David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1102 (2023-02-26)

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Notes (S1103)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (1),  Small Defects (7),  Continuous Improvement (2)
	Images from 2023-02-26 >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2023-02-26)

Main aims

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

 Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
• 80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
• CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft5, DeviceHub 6.6.1.1,  MeadeGeneric 1.3.5.414, UPB 1.5, ASCOM 6.6
• Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.11dev4, Siril 1.0.6, deCONZ 1.18.2, ASCOM 6.6 SP1
   
• AstroMain 3.61.8, AstroPlan 1.36.4,   AstroShCap 1.3.15, AstroGuard 1.10.2
  AstroVOE 1.13  AstroSN 1.10,  AstroProtect 1.7,  AstroMove 1.9.8
  (AstroWeather 1.19.10, AstroAllSky 3.18,  AstroObsCam 1.11.4, AstroLaunch 1.10.9

Highlights

• Targets.  6/34 targets were completed, but the final 28 targets cancelled due to cloud
• Dome Slews.  No significnt hold-ups during any of the night's dome slews (Hold Up Stats: 0/8 slews affected, 0%, 0.3 minutes total hold-up time).
• Cloud.  Sky clouded less than 2 hours into session and conditions remained cloudy & overcast until dawn.

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 18:13:34 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 18:22 & 05:07 18:13:37   AutoStart Waiting AutoStart waiting till earliest start time at 18:22 18:22:28   AutoStart Delayed Session delayed due to too few stars 18:43:10 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (18:43) 18:43:31   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (to set AutoSave No.) 18:43:44 Session Created Session Created (Live, 2023-02-26 S01102, ImageSaveNum: 1102001) 18:44:11   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 18:45:56   Services Started Observatory Services started 18:46:03 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 18:46:05 Session Pending Session pending (2023-02-26) 18:46:07 Session Initiating Session initiating (2023-02-26) 18:46:10   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.36.4) 18:47:24   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (Plan ID: 874) 18:47:45   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (set point -20°C) 18:48:22   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 18:48:46 Session Equilibration Session ready to Open Dome 18:49:31   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 18:49:34 Session Running Session running 18:49:36   Queue Started Observing Queue started (34 targets selected) 18:49:39     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 5, HIP 23569) 18:49:51       Dome Unparked Dome unparked 18:53:18       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 18:55:45       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 18:57:40       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 18:57:42       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 18:59:42       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 19:01:25       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 19:01:42     Target Completed (NrZen) Target completed (Focus Field 5, HIP 23569) 19:02:37     Target Started (1/34) Target started (1/34, C/2021 X1 (Maury-Attard)) 19:07:07       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-S) 19:19:50     Target Completed Target completed (1/34, C/2021 X1 (Maury-Attard)) 19:20:39     Target Started (2/34) Target started (2/34, GCVS SS Cyg) 19:23:54       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 19:26:03       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 19:31:01     Target Completed Target completed (2/34, GCVS SS Cyg) 19:38:25     Target Started (3/34) Target started (3/34, WDS GRB 34) 19:41:27       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 19:43:23       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 19:45:30     Target Completed Target completed (3/34, WDS GRB 34) 19:46:52     Target Started (4/34) Target started (4/34, C/2020 V2 (ZTF)) 19:49:52       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 19:52:02       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 20:09:43     Target Completed Target completed (4/34, C/2020 V2 (ZTF)) 20:10:12     Target Started (5/34) Target started (5/34, 2022 U2 (ATLAS)) 20:16:27       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:18:57       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 20:30:40     Target Completed Target completed (5/34, 2022 U2 (ATLAS)) 20:30:45     Target Started (6/34) Target started (6/34, M31 w/AT2023brc) 20:34:21       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-S) 20:41:52       SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 20:50:35     Target Completed Target completed (6/34, M31 w/AT2023brc) 20:50:37   Queue Paused Queue paused for Session Suspension 20:50:40 Session Suspending Session suspending 20:51:28   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 50s) 20:51:30 Session Suspended Session suspended 20:58:33     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (7/34, GCVS HH And) due to cloud 21:08:42     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (8/34, GCVS NV Ori) due to cloud 21:27:52     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (9/34, NGC 2283 w/SN2023axu) due to cloud 21:50:12     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (10/34, M33 w/Nova M33 2022-11a?) due to cloud 22:04:12     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (11/34, AT2023vp (CV)) due to cloud 22:29:02     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (12/34, C/2022 E3 (ZTF)) due to cloud 22:48:22     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (13/34, UGC 4025 w/SN2023boc) due to cloud 23:10:42     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (14/34, NGC 2708 w/SN2023bee) due to cloud 23:39:14     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (15/34, NGC 2936) due to cloud 00:01:34     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (16/34, NGC 3021 w/SN2023bvj) due to cloud 00:14:42     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (17/34, GCVS RZ LMi) due to cloud 00:35:12     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (18/34, UGC 6674 w/AT2023bvi) due to cloud 00:57:12     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (19/34, NGC 3862 w/SN2023bqk) due to cloud 01:19:32     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (20/34, UGC 8046 w/SN2022zxr) due to cloud 01:41:32     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (21/34, NGC 3799 w/AT2023clx) due to cloud 02:03:52     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (22/34, NGC 4415 w/SN2022pul) due to cloud 02:22:36     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (23/34, C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS)) due to cloud 02:42:56     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (24/34, UGC 8317 w/AT2022qvu) due to cloud 03:05:16     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (25/34, NGC 5853 w/SN2022mkj) due to cloud 03:27:16     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (26/34, UGC 11225 w/SN2023bqh) due to cloud 03:49:36     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (27/34, NGC 5894 w/SN2022pgf) due to cloud 04:03:56     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (28/34, C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS)) due to cloud 04:14:14     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (29/34, GCVS BL Lac) due to cloud 04:23:34     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (30/34, HIP 87937) due to cloud 04:42:56     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (31/34, NGC 5468 w/SN2023cj) due to cloud 05:05:16     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (32/34, UGCA 402 w/SN2023cv) due to cloud 05:30:37     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (33/34, 81P/Wild) due to cloud 05:55:08     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (34/34, 70P/Kojima) due to cloud 05:55:13   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 05:55:16 Session Closing Session closing 05:55:21   Dome Closed Dome already closed (closed at 20:51, closing time 50s) 05:56:40   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 71s), Az: 90.0 deg 05:58:05   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 82s) 05:58:20   Telescope State Handbox reads 'Scope parked Turn scope off.' 05:58:42   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 06:00:09   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 06:00:12 Session Housekeeping Session Housekeeping started (Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 06:00:22 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts & Alarms

