:50 23:33:14 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (23:33) 23:33:57   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 23:33:59 Session Created Live Session Created (2021-10-20 S00926, ImageSaveNum: 926001) 23:34:01   Services Started Observatory Services started 23:34:03 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 23:34:04 Session Pending Session pending (2021-10-20) 23:34:06 Session Initiating Session initiating (2021-10-20) 23:34:09   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.26) 23:35:34   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (, Plan ID: 675) 23:35:46   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 23:35:52   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 23:36:15 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 23:36:17 Session Running Session running 23:36:20   Queue Started Observing Queue started (25 targets selected) 23:36:22     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 0, HIP 106) 23:37:53       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:40:29       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 23:42:45       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 23:42:49       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 23:45:09       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 23:46:59       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 23:47:18     Target Completed Target completed (Focus Field 0, HIP 106) 23:48:11     Target Started (1/25) Target started (1/25, Nova Cas 2021) 23:51:46       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:55:00       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 00:02:38     Target Completed Target completed (1/25, Nova Cas 2021) 00:02:40     Target Started (2/25) Target started (2/25, Vega) 00:06:46     Target Completed Target completed (2/25, Vega) 00:07:58     Target Started (3/25) Target started (3/25, GCVS RR Lyr) 00:22:04     Target Completed Target completed (3/25, GCVS RR Lyr) 00:22:06     Target Started (4/25) Target started (4/25, Vega) 00:26:14     Target Completed Target completed (4/25, Vega) 00:28:19     Target Started (5/25) Target started (5/25, AT2021zkf) 00:31:16       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:34:22       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 00:51:49     Target Completed Target completed (5/25, AT2021zkf) 00:51:52     Target Started (6/25) Target started (6/25, NGC 6184 w/SN2021wkv) 01:11:28   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (reducing clarity) 01:11:43 Critical Rain Alert Critical Rain Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Shutter) 01:11:45   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend is called due to Critical Conditions (rain) 01:11:47     Target Aborted (6/25) Target aborted (6/25, NGC 6184 w/SN2021wkv) due to rain 01:11:49   Queue Paused Queue paused for Session Suspension 01:11:51 Session Suspended Session suspended 01:12:38   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 50s) 01:30:53     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (7/25, UGC 235 w/AT2021aazm) due to wind 01:44:45     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (8/25, M31 w/AT2021aaxp) due to rain 01:58:21     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (9/25, GCVS U And) due to wind 02:19:13     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (10/25, UGC 1977 w/AT2021irz) due to wind 02:31:31     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (11/25, GCVS BL Lac) due to wind 02:51:23     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (12/25, NGC 9 w/SN2021zju) due to wind 03:07:45     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (13/25, Nova Per 2020) due to wind 03:22:33     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (14/25, 10P/Tempel) due to wind 03:44:55     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (15/25, UGC 3240 w/SN2021vau) due to wind 03:50:13 User Intervention User request to close and finish session 03:50:16   Queue Aborted Job Queue aborted 03:50:18 Session Closing Session closing 03:50:23   Dome Closed Dome already closed (closed at 01:12, closing time 50s) 03:51:23   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 52s), Az: 90.0 deg 03:53:03   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 92s) 03:53:18   Telescope State Scope parked Turn scope off. (Handbox) 03:53:38   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 03:54:25   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 03:54:27 Session Housekeeping Housekeeping Started (Cleanup FITS, Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 03:54:43 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts

Time     Alert Detail 23:50:03 Dome Discrepency Difference between Telescope Az and Dome Az is > 8 deg (Nova Cas 2021)

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Operational Issues (2021-10-20, S926 Attempt 4)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (0)
• Minor Issues (3)
• Small Defects (5)
• Continuous Improvement (7)

