David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1129 (2023-08-15)

Notes (S1128)

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Notes (S1130)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (4),  Small Defects (0),  Continuous Improvement (1)
	Images from 2023-08-15 >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2023-08-15)

Main aims

1. AstroMain, CCDSoft.  Check AstroMain, CCDSoft, SBIG Camera following issues in recent sessions (S1126, 2023-08-06 & S1127A, 2023-08-07)
2. 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 3.62.7, AstroPlan 1.38.1,   AstroShCap 1.3.15, AstroGuard 1.10.2
  AstroVOE 1.13  AstroSN 1.10,  AstroProtect 1.7,  AstroMove 1.12.4
  (AstroWeather 1.21.1, AstroAllSky 3.19.1,  AstroObsCam 1.11.4, AstroLaunch 1.10.9 (1.11.1 on Dev Computer)

Highlights

• Targets. Only 1/20 planned target (CY Lyr) were completed.  Other targets failed were aborted or cancelled due to cloud/session suspension.
• Cloud. Conditions were poorer than forecast with the sky becoming clouded over very soon after the session had started (cloud was expected to develop at 02:30, but it actually developed 3.5 hours earlier at 23:00).
• Dome Slews. No dome slews were affected by any significant hold-up (Hold Up Stats: 0/4 slews affected, 0%, 0.0 minutes total hold-up time). 

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 21:39:58 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 21:46 & 03:29 21:39:59   AutoStart Waiting AutoStart waiting till earliest start time at 21:46 21:46:10   AutoStart Delayed Session delayed due to too few stars 22:18:43 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (22:18) 22:19:03   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (to set AutoSave No.) 22:19:28   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (set point -10°C) 22:19:30 Session Created Session Created (Live, 2023-08-15 S01129, ImageSaveNum: 1129001) 22:19:55   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 22:21:34   Services Started Observatory Services started 22:21:41 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 22:21:43 Session Pending Session pending (2023-08-15) 22:21:45 Session Initiating Session initiating (2023-08-15) 22:21:47   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.38.1) 22:22:33   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (Plan ID: 903) 22:22:44   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (set point -10°C) 22:23:20   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 22:23:44 Session Equilibration Session ready to Open Dome 22:24:29   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 22:24:49 Session Running Session running 22:24:51   Queue Started Observing Queue started (20 targets selected) 22:24:54     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 19, HIP 93376) 22:25:07       Dome Unparked Dome unparked 22:27:50       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:30:26       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 22:32:23       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 22:32:25       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 22:34:32       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 22:36:15       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 22:36:32     Target Completed (NrZen) Target completed (Focus Field 19, HIP 93376) 22:38:16     Target Started (1/20) Target started (1/20, GCVS CY Lyr) 22:41:23       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:43:22       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 22:47:15     Target Completed Target completed (1/20, GCVS CY Lyr) 22:48:33     Target Started (2/20) Target started (2/20, UGC 9002 w/AT2023pls) 22:54:42   Critical Cloud Alert Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Dome) 22:54:44   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend is called due to Critical Conditions (cloud) 22:54:46     Target Aborted (2/20) Target aborted (2/20, UGC 9002 w/AT2023pls) due to cloud 22:54:48   Queue Paused Queue paused for Session Suspension 22:54:50 Session Suspending Session suspending 22:55:37   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 49s) 22:55:40 Session Suspended Session suspended 23:07:29     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (2/20, UGC 9002 w/AT2023pls) due to cloud 23:29:29     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (3/20, NGC 5532 w/SN2023omo) due to cloud 23:46:01     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (4/20, C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)) due to cloud 23:55:22     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (5/20, HIP 87937) due to cloud 00:14:24     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (6/20, M101 w/SN2023ixf) due to cloud 00:28:24     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (7/20, AT2023efy (CV)) due to cloud 00:48:14     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (8/20, C/2023 E1 (ATLAS)) due to cloud 01:02:19     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (9/20, 80P/Peters-Hartley) due to cloud 01:15:09     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (10/20, AT2022why) due to cloud 01:35:09     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (11/20, IC 1797 w/SN2023nnz) due to cloud 01:49:29     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (12/20, AT2021aecv (CV)) due to cloud 02:01:49     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (13/20, C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS)) due to cloud 02:21:49     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (14/20, NGC 513 w/AT2023jpp) due to cloud 02:43:49     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (15/20, M33 w/AT2023nou) due to cloud 03:05:50     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (16/20, UGC 2690 w/AT2023nfg) due to cloud 03:27:49     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (17/20, NGC 2326 w/AT2023pgb) due to cloud 03:39:11     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (18/20, WDS GRB 34) due to cloud 03:46:31     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (19/20, 61 Cyg) due to cloud 04:04:55     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (20/20, GCVS HH And) due to cloud 04:05:00   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 04:05:02 Session Closing Session closing 04:05:07   Dome Closed Dome already closed (closed at 22:55, closing time 49s) 04:07:06   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 110s), Az: 90.0 deg 04:08:29   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 80s) 04:08:44   Telescope State Handbox reads 'Scope parked Turn scope off.' 04:09:25   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 04:10:50   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 04:10:53 Session Housekeeping Session Housekeeping started (Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 04:10:58 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts & Alarms

