David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1024 (2022-08-04)

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	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (1),  Minor Issues (7),  Small Defects (3),  Continuous Improvement (8)
	Images from 2022-08-04 >>        [ Local Files >> ]

Session Aims & Highlights (2022-08-04)

Main aims

1. AstroMain. Check out fixes and new features in 3.53.2 version of AstroMain. Ensure that new version hasn't introduced any new issues. 
2. Dome Slaving. Check revised workaround to sideeffect of the change to AbortSlew/Slaved in DeviceHub 6.6.0.16
3. C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS). Acquire images of comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS).
4. Targets.  Acquire images of a selection of variable stars, nearby stars, comets & deep sky targets as allowed by time & twilight conditions.

 Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
• 80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
• CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft5, DeviceHub 6.6.0.16,  MeadeGeneric 1.3.5.414, UPB 1.5, ASCOM 6.6
• Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.10
   
• AstroMain 3.53.2,  AstroPlan 1.30.10,   AstroShCap 1.3.12, AstroGuard 1.8.2
  AstroVOE 1.10  AstroSN 1.8.2,  AstroProtect 1.7,  AstroMove 1.9.1
  (AstroWeather 1.17.4, AstroAllSky 3.16,  AstroObsCam 1.9, AstroLaunch 1.9.4)

Highlights

•  AstroMain. AstroMain 3.53.2 operated without any new issues or problems during the session
•  Dome Slaving. Revised solution to resolve sideeffects the change made in DeviceHub 6.6.0.16 seem to have worked ok
• C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS). Images of comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) were obtained but required user intervention to set it as a ToO (target of opportunity), to abort / replace original Target 1/14 (NGC 5875).
•  Targets. 14 targets were successfully acquired (though some were affected by poor/failed guiding)
•  Guiding.  A number of targets were affected by poor image guiding due to PHD2 autoselecting very faint guide stars (with SNR as low as 4-5) which were too easily lost (fixed mid-session by setting the minimum guide star SNR to 50).

