David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1335 (2025-06-15)

Notes (S1334)

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Notes (S1336)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (6),  Small Defects (7),  Continuous Improvement (8)
	- Figures (5)
	Images from 2025-06-15  >>
	Geomagnetic Station -  Remedial Fix 2, ground unused wires (2025-05-22)

Session Aims & Highlights (2025-06-15)

Main aims

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

 Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
• 80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
• TheSky6, CCDSoft5, DeviceHub 7.0.3 RC3.4694, MeadeGeneric 1.3.12.522 , UPB 1.5,  Pulsar Dome Firmware 1.51 & Driver 6.3.10
• Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S 6.0.6
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.13, Siril 1.0.6, deCONZ 1.18.2, ASCOM 7.0.3 RC3
• [ DomeLink 1.0 / 1.1 - not used ]
   
• AstroMain 3.75.4,  AstroPlan 1.43.12, AstroShCap 1.3.15, AstroGuard 1.11   (any new items or versions in bold)
  AstroMag 1.5.2, AstroVOE 1.15.1,  AstroSN 1.14,  AstroProtect 1.10.6,  AstroMove 1.16
  AstroWeather 1.27.9, AstroAllSky 3.24.4,  AstroObsCam 1.11.4 (not 1.11.5), AstroNorthCam 1.5.2, AstroLaunch 1.13.3

Highlights

• Targets.  4/7 planned target observations were completed.
• CCD Camera. There were no issues with the CCDSoft / CCDCamera during the session.
•  Dome. There was no issues opening/closing the shutter during the session. Dome closed and parked at end of session ok.

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) Note:  The NorthCam Star Count line is unreliable and should be ignored (The AstroNorthCam 'Find' Star method is producing many false positives from clouds)

Actual Weather vs Pre-Session Weather Forecast

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 23:17:27 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 23:53 & 01:13 23:17:28   AutoStart Waiting AutoStart waiting till earliest start time at 23:53 23:53:37 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (23:53) 23:53:58   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (to set AutoSave No.) 23:54:25   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -10°C) 23:54:27 Session Created Session Created (Live, 2025-06-15 S01335, ImageSaveNum: 1335001) 23:54:32   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Switch 23:56:19   Services Started Observatory Services started 23:58:02 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 23:58:05 Session Pending Session pending (2025-06-15) 23:58:07 Session Initiating Session initiating (2025-06-15) 23:58:14   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -10°C) 23:58:21   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.43.12) 00:00:42   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (Plan ID: 1120) 00:01:23   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 00:01:48 Session Equilibration Session ready to Open Dome 00:02:33   Dome Opened Dome opened (Opening time 45s, Zigbee 40s) 00:02:35   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 00:06:23   Equilibration Skipped Dome Equilibration skipped by user 00:06:25 Session Running Session running 00:06:28   Queue Started Observing Queue started (7 targets selected) 00:06:31     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 16, HIP 78946) 00:06:38       Dome Unparked Dome unparked 00:09:57       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:13:13       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 00:15:38       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 00:15:40       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 00:17:54       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 00:19:44       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 00:20:04     Target Completed (NrZen) Target completed (Focus Field 16, HIP 78946) 00:20:09     Target Started (1/7) Target started (1/7, AT2023jbu) 00:24:41       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:28:11       Focusing Aborted Foc1 Focusing Check Aborted 00:28:13       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 00:28:15     Target Aborted (1/7) Target aborted (1/7, AT2023jbu) due to Priority 1 ToO Target 00:28:17     Target Started (2/8) Target started (2/8, NGC 5957 w/SN2025fvw, ToO) 00:32:35       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:35:30       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 00:47:31   CcdCamera Frozen CcdCamera appears to be frozen at around 00:47 in section 'GetCameraProperties / State' 00:48:07       CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (attempt to fix frozen CcdCamera) 00:48:14       SBIG Camera Reset SBIG Camera being power-cycled 00:49:06       Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -10°C) 00:52:23     Target Completed Target completed (2/8, NGC 5957 w/SN2025fvw, ToO) 00:52:25     Target Missed (3/8) Target's time slot was missed (3/8, GCVS CY Lyr) 00:52:28     Target Started (4/8) Target started (4/8, 61 Cyg) 00:55:30       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:58:02       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 01:00:02     Target Completed Target completed (4/8, 61 Cyg) 01:00:06     Target Started (5/8) Target started (5/8, T CrB) 01:04:45       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:07:21       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 01:12:16     Target Completed Target completed (5/8, T CrB) 01:12:20     Target Started (6/8) Target started (6/8, GCVS U Her) 01:15:56       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:18:15       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 01:26:51     Target Completed Target completed (6/8, GCVS U Her) 01:26:55     Target Started (7/8) Target started (7/8, AT2025kyb (CV)) 01:30:13       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:32:54       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 01:38:54     Target Completed Target completed (7/8, AT2025kyb (CV)) 01:38:58     Target Started (8/8) Target started (8/8, GCVS AM Her) 01:39:08   Critical Cloud Alert Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Dome) 01:39:10   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend called due to Critical Conditions (cloud) 01:39:18     Target Aborted (8/8) Target aborted (8/8, GCVS AM Her) due to cloud 01:39:20   Queue Paused Queue paused for Session Suspension 01:39:22 Session Suspending Session suspending 01:40:09   Dome Closed Dome closed (Closing time 50s, Zigbee 44s) 01:40:12 Session Suspended Session suspended 01:57:15     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (8/8, GCVS AM Her) due to cloud 01:57:19   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 01:57:21 Session Closing Session closing 01:57:25   Dome Closed Dome already closed (closed at 01:40, closing time 50s, zigbee 44s) 01:58:19   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 45s), Az: 90.0 deg 02:00:20   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 42s total) 02:00:50   Telescope State Handbox reads 'Scope parked Turn scope off.' 02:01:12   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 02:02:38   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 02:02:41 Session Finishing Session Finishing started (Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 02:02:53     Dome (Find Park) Find Park started (Search Az 88.0 to 92.0°, Step 0.2°, Narrow) 02:03:36     Dome Find Park found (Best Park Az 90.2°) 02:03:42     Dome Dome has been synced at park position (Az 90.0°, Adjustment: -0.2°) 02:03:44   Dome Parked Dome parked 02:05:06   Dome Charging Dome is parked and re-charging Ok (15mA) 02:05:08 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts & Alarms

