David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1008 (2022-05-10)

Notes (S1007)

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Notes (S1009)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (5),  Small Defects (2),  Continuous Improvement (5)
	Images from 2022-05-10 >>         [ Local Files >> ]

Session Aims & Highlights (2022-05-10)

Main aims

1. Targets.  Acquire images of a selection of variable stars, nearby stars, comets & deep sky targets as allowed by time & conditions.
2. AstroMain.  Confirm that new 3.51.5 version  of AstroMain is  working ok and that recent fixes/new features haven't introduced any issues or sideeffects

Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
• 80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
• CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft5, DeviceHub 6.6.0.6,  MeadeGeneric 1.3.3.373, UPB 1.5, ASCOM 6.6
• Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.10
   
• AstroMain 3.51.5,  AstroPlan 1.30.4,   AstroShCap 1.3.12, AstroGuard 1.8
  AstroVOE 1.10  AstroSN 1.8.1,  AstroProtect 1.7,  AstroMove 1.9
  (AstroWeather 1.17, AstroAllSky 3.16,  AstroObsCam 1.9, AstroLaunch 1.9.1)

Highlights

•  AstroMain.   Latest versions of AstroMain & AstroPlan program operated without an problems
•  Targets. 10-11 targets were successfully acquired, though quality suffered significantly due to poor sky transparency
•  Sky Transparency.  Sky transparency poor or very poor (diffuse high cloud moving from west to east) 

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 21:55:12 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 22:29 & 02:28 21:55:15   AutoStart Waiting AutoStart waiting till earliest start time at 22:29 22:29:09   AutoStart Delayed Session delayed due to threat of rain 22:55:53 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (22:55) 23:00:23   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -15°C) 23:00:25 Session Created Live Session Created (2022-05-10 S01008, ImageSaveNum: 1008001) 23:00:27   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 23:02:08   Services Started Observatory Services started 23:02:14 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 23:02:18 Session Pending Session pending (2022-05-10) 23:02:20 Session Initiating Session initiating (2022-05-10) 23:02:22   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.30.4) 23:03:07   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (Plan ID: 767) 23:03:20   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -15°C) 23:03:25   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 23:03:49 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 23:04:34   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 23:05:24 Session Running Session running 23:05:27   Queue Started Observing Queue started (15 targets selected) 23:05:30     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 15, HIP 73454) 23:07:04       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-S) 23:07:06       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 23:09:18       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 23:11:05       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 23:11:24     Target Completed Target completed (Focus Field 15, HIP 73454) 23:17:26     Target Started (1/15) Target started (1/15, C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS)) 23:20:50       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is lost (TCF-S) 23:31:56     Target Completed Target completed (1/15, C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS)) 23:33:34     Target Started (2/15) Target started (2/15, Nova Cas 2021) 23:37:06       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:40:19       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 23:42:30       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 23:53:15     Target Completed Target completed (2/15, Nova Cas 2021) 23:53:19     Target Started (3/15) Target started (3/15, UGC 3944 w/SN2022hkc) 00:13:20     Target Completed Target completed (3/15, UGC 3944 w/SN2022hkc) 00:13:24     Target Started (4/15) Target started (4/15, NGC 2880 w/AT2022jjm) 00:16:20       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:18:47       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 00:35:32     Target Completed Target completed (4/15, NGC 2880 w/AT2022jjm) 00:35:36     Target Started (5/15) Target started (5/15, GCVS ER UMa) 00:38:52       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-S) 00:42:45     Target Completed Target completed (5/15, GCVS ER UMa) 00:42:49     Target Started (6/15) Target started (6/15, NGC 4545 w/SN2022fuc) 00:45:44       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is lost (TCF-S) 00:52:07   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 01:01:35     Target Completed Target completed (6/15, NGC 4545 w/SN2022fuc) 01:01:37   Queue Paused Queue paused for Session Suspension 01:01:39 Session Suspended Session suspended 01:02:29   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 50s) 01:03:44 Session Resuming Session resuming 01:04:29   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 01:04:31 Session Running Session running 01:04:33   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 01:04:40     Target Started (7/15) Target started (7/15, NGC 3631 w/AT2022jle) 01:08:05       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is lost (TCF-S) 01:23:06   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 01:24:02     Target Completed Target completed (7/15, NGC 3631 w/AT2022jle) 01:24:04   Queue Paused Queue paused for Session Suspension 01:24:06 Session Suspended Session suspended 01:24:56   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 50s) 01:34:04     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (8/15, HIP 87937) due to cloud 01:53:06     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (9/15, CGMW 5-02942 w/AT2022hfo) due to cloud 02:05:12     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (10/15, KIC 8462852) due to cloud 02:20:08 Session Resuming Session resuming 02:20:53   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 02:20:55 Session Running Session running 02:20:57   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 02:21:00     Target Started (11/15) Target started (11/15, GCVS SS Cyg) 02:29:04     Target Completed Target partially completed (11/15, GCVS SS Cyg) 02:29:08     Target Started (12/15) Target started (12/15, C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS)) 02:43:29     Target Completed Target partially completed (12/15, C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS)) 02:43:33     Target Started (13/15) Target started (13/15, GCVS BL Lac) 02:47:05       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:49:22       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 02:53:28     Target Completed Target completed (13/15, GCVS BL Lac) 02:53:32     Target Started (14/15) Target started (14/15, GCVS CY Lyr) 02:56:53       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:59:10       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 03:03:15     Target Completed Target completed (14/15, GCVS CY Lyr) 03:03:19     Target Started (15/15) Target started (15/15, 61 Cyg) 03:06:55       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:08:57       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 03:10:49     Target Completed Target completed (15/15, 61 Cyg) 03:10:52   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 03:10:54 Session Closing Session closing 03:11:44   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 45s) 03:12:00   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 9s), Az: 90.0 deg 03:13:17   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 72s) 03:13:32   Telescope State Scope parked Turn scope off. (Handbox) 03:13:54   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 03:14:51   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 03:14:53 Session Housekeeping Housekeeping Started (Cleanup FITS, Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 03:15:04 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts

Time     Alert Detail 00:58:18 Dome Dome has been stationary for more than 15 mins 01:04:49 Dome Dome Movements have begun again (outage 21.8 mins)

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Operational Issues (2022-05-10, S1008)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (0)
• Minor Issues (5)
• Small Defects (2)
• Continuous Improvement (5)

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Session was due to start at -10.5 deg Sun Alt but didn't start till -12° Sun Alt.  AutoStart session start time was set up to be -10.5° Sun Alt (-10.5 deg Sun Alt minus 30 minutes), whilst Observing Plan ended at -10.5° Sun Alt (morning), the plan was created commencing at -12° Sun Alt (evening). AutoStart window was set up to start at 22:29, referenced to a Plan Start at -10.5° Sun Alt (22:59), but due to 'threat of rain' weather conditions were acceptable until 22:55, and by time session was created the first target in plan couldn't be scheduled any earlier than  23:22 (which coincidentally was at around Sun Alt -12°). Closed after review 2022-05-11.
  Closed 2022-05-11 (Session) 
   
• Near Zenith Foc1 Focusing unexpectedly failed due to 'Star too dim'. Conditions were clear and Focus Fields (Field 15) in this case are designed to contain a star that is brighter enough to focus upon, even in below-par conditions.  Focus Image and a 8.9' Pointing Error for the subsequent target indicate that telescope wasn't pointing sufficiently close to intended Focus Field coordinates, placing the intending bright star at the very edge of the field of view and the next brightest star was too dim to be used for focusing.  Focusing wasn't affected and prior focus offsets were still valid at start of the session. Telescope was nevertheless automatically focussed ahead of the second target. Issue is understood and is closed.  Telescope pointing is addressed by another Minor Issue ticket.
  Resolved in-session 2022-05-10  (Session) 
   
• 4° dome rotation to Park Azimuth (90°) reported as taking -63,787,835,510s. During Closing stage the dome was commanded to slew from Az 94.0° Az  to Az 90.0°) as part of parking the observatory dome.  Log file times indicate that this took 7s to complete (or around 10s) for the full process including final Park. However the slew was unexpectedly reported as taking -63,787,835,510s.  This is the first time that this issue has been seen. Looking at possibilities : SecondsSince(vcNullDate) = 1,021,149,552.010s,  SecondsSince (default Date) = 63,787,898,585.199s  it would seem that a TimePoint or date variable wasn't assigned. Reviewing code from the SlewDomeToAzimuth() routine,  StartTime = Now() is clearly set.  The log file doesn't contain the expected message 'Dome slewing appears to have started slewing', which means that bDomeSlewStarted doesn't become set to True, but remains set to False, and implies that Dome.Slewing persistently returned False and was never returned True. The log file contains the unexpected message 'Exiting Loop (A Slewing=True state wasn't seen, but the dome has reached the target Az)'.   This indicates that Dome Az is within 0.3° of requested Az, the Dome.Slewing is false and that more than 8s have passed.  The large negative value is produced by  "TimeSlewEnded.Subtract(StartTime).TotalSeconds" in the situation where TimeSlewEnded hasn't been assigned an appropriate value and it still has the default Date value (#1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM#).
  Fixed 2022-05-11 (AstroMain 3.51.6) 
   
