David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1127 Attempt (2023-08-07)

Notes (S1126)

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Notes (S1127)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (1),  Minor Issues (2),  Small Defects (0),  Continuous Improvement (0)
	No Images from 2023-08-07 >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2023-08-07)

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 3.62.6, AstroPlan 1.38.1,   AstroShCap 1.3.15, AstroGuard 1.10.2
  AstroVOE 1.13  AstroSN 1.10,  AstroProtect 1.7,  AstroMove 1.12.3
  (AstroWeather 1.21.1, AstroAllSky 3.19.1,  AstroObsCam 1.11.4, AstroLaunch 1.10.9 (1.11.1 on Dev Computer)

Highlights

• Targets. 0 /18 planned targets were completed due to program crash shortly after session started. 2.5 hours good observing time lost.
• AstroMain. AstroMain program (3.62.6) crashed when trying to check CCD Temperature due to a COMException associated with trying to read CCD Camera information
• AstroGuard. AstroGuard successfully intervened to make observatory safe 15 minutes after AstroMain crashed (when it went silent)
• Dome Slews. None of session's dome slews were affected by any significant hold-ups  (Hold Up Stats:0/1 slews affected, 0%, 0.0 minutes total hold-up time). 

Notes:

• Session failed at 00:40, shortly after starting, due to an unhandled COMException in AstroMain's CheckCCDTemperature() routine
  

Summary Plots & Logs

Observing Plan No targets were attempted as AstroMain crashed early in session (00:40, Local Time)

Observing Result

Dome & Scope Slewing Performance

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 00:01:08 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 00:00 & 03:05 00:01:13   AutoStart Delayed Session delayed due to cloud 00:19:25 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (00:19) 00:19:54   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (to set AutoSave No.) 00:20:07 Session Created Session Created (Live, 2023-08-07 S01127, ImageSaveNum: 1127001) 00:20:33   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 00:22:15   Services Started Observatory Services started 00:22:21 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 00:22:25 Session Pending Session pending (2023-08-07) 00:22:27 Session Initiating Session initiating (2023-08-07) 00:22:29   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.38.1) 00:23:18   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (Plan ID: 900) 00:23:40   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (set point -10°C) 00:24:17   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 00:24:41 Session Equilibration Session ready to Open Dome 00:25:26   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 00:25:31 Session Running Session running 00:25:33   Queue Started Observing Queue started (10 targets selected) 00:25:36     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 20, HIP 98535) 00:25:48       Dome Unparked Dome unparked 00:26:11 Foc1FieldsUpdater Frozen Foc1FieldsUpdater appears to be frozen at around 00:26 in section 'Update Foc1Fields' 00:26:46 TempMonitor Frozen TempMonitor appears to be frozen at around 00:26 in section 'Get CcdTemp Data' 00:34:12       SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 00:34:52       SoftSuspend Cancelled Soft Suspend is cancelled due to improved conditions 00:36:42   Critical Cloud Alert Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Dome) 00:36:44   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend is called due to Critical Conditions (cloud) 00:37:57       SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 00:38:43 Session Suspending Session suspending 00:39:27   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 45s) 00:39:30 Session Suspended Session suspended 00:40:42   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (attempt to fix locked thread) 00:40:45 Program Crashed AstroMain crashed due to unhandled exception in 00:55:00 Session Closing AstroGuard intervened to make observatory safe after AstroMain ObsManager had been silent for 15 mins 00:55:50   Dome Closed Dome already closed (closed at 00:39, closing time 50s) 00:57:00   Dome Parked Dome parked by AstroGuard (parking time 126s) 00:58:00   Telescope Parked Telescope parked by AstroGuard (parking time 42s) 00:59:00 Session Finished Session effectively finished

Session Alerts & Alarms

Time     Type       Name Detail 00:27:56 Red Alert Foc1Fields Updater Foc1FieldsUpdater appears to be frozen (last cycle at 00:26:11) in section 'Update Foc1Fields' 00:29:21 Red Alert TempMonitor TempMonitor appears to be frozen (last cycle at 00:26:46) in section 'Get CcdTemp Data'

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Operational Issues (2023-08-07, S1127 Attempt)