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Foc1 Autofocusing handling of exception in TakeFocusFrame is messy and might prevent a focus profile from happening.  After taking an initial 1s Focus Frame (designed to check focus star and determine best exposure to use for the focus profile) an exception was encountered and was reported  "Failed   Arithmetric operation resulted in an overflow'   without a preceding AddComment to say what had failed.  Reporting needs to be cleaner and more informative (user friendly). White space needs to be added after message before following report line. Code fixed to give clearer reporting . Exception was due to logging of Starflux  where the code CStr(CInt(RawFlux)) was producing exception message when RawFlux was a value like 2E39. Code line is now placed within its own try..catch..end try block.
  Fixed 2021-10-21 (AstroMain 3.44.7)   
   
• The Camera Reset facility added recently to AstroObsCam isn't working correctly when called by the ObsCam Manager.   The program alternates between 'camera connected' and 'camera disconnected' states without resolving the camera connectivity issue. The 'Number of resets' field shows that the number of reset attempts had reached 4184 ! .  The issue began around 2021-10-21 10:24 and lasted until 16:55 when the problem was spotted and resolved by manually closing & restarting services. Bug found (camera is made to reset when nLockedCaptures counter reaches 6 but the counter wasn't being reset to 0, so the reset operation was being repeatedly called). 
  Fixed 2021-10-22 (AstroObsCam 1.6.5)   
   
• ObsCam reference frames are taken too soon after connecting to the camera. More time should be taken before the reference frame is taken to make sure that it isn't too dark because the camera auto exposure hasn't had time to settle down.  Without this step it seems that the image analysis concludes that the scope isn't parked because the images are deemed to be too far different from the opening reference image.  Finally fixed in AstroObsCam 1.7.
  Done 2021-10-27 (AstroObsCam 1.7)   

Small Defects

• Take Cam2 Reference produces two  "Fail   Failed to link" message when linking  fails instead of just a single fail message.   LinkCam2GuideFrame() routine examined and bug found & resolved.
  Fixed 2021-10-21 (AstroMain 3.44.7)   
   
• Session Local JPG Page didn't contain an AllSky picture for Target 6/25 (NGC 6184) although one was available. The Target section  'NGC 6184 w/SN2021wkv' didn't contain an AllSky picture showing the target position on the Sky although a picture file (AllSky.20211020.235324.00541492.an.NGC 6184 w SN.jpg) is available in the session'a s _Scope subfolder.  Issue is caused by change in 'scope' image filename produced by the AstroAllSky from '.NGC 6184 wSN.jpg' format to .NGC 6184 w SN.jpg' . BuildJpgPicturePage() modified so that either format will produce a match and allow the AllSky image to be displayed on the local .htm page.  Routine was also modified to accept matches with either ' wAT' or ' w AT' which was causing a similar issue.
  Fixed 2021-10-21 (AstroMain 3.44.7)   
   
• When trying to open session log folder or session folder from AstroMove session's tab the 2021-10-19 S00926 session is listed but folders won't open. Session folder has been renamed '2021-10-10 S00926 Attempt 3' but AstroMain continues to look for '2021-10-19 S00926' folder even after the 'Refresh (list)'  operation is used .
  Done 2021-10-22 (AstroMove 1.7.10)   
   
• When starting Services the TCP/IP port number for the ObsEnv service is reported as 0.   Port number (4020) is reported correctly when service is 'Started already'. Fixed
  Done 2021-10-22  (AstroMain 3.44.7)
   
• The Observatory State 'Running (softsuspend)' is too long for display on ObsCam picture. This state is rarely seen, but in order to improve picture annotation when it does occur add special handing to replace '(softsuspend)' by '(SS)' .  Code to replace string added to TeleCommsReciever.ParseDataRecord() routine.
  Done 2021-10-21 (AstroObsCam 1.6.5) 

Continuous Improvement

• Add code to reset the displayed number of Camera resets when starting services.  Whilst nCameraResets is set to 0 when StartServices() is run, it doesn't write the value to the program's main window and the older value continues to be shown until the camera is reset again, when it would be displayed as '1'.
  Done 2021-10-20 (AstroObsCam 1.6.5)   
   