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 23:44:19 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 23:44 & 03:03 23:46:57 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (23:46) 23:47:25 Session Created Session Created (Live, 2022-08-04 S01024, ImageSaveNum: 1024001) 23:47:28   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 23:49:12   Services Started Observatory Services started 23:49:19 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 23:49:23 Session Pending Session pending (2022-08-04) 23:49:25 Session Initiating Session initiating (2022-08-04) 23:49:27   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.30.11) 23:49:56   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (Plan ID: 786) 23:50:17   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (set point -15°C) 23:50:24   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 23:50:49 Session Equilibration Session ready to Open Dome 23:51:34   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 23:52:29 Session Running Session running 23:52:32   Queue Started Observing Queue started (14 targets selected) 23:52:35     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 20, HIP 98535) 23:52:48   Dome Unparked Dome unparked 23:54:53       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-S) 23:54:56       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 23:55:12     Target Completed Target completed (Focus Field 20, HIP 98535) 00:05:55     Target Started (1/14) Target started (1/14, NGC 5875 w/SN2022oqm) 00:08:45     Target Aborted (1/14) Target aborted (1/14, NGC 5875 w/SN2022oqm) due to Priority 1 ToO Target 00:08:49     Target Started (2/15) Target started (2/15, C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS), ToO) 00:12:06       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-S) 00:20:58     Target Completed Target completed (2/15, C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS), ToO) 00:27:55     Target Started (3/15) Target started (3/15, C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS)) 00:30:54       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:34:44       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 00:36:58       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 00:48:26     Target Completed Target completed (3/15, C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS)) 00:48:31     Target Started (4/15) Target started (4/15, NGC 6745 w/SN2022prr) 01:09:35     Target Completed Target completed (4/15, NGC 6745 w/SN2022prr) 01:09:40     Target Started (5/15) Target started (5/15, NGC 6888) 01:12:40       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:14:43       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 01:35:20     Target Completed Target completed (5/15, NGC 6888) 01:35:25     Target Started (6/15) Target started (6/15, NGC 5894 w/SN2022pgf) 01:56:30     Target Completed Target completed (6/15, NGC 5894 w/SN2022pgf) 01:56:34     Target Started (7/15) Target started (7/15, GCVS Z And) 02:00:17       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:02:28       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 02:07:17     Target Completed Target completed (7/15, GCVS Z And) 02:07:22     Target Started (8/15) Target started (8/15, GCVS EV Lac) 02:10:05       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:12:26       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 02:14:59     Target Completed Target completed (8/15, GCVS EV Lac) 02:15:04     Target Started (9/15) Target started (9/15, NGC 6701 w/AT2022nxe) 02:18:40       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:20:53       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 02:36:55     Target Completed Target completed (9/15, NGC 6701 w/AT2022nxe) 02:37:00     Target Started (10/15) Target started (10/15, 61 Cyg) 02:38:44       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 02:40:52       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6, wide) 02:42:37       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 02:45:53     Target Completed Target completed (10/15, 61 Cyg) 02:45:57     Target Started (11/15) Target started (11/15, GCVS SS Cyg) 02:52:51     Target Completed Target completed (11/15, GCVS SS Cyg) 02:56:37     Target Started (12/15) Target started (12/15, GCVS BL Lac) 02:59:18       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:01:16       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 03:05:06     Target Completed Target completed (12/15, GCVS BL Lac) 03:06:43     Target Started (13/15) Target started (13/15, GCVS HH And) 03:09:21       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:11:44       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 03:13:42     Target Completed Target completed (13/15, GCVS HH And) 03:14:46     Target Started (14/15) Target started (14/15, WDS GRB 34) 03:17:25       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:19:28       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 03:21:27     Target Completed Target completed (14/15, WDS GRB 34) 03:22:49     Target Started (15/15) Target started (15/15, GCVS RX And) 03:23:35   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (reducing clarity) 03:25:37       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:27:55   Critical Cloud Alert Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Dome) 03:27:57   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend is called due to Critical Conditions (cloud) 03:27:59       Focusing Aborted Foc1 Focusing Check Aborted 03:28:01       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 10) 03:28:03     Target Aborted (15/15) Target aborted (15/15, GCVS RX And) due to cloud 03:28:05   Queue Paused Queue paused for Session Suspension 03:28:07 Session Suspended Session suspended 03:28:50   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 49s) 03:39:52 Session Resuming Session resuming 03:40:37   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 03:40:39 Session Running Session running 03:40:41   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 03:40:44     Target Started (15/15) Target started (15/15, GCVS RX And) 03:42:02   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (reducing clarity) 03:42:47   SoftSuspend Cancelled Soft Suspend is cancelled due to improved conditions 03:44:17   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (reducing clarity) 03:45:03     Target Completed Target completed (15/15, GCVS RX And) 03:45:05   Queue Paused Queue paused for Session Suspension 03:45:08 Session Suspended Session suspended 03:45:52   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 45s) 03:45:54   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 03:45:58 Session Closing Session closing 03:46:03   Dome Closed Dome already closed (closed at 03:45, closing time 45s) 03:46:33   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 22s), Az: 90.0 deg 03:47:50   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 71s) 03:48:05   Telescope State Scope parked Turn scope off. (Handbox) 03:48:27   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 03:49:20   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 03:49:22 Session Housekeeping Session Housekeeping started (Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 03:49:33 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts

Time     Alert Detail -- No Alerts                --

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Operational Issues (2022-08-04, S1024)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (1)
• Minor Issues (7)
• Small Defects (3)
• Continuous Improvement (8)
  

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• Near Zenith Focusing, both Foc1 & Foc2 focusing failed (23:54).   Report File shows Foc1 focusing failed as "The brightest star was too dim" ,  Foc2 focusing failed as "Unable to find star" (and both focusing failed.  Since both Foc1 and Foc2 failed with same reason, it raises the question over whether the sky region was covered by cloud or was occluded by the observatory roof.  Since Locate Frames & Centering operations worked ok, a problem with dome position can be ruled out. Missing AllSky Scope pictures prevented a quick assessment of the cloud cover. Searching for and examining AllSky frames from the same time point show a cloud passing across the starfield at the time that focus images were taken.  JPG pictures shown a good 3s focus locate frame, but brightest star isn't particularly bright and is possibly even dimmer in 1.5s check frame. Foc1 focusing for C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS) and NGC 6888 working perfectly fine.  Image linking shows that telescope was correctly centered on the intended star (HIP 98535 9, Mag 7.1)
  Issue explained / no action required (Session)