Time     Type       Name Detail 23:58:02 Yellow Alert Disk Space Free Space on C:\ Drive (49.03 GB) is less than 50 GB 00:48:05 Red Alert CcdCamera CcdCamera appears to be frozen (last cycle at 00:47:31) in section 'GetCameraProperties / State' 02:02:47 Yellow Alert Disk Space Free Space on C:\ Drive (44.93 GB) is less than 50 GB 02:05:06 Green Clear Dome Charging Dome is parked and re-charging Ok (15mA)

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Operational Issues (2025-06-15, S1335)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (0)
• Minor Issues (6)
• Small Defects (7)
• Continuous Improvement (8)
• Figures (5)
  

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• The first three main frames from Target 1/5 all had Horizontal Lines and had to be rejected (00:35 to 00:42). Images #1335008-10 (180s exposures) from Target 1/5 (NGC 5957 w/SN2025fvw) all showed anomalous horizontal lines (see Fig 1). The degration in image quality was bad enough that they all 3 frames had to be rejected from the objective of performing photometric monitoring of SN 2025fvw.   The issue didn't affect the two preceeding Locate/Centering frames (which were both normal). The 4th frame failed due to a frozen CcdCamera.  It is unclear if the failure and the horizontal line issue were connected in anyway.   However after the CCD Camera was restarted to resolve the frozen CcdCamera issue, the 5th frame was successfully acquired and it was totally normal (see Fig 2).   Issue closed after review 2025-05-16
   Closed after review 2025-06-16 (Session, SBIG Camera)
   
• AllSky/Weather Computer crashed / stopped operating (2025-06-16 12:45).  For unknown reasons the AllSky/Computer crashed or stopped operating,  that halted daytime camera and weather data recording, until issue was noticed and the computer restarted. The most significant impact was that the lost of observatory temperature effected the ability to perform temperation correction of the magnetometer readings. There is an ongoing occasional issue that is causing the AllSky/Weather Computer to crash, but the root cause and its solution (if any) is unknown. 
   Closed after review 2025-06-16 (AllSky/Weather Computer)
   