• Columns for logfile line 'Calibrate Spectra' is compromised and need to be chnaged.  The S3a parameter  'Calibrate' is too long and pushes other columns out by one place disrupting the file's intended column formattting. Can probably use either 'Calibr.  Spectra'   or  'Do   CalibrateSpectra' to resolve the issue.
  Done 2021-10-21  (AstroMain 3.44.7) 
   
• Query: The last two 180s frames for Target 6/25 (NGC 6184) were nearly saturated (JPG pictures with flat off-white background).  Very bright moonlit clouds entered the starfield from the NW horizon. Issue understood and can be closed.
  Closed 2021-10-21  (Session)
   
• Closeout the SkyQualityChart by redrawing the Chart with a simple legend (without curves values) at end of session.
  Done 2021-10-21  (AstroMain 3.44.7)
   
• Report Rain & Clarity information if it is raining at the time that  Dome Closing finishes 
   e.g.     'Close Dome...     Ok     Dome is Parked (closing time 49s, Rain: 2.4, Clarity 22.0)'
  Done 2021-10-21  (AstroMain 3.44.7)
   
• Formatting of 'Planned Targets' List should be modified to allow more space for displaying the target name. The target '67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko' is one character wider than the space allotted to the target name column, which pushes the other column data out by one extra character.  Two extra spaces can be gained by removing the initial Tab2 string and aligning the table with the left hand margin. 
  Done 2021-10-21  (AstroMain 3.44.7)
   
• Move 'Check Dome Position' to lie outside of Centering Section.   Check Dome Position is currently position after the end of first Locate frame , but it rather breaks up the smooth reporting of centering operations.   Option is to place it directly after slew/before Centering or after Centeing/before Guiding Start.   Originally there was a reason for adding a delay beteen the slew and checking dome position but that may not apply anymore, given the fixes that have been incorporated into the DeviceHub driver.  Decision made to place check at a position directly after the slew.  In principle that is the appropriate time where something should be done if things are not 'correct'. For time being the  Dome.TestForStalledDome(0) action is commented out.
  Done 2021-10-21  (AstroMain 3.44.7)
   
• Modify SkyQualityChart so that a RMS curve segment isn't plotted if PeakY is <200 or C Term is > 500.   Gaussian curve isn't really applicable for very flat histograms, associated with very bright sky backgrounds and it would be better not to draw attention to the RMS curve in such situations.
  Done 2021-10-21  (AstroMain 3.44.7)
   
• AstroObsCam UI responsiveness is too slow and need to be improved . Main Window is slow to drag around the screen. This is believed to be due to execution of CamCapture on the UI Thread ?).  Investigate how CamCapture can be moved to an independant thread, but still function successfully and interact with the picture boxes on the UI.  First attempt failed Sub cam_FrameSaved(ByVal capImage As System.Drawing.Bitmap, ByVal imgPath As String) Handles cam.FrameSaved  doesn't like cam being made a global object instead of a parameter of the main Form.   Error compiling :   "Handles clause requires a WithEvents variable defined in the containing type or one of its base types"  (The Handles keyword at the end of a procedure declaration causes it to handle events raised by an object variable declared using the WithEvents keyword).  Using the 'change software till its breaks'  method reveals that the routine that slows down the UI is probably not the Cam object itself but the 'cam_FrameSaved' routine in Form1 which operates as a handler for the cam.FrameSave event, and does the main work of moving the Camera picture to main display box.   Second attempt produced a better result , but needs to be tested with Live camera.  'Locked' shows for up to 1.5s which may or may not be a problem.  Hence the required test with live camera. Essentially delieved/fixed in AstroObsCam 1.6.7. Closed after testing on AllSky Computer with AstroObsCam 1.7,
  Done 2021-10-27 (AstroObsCam 1.6.7 & 1.7)   

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