Minor Issues

• Session resumed with AllSkyStars Count of  0-1 stars (03:39). Session suspended during Target 15/15 (RX And) ar 03:28 with Clarity 22.6 & Stars 1, and then resumed at 03:39 with Clarity 29.3 & Stars 0.  It can be argued that session shouldn't resumed as 'Suspend when Few Stars' option was checked with a Too Fews Threshold of 16.  Sun Alt at time was -9.77°, which is at a point where Stars Count is reducing during to brightening twilight sky. Examing the CanResume() routine shows that 'TooFewStars' reason in only raised when SunAlt <= -10 And VM.SuspendWhenTooFewStars And Env.AllSkyStarState <> SkyState.Good.  So the ToFewStars state isn't rained when SunAlt > -10 and this wouldn't be raised for Sun Alt -9.77°. It seems that this is a trade-off here   In evening it may be appropriate to give the sky the benefit of doublt, whilst in the morning it may be appropriate to be more strict.  Closed after revuew 2022-08-05
  Issue understood, closed after review 2022-08-05 (AstroMain]) 
   
• Session unexpectedly went to 'Session Suspended' State between the completion of final target and 'Session Closing' State (03.45).   After completing Target 15/15 (RX And) at 03:45 the session was suspended and the Dome began to close. Aftter the shutter had finished closing the session state then changed to 'Session Closing'. Investigated shows that the SoftSuspend flag became raised at 03:44:17 during the course of imaging RX And. After the RX And target had finished the job queue the Job Manager issued the message 'Queue paused for Session Suspension went into a holding loop whilst ObsManager  moved the session into the 'Session Suspended' state.  Whilst this action is appropriate in most circumstances the issue reveals that there is a particular situation (where target is last one and there is no intent to move to a new plan) where the action is not appropriate.  Probably easiest for Soft Suspend to not be called if Job Queue is on final target. Fixed 2022-08-05.
  Fixed 2022-08-05 (AstroMain 3.53.3) 
   
• Target Annotation is being overposted on AllSky Images. For oid006.NGC 6888 (Mosaic).jpg and oid007.NGC 5894 w SN.jpg pictures are affected. Yellow Target Label and Cyan Target 1 label are the same name and overpost each other (eg  yellow 'NGC 5894 w/SN'  and cyan '1 (NGC 5894 w/SN).  In appropriate Focus Field targets (Focus FIeld 20 and Field Field 21) also shown in some AllSky images. Issue resolved itself in the session after Foc2 Focusing was inserted for Target 10/15 (61 Cyg), after which the issue stopped (the AllSky Plots for Target 11/15 to 15/15 all showed their expected annotation).  The issue didn't appear in the last two sessions (S1022 (2022-07-26) &  S1021 (2022-08-02) ). Although the latest S1024 session uses a new (3.53.2) version of AstroMain, an investigation showed that the issue is actually associated with code from ExecuteQueue() routine (see below) that was modified on 2022-07-13 (CI, S1021).  
If bFoc1ScopeIsFocused = False Or bFoc2ScopeIsFocused = False Then
    iField = GetBestFocusField(0) 
   TP.NextTarget(0).TargetName = "Focus Field " + FocusField(iField).FieldRef
   TP.NextTarget(0).Ra2000 = CStr(FocusField(iField).Ra2000)
   TP.NextTarget(0).Dec2000 = CStr(FocusField(iField).Dec2000)
   UpdateTpnNextTargets(1)
Else
   UpdateTpnNextTargets(0)
Endif
  Because Near Zenith Focussing failed in the S1024 session (unlike other sessions since 2022-07-13) it is only now that the 'bug' has been exposed.   It explains why Focus Field 21 and Focus Field 22 annotation was appearing and why 'Scope' and Target 1 label were being overposted. Issue fixed by including a condition that sees if NearZenith Focusing has been attempted or not.
  Fixed 2022-08-05 (AstroMain 3.53.3) 
   