Time     Type       Name Detail --             No Alerts                --

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Operational Issues (2023-02-26, S1102)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (0)
• Minor Issues (1)
• Small Defects (7)
• Continuous Improvement (2)
  

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Problem editing Current Session Web Page in WebExpression4 (post-session).  Top part of 'session_current.htm' web page is missing from Design View. Code show problem with tags in Observatory Manager Tabs, but tags are ok . Temporraily removing section simply moves the 'problem tags' down to next section. Experimenting showed that problem was with 3 lines in header which import js scripts
  <script type="Text/JavaScript" src="https://www.astro-richweb.net/astro/js/Session.Header.js?<?=rand(1,1000000)?">
Problem is due to the inclusion of  ?<?=rand(1,1000000)?  which was only recently added in order to make the browser always pick up a fresh version of the js script file rather than using one from cache.  Code might be ok for running the page online, but it blocks WebExpression4. Issue resolved by removing the recent inclusion (rolling back to the previous situation).
  Fixed 2023-02-27 (Targets Database)

Small Defects

• Border for UPB Env Temp Graph Box in 8 hour section of Current Weather Web page is missing. Border for first 'vwsGraph32.jpg' image on Current Weather and Conditions page is missing. Bug found and fixed,  'tyle' had been entered instead of 'style' (in  style="border: 1px solid black" ).
  Fixed 2023-02-27 (WebSite, Current Weather page)
   
• AstroMain crashes after being started on new development computer.  This is a teething issue of some kind related potentially to MachineName,  Folder Path, User or AntiVirus/Firewall. Examining Astromove code and testing on current development computer suggests that crash is due to absence of a Logs folder when atttempting to write to  C:\Data\CCD Imaging\Logs\AstroMove-PingLog.log
  Fixed 2023-02-28 (New Development Computer, AstroMove)
   
• Exception whilst testing CameraAngleCharts due to incorrectly defined type.  Exception during testing due to testing a Integer Enum value against Session.Type.   Session.Type  is incorrectly declared as String when it use is clearly intended to be Integer.  Unclear why the bug hasn't surfaced before now.  Fixed in AstroMain 3.61.9.
  Fixed 2023-02-28 (AstroMain 3.61.9)
   
• Nucleus of M31 Galaxy was selected as the focus star for Target 6/34 instead of an actual star. Foc1 autofocusing for Target 6/34 (M31 w/AT2023brc) selected the brightest object in Focus Locate frame as the 'focus star'. This turned out to the nucleus of M31.  As an extensive object it was unlikely to give a good focus measurement (or at least wouldn't give a good FWHM vaue).  In the event the object was too dim in the 1s trial focus frame and focusing was cancelled.  Closed after review 2023-02-27, as this didn't pose a significant issue. Accepting best focus based on last good focus profile means that focus is likely to be still good.
  Closed after review 2023-02-27 (AstroMain,  M31)
   
• Images from Comet Target C/2022 U2 (ATLAS) was unexpectedly named MPL 2022 U2 (ATLAS). Problem seems to be due to Target being incorrectly entered in database as '2022 U2 (ATLAS)' instead of 'C/2022 U2 (ATLAS)'. Probably caused by a cut and paste error when transferring comet name from TheSky6 into a new Target Form in AstroPlan. Target name corrected in AstroPlan/Database for future sessions.
  Closed after review 2023-02-28 (Session, Database)
   