• Dome not parked at its correct position.  Examining the Observatory the following day showed the dome orientation was not be in its correct Park position where aperture is centered above the observatory door. Investigating showed that its position was at a physical azimuth 82°, even though Dome was reporting that it was at 90°.  Dome was moved to it correct physical park position, where the  two parts of the battery induction charger are aligned not correctly parked at end of session, and the dome azimuth resynced to a value of 90° using DeviceHub.Dome Other Actions.  This fix, whilst allowing battery charging to take place, was not sufficient as the Dome was again not parked at it's correct physical position at end of following session (2022-05-11, S1009). Issue raised to Major category.  With two successive sessions having the same issue a recalibration of the dome was performed on 2022-05-12.  Dome position to checked again following completion of the future S1010 session.
  Fixed 2022-05-12 (Observatory/Dome) 
   
• Pointing Errors after telescope slew have become unacceptable and impeded NearZenith Focusing.   Pointing errors associated with slews have gradually increased over recent sessions and have reached around 8 or 9'.  Although pointing errors can be corrected by centering,  and can be ironed out by realtime session adjustments the telescope slew to Near Zenith Focus Field was inaccurate to the degree that the expected bright Focus Star didn't lie within CCD's field of view. Pointing error for the slew to first target was found to be 8.9'  and average slew adjustment for the session was -6.21' W, 0.12' N  which confirms that telescope pointing is off in RA. Average slew error for session (with adjustment) was 3.5'.   Telescope was resynced at the start of the next session, and a short mapping run made.  This was successful and the subsequent slew error for the first target being only 3.1' and the average slew error for the whole session being only 1.4' (Slew adjustments :  W 0.92', N -0.47)
  Resolved 2022-05-11 (Observatory/LX200) 

Small Defects

• AstroPlan's Target List is showing galactic AT targets in the form "AT 2022xy  w/AT2022xy", the "w/2022xy" shouldn't be shown in these cases. Likewise for SN targets.
  Fixed 2022-05-11 (AstroPlan 1.30.5) 
   
• Current Session Web page showed a (black/empty) second sky conditions chart  tab (Session.SkyConditionsTab02.png) below the main active tab (Session.SkyConditionsTab02.png).  This would seem to be a mix up such that an empty Tab02.png file wasn't copied into Live Folder at session start or wasn't uploaded to website.  Tab02.png file is a 7 KB file (last modified 2022-05-10 22:58) instead of expected empty 1 KB file (last modified 2022-05-10 22:56).   Timing is coincident with the anomaly that AstroMain took 5 minutes between starting AstroMain process and the new session actually starting.  Decision taken to close issue as this appears to be a one-off anomaly associated with behaviour of AstroMain, rather than a defect in AstroPlan create initial Live Files process.
  Closed 2022-05-11 (Session) 

• Change the web site pages over to using "AT 2022xy" names for transients instead of "AT2022xy" names. This is to fit with the IAU Naming of transients which is the naming used on the TNS website.  Abberviated names such as "NGCxxxx w/AT2022xy" will contain to use shorterned form.  Image files and Store Folder will continue to use names in 'AT2022xy' format for consistency.
  Done 2022-05-11 (Website) 
   
• Change Comments  in Targets Database to use transients in name form "AT 2022xy"  instead of "AT2022xy" names. Used a custom routine FixTargetNames_AT() with SQLite code to replace "AT2" with "AT 2" in target Comment.  Consideration was given to using "AT 2022xy" for target names but decided it carries too much risk/upset to existing file name, folder name,  FITS object name formats.
  Done  2022-05-11 (AstroPlan 1.30.5, Targets Database) 
   
• Modify AstroMain's Building Heading, Build Title, Title2 routines to create transient names in the format "AT 2022xy" rather than "AT2022xy"
  Likewise modify the outine for "SN 2022xy" and "SN 1999xy".
  Done  2022-05-11 (AstroMain 3.51.6) 
   
• Modify AstroSN to create/update AT targets in Target Database with comments in the format "AT 2022xy".
  Done  2022-05-11 (AstroSN 1.8.2) 
   
• Query. Why did the Observatory Session S1008 not initialise until 23:00 when Autostart process had started at 22:55.  How come 5 minutes appears to have been lost from the start-up process ? . Logs show AutoCreateSession running at 22:56:13 ('Calling AssignObservatorySession(SessionType.Live..)' ), Set AutoSaveFolder (.\New\2022-05-10 S01008) at 22:56:13),  with Closing (General) Files at 23:00:03,  and Creating New Session at 23:00:03.  The previous S1007 Sessions doesn't show this 5 minute time delay.   S1008 session had to wait until conditions were acceptable, whilst in session S1007 conditions were immediately acceptable, is this significant?. The S1008 session had an 'AutoSavePath discrepency. Calling SetAutoSaveFolder()' line in log file whilst S1007 session doesn't have this message. Again, is this significant ?.   Closed after review 2023-02-15 due to insufficient information.
  Closed 2023-02-15 (Session / AstroMain) 

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