• Autostart didn't start immediately as expected causing user confusion/uncertainty. Autostart Mode was entered at 23:42.  With good observing conditions and plenty of stars it was expected that Autostart would begin immediately but instead a report message "Waiting for fresh shutter communications at 23:42" was given, and then nothing happened leaving user unclear as to whether the autostart process was hang or was waiting for something.  Session was put back to Manual and the AutoStart Mode begun again at 23:44. After a pause of 2-3 minutes the following message was given "Fresh shutter communications received at 23:46",  followed by "Conditions at 23:46 are suitable for starting an observing session", and then the new session was auto-started (at a point which was by then a total of 4-5 minutes after Autostart Mode was initially entered).  ObsManager's MainLoop/AutoWaiting code section waits until   MinutesSince(DomeRecord.LastDateTime) < 5.   LastDateTime is only set when there is a change is Volatile values for either Voltage, Amperage, Temperature, or .BatteryLevel.  This can sometimes take some time to happen.   Pulsar Log files shows that changes in Volatile occured at 23:44:24 and 23:46:39.  This a trade off between having a delay in running AutoStart and ensuring the Pulsar Dome data is being freshly updated or not.  Report messages have been improved in order to make the situation clearer to the user.
  Fixed 2022-08-06 (AstroMain 3.53.4)
   
• AllSky Scope pictures for oid 001 and 002 weren't produced, which meant that '_Scope' pictures weren't produced for either Near-Zenith focus field or Target 1 (NGC 5875). AllSky pictures show 'Scope' and '0 (Focus Field 20)' at same position for 11 frames (5.5 minutes).  Need to understand why annotation didn't change to show 'Focus Field 20'. Was this because Near Zenith focusing failed ?  NGC 5875 was aborted early, but still should have led to a _Scope image. Possibly fixed by AstroMain 3.53.3 which fixes another issue with AllSky Annotation that was associated with a bug that was exposed in S1024 because NearZenithFocusing was attempted but failed due to dim star. AllSKy _Scope pictures were produced ok for oid 001 and 002 during the S1025 session (2022-08-05) which was using AstroMain 3.53.3. Issue closed after review on 2022-08-06.
  Closed after review 2022-08-06 (AstroMain 3.53.3)
   
• The Az/Alt postion of a potential non-sidereal ToO target that is shown in the Submit ToO AzAlt Plot is incorrect. The AzAlt position shown for C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) in Astroplan's 'Submit Target of Opportunity' dialog window didn't correspond with those expected.  It is possible that the process of generating AzAlt positions was based on database Ra/Dec position (which is for an older date) and hasn't been updated for the current date/time. Issue could result in a target not been allowed or allowed but not achievable, and/or mislead the user. The 'Submit Target of Opportunity' dialog window has an Update Ra Dec Coords' button on it which allows target's RA/Dec coordinates and thus its current/future Az/Alt location) to be updated by the user.  It would be useful if the Targets Form/Submit Target of Opportunity kept track on if/when non-sidereal target's coordinates were last changed and put up a dialog to inform user than coordinates must be updated before the target can be submitted as a ToO. Implemented 2022-08-07 using TargetForm.CoordsAreFreshlyUpdated to record whether non-sidereal targets coordinates have been refreshed or not.
  Fixed 2022-08-07 (AstroPlan 1.30.12)
   