• AstroMain's Sky Quality and CCD Temperature Charts finish at 07:00 whilst other charts finish at 06:30.  This seems to depend on when data was last added to chart affecting when chart was last extended and the half-hour value that it was extended to. Can the graphs be standardised in some way.  Can the Close Chart routine be made to automatically extend the chart if needed ?
  Fixed 2023-03-12 (AstroMain 3.61.12)
   
• Target circle for SS Cyg is drawn off centered from the target star in main image frames (19:26). This was initially through to be due to the use of  target coordinates from GCVS SS Cyg entry in GCVS Catalog used by TheSky which might be out of date.  The page https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/all/gcvs.html refers to the file http://www.sai.msu.su/gcvs/gcvs/gcvs5/gcvs5.txt  which is a version of the GCVS catalog that was last updated by the HEASARC in September 2022 and might have better coordinates.   Coordinates for SS Cyg are given in gcvs5 file as 214242.79 +433509.9 .   Reviewing JPG pictures shows that the target circle is correctly centered in Locate Frames 1 & 2, and in Focus Reference Image,  but is wrong in the first and subsequent main frames.   AstroMain calculates a cummulative image shift based on the av shift in star positions relative to the previous image, and the previous image shift.   It would seem that this shift has been correctly tied back to the final locate frame, but have made an incorrect assumption that there is no image shift between the final Locate Frame and the first main scope frame.   ImageShift is calculated by CalculateImageShift() routine which is called from  RunAutoPickFocusStar() & TakeMainScopeFrames().   The array of reference stars is set by RecordBrightestStars_LocateInfo() which is called from within CalculateImageShift() routine and UpdateLocateInfo_OB() routine, the latter is called from CentreTarget() and LocateImageLite() routines.   For SS Cyg target observation the   Locate 2 (10s, C Filter, Target at 316.4, 241.1)
  Focus locate frame (3s, exposure, C Filte  ImageShift(WrtLoc) :  8.4 arc sec (nStars 9, n 9, Shift 6.0px, X -3.4, Y 5.0),  Target 313.1, 246.1)
  1st main frame (15s,  B Filter, ImageShift(WrtLoc)   2.1 arc sec (nStars 9, n 9, Shift 1.5px, X 1.5, Y 0.1),  Target at 314.7, 246.1 )
  2nd main frame (5s,  V Filter, ImageShift(WrtLoc)   1.6 arc sec (nStars 7, n 7, Shift 1.2px, X 1.1, Y -0.2), Target at 314.2, 245.7 )
  It seems the problem is due to LastShiftX/Y not being passed on after taking the focus locate frame.   (LastShiftX/Y are set to 0 in UpdateLocateInfo_OB() routine0. Tracing "Setting Last ImageShift for next frame : 6.0 arc sec, X -3.4, Y 5.0" shows after that LocateInfo.Last ImageShiftX and LocateInfo.Last ImageShiftY are set after Focus Frame, but by time first main frame is taken the Last Image Shift is back to X 0.0, Y 0.0).   Stepping through code shows that just ahead of calling TakeMainScopeFramesMaster() LocateInfo is set to  SavedLocateInfo  (after LocateInfo is copied to SavedLocateInfo ahead of guiding).  AstroMain 3.61.12 modified to add a bRecordBrightestStar parameter to CalculateImageShift() routine which controls whether LastImageShift is updated and a new BrightestStars list is compiled.  CalculateImageShift(False) is used for Focus Locate Frame(as exposure may not be long enough for a reliable star collection), whilst CalculateImageShift(True) is used from Main Scope frames.
  Fixed 2023-03-12 (AstroMain 3.61.12)

Continuous Improvement

• Query : Unexplained deflection in the Dec position of guide star during Guide Run 4 (19:56).  During guiding for Target 4/34 (C/2020 V2 (ZTF),  Guide Run 4,  Frame 4) there was a sudden 4.5" deflection in guide star error, which remained as an error for the rest of the image (when a Lock Position was made that rezeroed the error).  This was an error is a direction opposite to the direction of expected star/comet drift and the Dec Guide Mode, selected at start of target autoguiding, didn't make any attempted to correct deflection.  Can't be due to cosmic ray, as the error is peristent for multiple guidesteps.  
  Closed after review 2023-02-27 (AstroMain,  Session)
   
• Divide Current Session Web Page into Section Groups. Divide Current Session web page into new Section Groups (using H2 headers). Involves changes to page Contents and reordering of sections accordingly.   New Sections Groups to include  "Observing Plan And Results", "Operations",  "Sky & Conditions",  "Cameras", "Reports & Logs".  
  Done 2023-03-01 (Current Session Web Page)

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