• Outage in AllSky/Weather Computer led to issue performing temperature correction of magnetometer readings.  Magnetograms showed sharp shifts when Observatory Computer Temperature stopped being available during outage of the AllSky/Weather Computer, and a further large shift when the AllSky/Weather Computer was restarted and Observatory Temperature data communication was restored.  In the absence of having a more robustly operating AllSky/Weather Computer operation , other solutions would be to always use the ObsEnv temperature which is available from the Observatory Computer or add a new dedicated ZIgbee Temperature Sensor (which could have benefit of being attachable to the outside of the SAM III box).  In the short-term AstroMag 1.5.4 has been updated to keep track off and use the last good observatory temperature for it temperature correction in situations were fresh data stops.
   Fixed 2025-06-16 (AstroMag 1.5.4)
   
• SAM III readings (Y Axis) showed 3 anomalous increases in value over a 17 hour period (2025-06-20). There were a series of anomalous shifts in Y magnetometer readings over the course of 17 hours on 2025-06-20 & 2025-06-21 (see Fig 5). X and Z readings were normal and not affected by the issue.   The SAM III box and magnetometers were turned off and then restarted after around 5 minutes. This appears to have resolved the issue (for the time being). This is an ongoing occassional issue that neccesiates user intervention and degrades the quality of station's recorded data.  Leaving the magnetometers unpowered for 5 minutes was not enough time for 'charge' to disappiate as there was a further anomalous shifts in readings 15.5 hour later. A separate Continuous Improvement ticket has been added to ground the unused wires in Ethernet Cable at the Observatory end, which was completed on 2025-06-22. (see Geomagnetic Station -  Remedial Fix 2, grounding unused wires (2025-05-22) ).  Around 4.4 days after Remedial Fix2 there was a new anomalous spike & shift in Y readings. It is conjectured that the value of 1M ohm resistor used is too high and one of much lower value (100-200 ohm) should be used instead.
   Closed, but continue to monitor 2025-06-21 (SAM III)
   
• SAM III readings showed major shift/anomalies in values (2025-06-22). Beginning at around 01:40 on 2025-06-22 there was a major  upwards shift in X readings (+490nT) accompanied by smaller downwards shifts in Y and Z readings (-145nT & -100nT respectively).  (see Fig 6). The change occurred over for some 2.5 hours in total but was sharpest during the initial 10-15 mins. There were no spikes per se.  This anomaly came just 15.5 hours after the SAM III unit was restarted following anomalous shifts in y readings on 2025-06-20. An initial possibility was that the event was associated with a period of heavy rain that occurred the same night, as a strong correlation has been previously identified,  however it this case the data shows the magnetometer anomaly started 30 minutes before the heavy rain event. Following the incident the 15 unused wires in the ethernet cables (3x5). coming from the buried magnetometer assembly were stripped back and connected to Earth (Ground) at the Observatory End (see Geomagnetic Station -  Remedial Fix 2, grounding unused wires (2025-05-22) ).  Around 4.4 days after Remedial Fix2 there was a new anomalous spike & shift in Y readings. It is conjectured that the value of 1M ohm resistor used is too high and one of much lower value (100-200 ohm) should be used instead.
   Closed, but continue to monitor 2025-06-22 (SAM III)
   
• AstroPlan and AstroAllSky both enountering "Disk full errors on remote side" when trying to upload files to Observatory Website (2025-06-22).  Observatory Website stopped being updated with fresh picture files at 2025-06-22 21:38.  Examination of logfiles showed that the Webuploaders on Observatory (AstroPlan) and AllSky/Weather Computers (AstroAllSky) reporting exceptions from UploadFileFTP2 with the message "Copying files to remote side failed" & "Disk full - please upload later".   A similar problem happened 5 or 6 weeks ago and was resolved after contacting JustHost Customer Help.  On this new occasion the issue resolved itself after approximately 5 hours at 01:36. Issue closed 2025-06-23.
   Resolved itself  2025-06-23 (Web Host)