• RA guiding performance seem unusually poor.  Target 3/15 (C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS)) at 00:29, Target 5/15 (NGC 6888 mosaic)  at 01:15 & Target 6/15 (NGC 5894 w/SN2022pgf)  at 01:38 were affected. This was partly an illusion as the PHD2 history plot was using a +/- 4"  range instead of the normally used +/-8" range.   Poor guiding with C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS) was due to failure to lock onto a good guide star - conditions were ok, but PHD2 locked onto a a very faint star and led to a cotinuous stream of lost star events during imaging.  .Near Zenith Focusing failed due to passing cloud and may have affected guiding during first 9 targets until Foc2 Focusing was conducted before Target 10/15 (61 Cyg).  Reason for poor guiding for NGC 5894 w/SN is unclear, the guiding chart suggest guide events were absence or rare.  Log files show guide request being made to PHD2 at 01:38:57 and initially selected guide star with SNR 6.06 and after that a long series of LoopingExposures events with status errors : 'Star lost - low SNR',   "Star lost - low mass",   "Star lost - low HFD". Again the problem seems to be due to PHD2 locking onto a star that is too dim for robust autoguiding.   Minimum star SNR for AutoFind was changed afterwards from 6 to a new value of 50.  This didn't resolve issue with PHD2's Find Star in cases where there is no stars with SNR > 50, a very dim star/random patch of warm pixels in selected even though there might be a star with SNR of say 30.   Setting Minimum SNR of 15 seems to work better.  Closed after review 2022-09-07.
  Closed  2022-09-07 (Session / PHD2 / LX200) 
   
• TheSky6 crashing with unhandled win32 exception during Post-Session analysis (Development Computer). TheSky6 crashed during analysis of NGC_6701 3x3 180s C image set on Development Computer on 2022-08-10, whilst 'Setting TheSky date...'  ahead of 'Link Image' operation. There was a similar crash two days earlier.  AstroMain / CCDSoft / TheSky6 were stopped & restarted.  Reattempting Processing sequence (including Link Image) was successful and didn't give any problem second time around.  Later on during analysis of S1025 session CCDSoft seemed to crash with an unhandled exception. Crashed again in CCDSoft with Exception thrown at 0x3A433D74 in CCDSoft.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation executing location 0x3A433D74. Later on CCDSoft crashed Exception thrown at 0x004BA4FC in CCDSoft.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x202020E4. Problem may relate to turning on JIT debugging which catches exceptions that would normally be a showstopping issue. Decision made on 2023-10-08 to close this ticket as the issue hasn't been occuring in recent months and is therefore considered to be resolved.
  Closed after review 2023-10-08 (TheSky6  / Development Computer)

Small Defects

• The ReportComment associated with the AddComment ("Slewing (Ra/Dec)...") for Near Zenith Focusing was mis-placed.   The result "Ok Slew Finished" was misplaced as it came after the intervening row "Turn on Dome Slaving... Ok   Slaving is On". This is due to new code which calls SetSlavingOn() when Scope.Slaved = False after Scope.SlewToCoordinatesAsync has been called. Fixed by a modification to SetSlavingOn() routine that doesn't report results when called with CallMode.Quiet (3) and by using SetSlavingOn(CallMode.Quiet) to suppress the intervening message.
  Done 2022-08-05 (AstroMain 3.53.3)
   
• Current Conditions: is reported twice before Target is finished whilst SessionState = SessionState.Suspended. JobManager reports 'Current Conditions:', 'Current Sky Meas', 'Session Status:', and 'Current Conditions:'   Sky Condition values are identical indicating that messages are reported at more of less the same time.   'Current Conditions:' is reported from the WriteCurrentWeatherConditions() routine.  Fixed in AstroMain 3.53.4 (the second "Current Conditions:" message is removed).
  Done 2022-08-06 (AstroMain 3.53.4)
   
• Sky Brightness calculated from realtime locate frames has values of more than 40  ADU/arcsec^2/sec and lie off the bottom of the 'Sky Brightness' graph. Sky Birghtness graph on the 'SkyConditions.20220804.png' chart has a 0-40 range, and all the locate frames from session have a sky brightness which is greater than 40.  Session .   S903 taken exactly one year beforehand has typical sky brightness values of only 3-4 ADU/arcsec^2/sec.  Sky Background on locate frames taken during S1024 session are typically around 1000-1100 ADU whilst locate frames from  S903 session are typically only around 250 ADU as shown by following examples. The raw image image 01024033 (-10c 5s 3x3 ) from the latest session has a histogram peak at 1044 ADU whilst a raw image 00903025 (-5c 5s, 3x3) from S903 session (2021-08-04) had a histogram peak at 222 ADU.  The problem is believed to have occured before (date /session ?).    The bright background whilst expected during twilight skies in June/July isn't expected for moon-free skies in August when sun altitude is <-12 deg.  The problem was previously seen in Dec 2021 following the installation of a new observatory computer that included reinstallation of SBIG Camera, and was previously resolved 2022-01-02 by checking the 'Auto Bias Level Correction' option on the SBIG 'Configure Driver' tab (See SBIG Camera Bias Level (Sky Brightness Issue & Fix), 2021-01-02.)    The new problem seems to be related to reinstallation of Windows 10 / reinstallation of SBIG Camera on 2022-06-21.  The same fix to SBIG driver Configuration was applied 2022-08-10.  Image results from Session S1026 confirms that issue has been fixed .
  Fixed  2022-08-10  (SBIG Camera/Driver)