Time     Type       Name Detail 00:31:26 Red Alert AllSky/Synopsis AllSky Star & Synopsis data has been inactive for more than 5 mins 00:31:41 Red Alert Cloud Sensor Cloud Sensor data has been inactive for more than 5 min 00:34:37 Green Clear AllSky/Synopsis AllSky Star & Synopsis data is active again (outage 7.9 mins) 00:34:52 Green Clear Cloud Sensor Cloud Sensor data is active again (outage 8.2 min)

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Operational Issues (2023-08-15, S1129)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (0)
• Minor Issues (4)
• Small Defects (0)
• Continuous Improvement (1)
  

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Cloud Sensor, AllSky Star, Synopsis data communication stopped working for 8 minutes (00:26).  Red Alerts were issued at 00:31 reporting that Cloud Sensor, AllSky Star, Synopsis data had been inactive for 5 minutes.  Green Alerts were issued at 00:34 that indicated that communication of these data items was again active (with outage time of 8.2 & 7.9 minutes respectively). Unclear what had caused the loss in fresh data communications at 00:26. The problem seems to coincide with a separate issue that upload of files to website stopped around this time.
  Resolved in-session 2023-08-16 (Observatory Computer, AllSky/Weather Computer, Network).
   
• Upload of live files to website from Observatory Computer stopped (~00:26). Connecting to Observatory's website at around 03:15 it was noted that the Current Session Page wasn't showing latest data but showed information that dated to around 00:20 - 00:26.  A remote login to Observatory Computer showed that AstroMain was still running, but AstroPlan's Upload Files operation seemed to have stalled at around 00:25:40.  FTP Overseer records a message "FTP Queue Loop stalled at 00:25:39. Stall point in inside UploadFileFTP2.  FTP stopped at 00:25:42."    Cloud Sensor, AllSky Star, Synopsis data communication also stopped working at around this same time. Suggesting a common 'Network' related issue / outage.   AstroPlan was manually restarted at 03:21 after which file upload to the Observatory website successfully resumed.
  Resolved in-session by user intervention 2023-08-16 (AstroPlan, Network).
   
• Final Night Summary Plot and Finished ObsCam Pictures from AllSky/Weather Computer not uploaded to website (04:09). Session's Night Summary Plot on website only shows data up to around 00:26.  The expected ObsCam (Finished) picture wasn't uploaded to website.  Problem appears to be related to the Network Issue/Outage that occured at around 00:26.  Unclear what had caused the loss in fresh data communications at 00:26. The problem seems to coincide with a separate issue that upload of files to website stopped around this time. AstroAllSky program restarted by user later on to prevent the issue affecting data/image upload the following evening.
  Resolved 2023-08-16 (AllSky/Weather Computer, Network).
   
• Outdoor Temperature & Humidity data (and Wind Speed) not accessible (2023-08-12 to 2023-08-15).   Fresh data is not coming through to the Weather Station for the past few days and is not available to AstroMain program for controlling dew heaters on telescope and AllSky Camera during Sessions S1128 & S1129.  Outdoor Temperature/Humidty data went offline on 2023-08-11 (~ 18:00) after an attempt had been made to reset the Weather Station' base station following installation of new batteries in Wind Speed detector designed to overcome issue that fresh wind speed reading has been intermittent for the past 10 days. Eventually resolved 2023-08-16 (ahead of the S1130 Session) by moving the base station to Observatory Computer cabinat from the AllSky/Weather Computer cabinat, and performing a 'base station reset' and and 'sensor search'.   It was discovered that after resetting the Weather Station USB Hub on the AllSky/Weather Computer that it was not necessary to restart AstroWeather & Virtual Weather Station programs (previously these programs have been restarted as it was thought to be necessary, but it seems not.)
  Resolved 2023-08-16 (Weather Station).

Small Defects

• None

Continuous Improvement

• Create light curve for SN 2023ixf (in M101).   SN 2023ixf (Type: IIL) discovered 2023-05-19.727 UT by Koichi Itagaki at Mag 14.9 is located near M101's prominant star-forming region NGC 5461.  The supernova resulted from a exploding red supergiant and lies just 21 million light years away.  It's the closest core-collapse supernova to us since SN 1993J which lit up M81 (some 12 million ly away) in Spring 1993. The supernova is designated of type II-L (L for 'linear') , which is characterised by a rapid rise to maximum brightness followed by a slow and gradual decrease, that is thought to be brought about by ejection of the dead stars' outer hydrogen shell (from the Article "Summer's Super Supernova", AstNow Magazine, Sep 2023, pp 36-39)   Light Measurement of SN 2023ixf have been made from 2023-06-01 (T+13.3d) to 2023-08-16+ (T+89.2d) and it would be useful to plot the data to confirm the characteristics of this bright SN. Graph created in Excel (see Fig 1) and added to website 2023-08-19.
  Done 2023-08-19 (Website).

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