Small Defects

• 'CcdCamera Frozen' events are not using the new 'auto' level facility (00:47). A new facility was recent added to AstroMain (S1327, 2025-05-30) to make SBIG Camera related events to be appropriately intented in the Session Events table using a special level code gEventLevel.  Whilst this working appropriately for 'SBIG Camera' and 'CCDSoft Restarting', 'Camera Connected' (and also for 'SBIG Camera Reset'  following a fix in AstroMain 3.75.3 on 2025-06-12 ) it isn't working for 'CcdCamera Frozen' event which is continuing to using Event Level 2 rather than Level 4.  This event and the associated 'CcdCamera' red alert & call to RestartCCDSoft() were initiated by ObsOverseer after CCDCamera had been pending for 30s and had eventually been deemed as frozen after 35s. Typically JobExecutor might pick up on camera during short Focus Frame Images, but in this case the exposure time of 180s the job executor may not have been able to judge there was a problem until timeout had occured.  Issue fixed in AstroMain 3.75.5. 
   Fixed 2025-06-17 (AstroMain 3.75.5)
   
• Following the raising of a 'CcdCamera' red alert there was no green all-clear alert when the problem was resolved (00:47). There was an issue taking the 4th Main Frame for Target 2/8 (NGC 5957 w/SN2025fvw) and a 'CCDCamera' red alert was raised by ObsOverseer at 00:48:05.  The issue was resolved by a RestartCCDSoft operation and the 5th Main Frame was successfully acquired. Normally a green all-clear would be raised once the issue was established to have been resolved.   Code shows that when the ObOverseer Loop raised the red alert ' the bCcdCameraReportedAsFrozen' flag would have been set to True.  Logs show the flag being reset to False at 00:49:06.98 with the message  "Resetting bCcdCameraReportedAsFrozen flag in RestartCCDSoft() " .  This occurs due to code that was added to RestartCCDSoft() on 2025-05-11 (MI 1322-1324) to clear any flags (including  bCcdCameraReportedAsFrozen) that could otherwise block the setting of CCDTemp & CoolingPower in the RunTempMonitor() thread/routine however it has the side-effect of clearing the flag that elsewhere is used to raise the green all-clear.    Issue fixed in AstroMain 3.75.5.  a Green-AllClear alert is added in RestartCCDSoft() at the point that the bCcdCameraReportedAsFrozen flag is reset.
   Fixed 2025-06-17 (AstroMain 3.75.5)
   
• Target 2/8 (NGC 5957 w/SN2025fvw) was reported as having 5 / 5 frames completed when the 4th frame failed (00:52).  Job Executor should have reported  "4 / 5 frames completed" not "5 / 5 .. " .   Log file shows that there was an "The RPC server is unavailable " exception in  OB.TakeMainImage() at 00:49:07.35.   Code suggests that exception most-likely happened in the code line
     If Image.Path = "" Then
  which would have the effect of by-passing the following code line that would have 'captured' the failure if it wasn't for the exception.
    gNumCompletedImages = gNumCompletedImages - 1
  code line changed to the
      If IsNothing(Image) OrElse Image.Path = "" Then
  However since the exception might still occur the 'gNumCompletedImages = gNumCompletedImages - 1' line is also added to the catch section.  Fix attempted AstroMain 3.75.5.
   Fixed 2025-06-17 (AstroMain 3.75.5)
   
• TheSkyScopeCoords check for Target 1/7 is logged as a 'Fail' (00:20). Target 1/7 (AT2023jbu) is recorded with a 'Fail' result in the four 'Check TheSkyScopeCoords' line records at 00:28:21, but it is unclear why this are marked as Fail instead of 'Ok' or 'Info'. Despite the anomalous 'Fail' notices the Job executor preceeded to Slew to the target coordinates ok. Same issue for Target 2/8 (NGC 5957) and other targets. This happens even if difference between TheSky6 and ASCOM Telescope Coords is only 0.1°.
   Fixed 2025-06-17 (AstroMain 3.75.5)
   