• Make a number of additional cosmetic and minor technical improvements to Report File and Log File messages.
  Done 2022-08-05 (AstroMain 3.53.3)
   
• Near Zenith Focusing should perform and report a "Dome Position Check". At the moment this isn't performed for Near Zenith focusing, and would have been helfpul for diagnosing why both Foc1 and Foc2 failed as neither could locate a focus star. Implemented in AstroMain 3.53.3.
  Done 2022-08-05  (AstroMain 3.53.3)
   
• Query.  Analyse Mosaic Subframes (Analysis/Mosaic tab) not using expected number of frames (post-session). Post session analysis of NGC 6888 (Caldwell 27) a 2x 1 mosaic comprising 5 subframes per mosaic point produced one stack image using 2 subframes and the other stack image using just 1 subframe. Analysis was rerun in debugger.  to understand the code execution.  The RunAnalyseMosaicFrames() routine called from the 'Analyse Subframes' button automatically selects the best frame(s) for each mosaic point based Peak_FWHM being less than 8 and average elongation being less than 1.30. Selection results placed into a MosaicSubFrame() array. The use of selection critera is why fewer than expected subframes were used in final stacks.  After changing AvElong cutoff to < 1.35 in AstroMain 3.53.4) the number of subframes increases to 2 for the second stack.   Separate continuous improvement tickets have been raised for to a) alllow user to customise the FWHM & Elongation thresholds used, b) automatically detect the subframes belonging to each mosaic point.
  Question Answered  2022-08-15 
   
• Add text fields to ImageSets/Mosaic tab so that user can enter custom FWHM and Elong Thresholds values for use in processing Mosaic Subframes. Implemented in AstroMain 3.53.6 after noting that thresholds were previously hard-coded and couldn't be changed.  Alternate method using MOSAICPT (Mosaic Point) from FITS header for future mosaics where this keyword is written during image acquisition. (This second method would have the benefit
  Done  2022-08-15  (AstroMain 3.53.6) 
   
• Automatically detect the subframes that belong to each mosaic point.  Implemented in AstroMain 3.53.6 by reading Ra/Dec for a subframe FITS file and incrementing the Mosaic Point number if the offset between the Subframe RA/Dec and the current Point RA/Dec if more than 4 arc min.
  Done  2022-08-15  (AstroMain 3.53.6) 
   
• Improve process whereby Mosaic Subframes are stacked.  Currently the 'Stack Subframes' routine uses the Aligned folder for temporarily holding subframe Fits files prior to aligning and stacking them.  The aligned folder is emptied after each mosaic point, meaning that there is no set of used images that later allows an image file name to be produced from or provide the neccessary details from the FIT files in image sets. The Stack-Subframes routine needs to be changed to utilise a temporary area.
  Done  2022-08-15  (AstroMain 3.53.6) 
   
• Record Mosaic Point no. in FITS header.  This may be utilised for auto-analysing/auto-stacking subframes belong to common Mosaic Point. Record in FITS header in MOSAICPT.
  Done  2022-08-15  (AstroMain 3.53.6) 
   
• Create a Mosaic Point Subtitle in Local JPG Pictures Page when displaying JPG pictures from a Mosaic Target.. Finally delivered in AstroMain 3.58.1 (2022-11-21). A new function 'ExtractMosaicPointFromFileName(filename)' is used to extract the mosaic point number from the JPG Picture' s  file name (returns 0 if not an image from a mosaic point).
  Done 2022-11-21 (AstroMain 3.58.1)

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