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

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• AstroMain crashed due to a unhandled exception in AstroMain whilst CCDTemperature was being checked (00:40). AstroMain crashed very early on during the session (at approximately 00:40:44) and no targets/images were attempted or acquired.  After 15 mins of silence from AstroMain's ObsManager, the AstroGuard program successfully intervened to make the observatory safe at 00:55 (the Observatory Shutter was checked/closed  and the dome & telescope were both parked). Issue was only noted when session outcome was checked at 07:20 the following morning.  The issue caused the loss of 2.5 hours of good observing time.  Remote login to the Observatory computer showed that AstroMain 3.62.6 encountered a System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException exception ("The remote procedure call failed. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BE)") in CheckCCDTemperature() routine at globals.vb:line 12724 (identified by opening Just-In Time (Visual Studio) debugging) in the code line 'TemperatureError = Camera.Temperature - Camera.TemperatureSetPoint'.  Examination of the session's log file shows that CCD Monitor caught or at least identified the same exception at 00:40:43.36 ("Run  CCD Monitor - Exception: The remote procedure call failed. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BE)") with last log message just 20 msec later at 00:40:43.38.  It would seem that the same COMException was evidently not trapped by the CheckCCDTemperature() routine.   The CCD Monitor MainLoop has Error Trapping in it that handles the exception. Error Trapping added to CheckCCDTemperature() routine in AstroMain 3.62.7.  Prehaps the CheckCCDTemperature should be skipped when RestartCCDSoft is in progress,  CheckCCDTemperature () has 16 references (14 calls from globals.vb and 2 calls from JobQueue.vb). The exception trace back details indicates that the call came from the CentreTarget() routine in JobQueue.vb:line 6129,  which itself was called by FocusScopeNearZenith() which is consistant with the known operations at the time. 
    Fixed 2023-08-08 (Session, SBIG Camera, AstroMain 3.62.7).

Minor Issues

• Foc1FieldsUpdater appeared to freeze (00:28). After the session was autostarted at 00:19 (including a basic CCDSoft restart to set Autosave Number) centering operations for Near Zenith Focus Field was delayed at 00:27:10 to allow the CCD to stabilise at -10.0°C.  At 00:27:56 ObsOverseer raised a Red Alert "Foc1FieldsUpdater appears to be frozen (last cycle at 00:26:11) in section 'Update Foc1Fields'' . This was followed at 00:29:21 by a further red alert "TempMonitor appears to be frozen (last cycle at 00:26:46) in section 'Get CcdTemp Data'" . [this seems to be similar to Foc1FieldsUpdater/TempMonitor freeze that occurred near the beginning of the last session (S1126, 2023-09-06, see details).  Recognising that threads had frozen AstroMain ObsOverseer or ObsManager intervened at 00:40:42 to Restart CCDSoft (attempt to fix locked thread), but after a unhandled exception in CheckCCDTemperature() whilst Restartng the CCDSoft / SBIG Camera caused AstroMain to crash.    Issue to be monitored further.   Considered to be resolved by AstroMain 3.64 by changes to CCDMonitor, TempMonitor & Foc1FieldsUpdater and the introduction on new CCDCamera object & thread.
  Considered resolved 2023-11-05  (AstroMain 3.64, CCDSoft, SBIG Camera)
   
• AstroMove crashing when trying to copy session files from Observatory (2023-08-08). AstroMove 1.12.3 crashed when moving files for session S1127 2023-08-07 (S1127 Attempt) when it encountered an unhandled exception.  AstroMove was rerun using Visual Studio debugger which showed that the crash was due to a System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException exception "Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Data\ZWO Imaging\SharpCap\2023-08-07 S01127'" when trying to get list of .PNG files from the SharpCap Session folder that has been copied from the Observatory. The bug was exposed as no SharpCap session files exist due to the AstroMain session hanging before any SharpCap images/ focus files had been taken.  Fixed in AstroMove 1.12.4 by placing a Try, Catch, End Try block around the relevant code.
  Fixed 2023-08-08 (AstroMove 1.12.4).

Small Defects

• None

Continuous Improvement

• None

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