• Free space on Observatory Computer's C: Drive has fallen below 50 GB (02:02).  At end of session Free Space on C Drive was down to 45 GB . Some space recoved by deleting un-required files. Free Space is back to 82 GB.   In due course sessions need to be archived from Development/Analysis Computer to External Archive Disk after which original sessions can be deleted from Observatory Computer.
   Fixed 2025-06-19 (Observatory Computer)
   
• NorthCam Sunset Video & Poster Picture has updated since Sunset 2025-06-15 (2025-06-19). The last Sunset Video and Poster Picture dates from 2025-06-15 and hasn't been updated & uploaded in the last 3 days.  Other NorthCam Video's are being updated & uploaded ok. Checking Server (Live) folder on AllSky/Weather Computer confirms that video/poster picture are from 2025-06-15 (showing that the problem isn't related to uploading by AstroAllSky program).  Checking the TapoCam/Videos folder shows that Sunset video hasn't been created for 2025-06-16 to 2025-06-18.  It is hypothesised that this is due to the end of Sunset period (sunalt -8) has nudged past midnight due to the shortening summer night, and this hasn't been recognised in current code design.  Fixed in AstroNorthCam 1.5.3, Sunset included in the special code section in SubmitStandardVideo() routine that adjusts 'VideoEndTime' to be NightDate.AddDays(+1).
   Fixed 2025-06-20 (AstroNorthCam 1.5.3)
   
• AstroPlan and AstroAllSky both enountering "Disk full" error on remote side when trying to upload files to Observatory Website (2025-06-22).  Observatory Website stopped being updated with fresh picture files at 2025-06-22 21:38.   Webuploaders on Observatory (AstroPlan) and AllSky/Weather Computers (AstroAllSky) reporting exceptions from UploadFileFTP2 with the message "Copying files to remote side failed" & "Disk full - please upload later".   A similar problem happened 5 or 6 weeks ago and was resolved after contacting JustHost Customer Help.  On this new occasion the issue resolved itself at around 01:36 - an outage of approximately 5 hours.
   Resolved itself  2025-06-17 (Web Host)
   
• AstroMain's Obs.Overseer reporting 'ScopeMonitor is Pending' even though Telescope Service is stopped. (02:01). After TheSky Telescope was disconnected at 02:00:52,  Obs.Overseer flagged the ScopeMonitor as 'Pending (15s)' at 02:01:08, as 'Pending (90s)' at 02:02:23, as 'Resumed' at 02:02:24, as 'Pending (20s)' at 02:03:43 (in Wait for FindPark), as 'Resumed' at 02:03:44, as 'Pending (20s)' at 02:04:48  (in Wait for Dome Charge Data), as 'Resumed' at 02:04:53.  ScopeMonitor is typically flagged as Pending when execution of the TheSkyScopeMonitor is held up by a call to TheSky.Telescope.IsConnected.  Unclear on the best way forward, as this is a rare situation and doesn't impact operations. Ticket placed on hold 2025-06-20.
   On hold 2025-06-20 (AstroMain)

Continuous Improvement

• Modify AstroMain's TakeImageAsync to set TimeOutPoint more precisely and record final Camera Status 'Ready'.  TimeOutPoint should be modified to reflect that it doesn't need to include Filter Change time. After routine sees 'CcdCamera. IsExposureComplete() = True' the routine should wait and record "Camera Status: Ready" before logging completion of exposure.  if it hasn't already been seen (with a 3s timeout).   Implemented in AstroMain 3.75.5. 
   Done 2025-06-18 (AstroMain 3.75.5)
   
• Make a number of improvements to AstroMain logging. Make a series of improvements to the logging of information to AstroMain's Session Logfile to improve information capture, consistency and readability, including
  - replace "Trace" by "(trace)" where it isn't already used.
  - increased threshold for logging MonitorAscomScope times from 1000ms to 2000ms.
  - removed logging of StatDataFile exceptions
  - change 'Update  PlanTimeUsed' from being a standard log record to being a '(trace)'  record.
  - better placement of line break when taking Focus Frames
  - add linebreak after finishing Foc2 profile & prior to disconnecting camera from ShCap/SharpCap
  - remove " (Scope)" suffix from Get Guide Rate records
   Implemented in AstroMain 3.75.5. 
   Done 2025-06-19 (AstroMain 3.75.5)
   
• Extend AstroMag's GA Tool to be able to lock down specific parameters.  The current temperature correction for X & Z reading are acceptable, but is not acceptable for the Y reading which sees a distinct upward trend during the past 5 days (see Fig 3). It would be helpful if X & Z parameters could be locked down allowing the GA Tool to focus on optimising the match to Y reading.  Implemented in AstroMag 1.5.5.   Fitness score improved from  39.7 to a new score of 20.5, over a couple of iterations, first focusing on Y coefficients and then focusing of the Z coefficients.
   Done 2025-06-20 (AstroMag 1.5.5)
   
• Ground geomagnetic stations unused ethernet wires at Observatory end. There were a series of anomalous shifts in Y magnetometer readings over the course of 17 hours on 2025-06-20 & 2025-06-21 (see Fig 5). This is the latest in a series of anomalies in Y readings since the Magnetic Station went into operation on 2025-05-14 (see Geomagnetic Station - Anomalies, 2025-05-23 to 2025-06-20).  Whilst incidents can be individually cured by turning off the SAM III box and magnetometers and then restarting the SAM III box after 5-20 minutes, this neccesiates user attention & intervention and degrades the quality of station's recorded data.  It is proposed to implement the previously on-hold plan to ground the unused wires in 3 ethernet cable going to the buried magnetometer assembly at the Observatory end.  Prompted by yet another anomaly affecting all 3 magnetometer axes at 2025-06-22 01:40 UT, the task to ground unused wire was actioned and completed during daytime on 2025-06-22 (see Geomagnetic Station -  Remedial Fix 2, grounding unused wires (2025-05-22) ).
   Done 2025-06-22 (SAM III,  Observatory)
   
• Examine and implement a method of displaying a vertically cropped Weather Forecast image on Session Notes page.  Session Notes page show a full height picture of the Weather Forecast made at the beginning of a session, but only the top half is really relevent from a retrospective viewpoint in comparing actual cloud cover & rain with forecast cloud cover & rain.  Possibilities are create & upload of specially cropped versions of each Weather Forecast picture and update each session page to show the cropped picture.  A better solution is to use html to display just the area of the Weather Forecast required.  Some solution using html5 canvas are more complicated than needed.  The best solution was to add the following lines to the sites .css file
    img.CroppedForecast {
     width: 1000px;
     height: 330px;
     object-fit: cover;
     object-position: 0% 0%;
  }
  and add a class descriptor to the img tag on each session notes page, e.g.
   <img class="CroppedForecast" alt="Image" src="images/WeatherForecast.2025-06-15.png"
 style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; float: left;">
  Implemented for 3 most recent Sessions on 2025-06-23 (WebSite)
   Done 2025-06-23 (Website)
   
• Extend AstroMain's 'FV' and 'FV.fits' facilities to open the Image Window. The existing 'FV' and FV.fits' button routines, open the current image in FV but only get as far as bringing up the Summary Window.  The user still has to click FV's Image button (or use Tools/Plot ) to display the actual image.   It should be possible to do step automatically by sending a Left Mouse Click At X,Y command to the FV program.  CoPilot used to create a new module 'MouseClickHelper' and a new routines 'GetFVWindowCoordinates(targetTitle, X)' , SetMouseCursorPos(X,Y),  'SendLeftClickToFVRelative() that can be used by Analysis.StartFvApplication() to call SendLeftClickToFVRelative(535,93). SetMouseLeftDown() & SetMouseLeftUp() to not only open the Image in 'POW' window but also to open the powRB' Rescale image dialog.
   Done 2025-06-23  (AstroMain 3.75.6, FV )
   
• Add "WHL" to list of sorted deep sky objects on AstroMain's ImageSets Tab.  This is to allow Galaxy Cluster WHL0137-08 (Session S1290) to be sorted with other Deep Sky Objects. Implemened in AstroMain 3.75.6.
  Done 2025-06-25  (AstroMain 3.75.6)
   
• Add a Zigbee Smart Plug for operating the SAM III system. There were a series of anomalous shifts in Y magnetometer readings over the course of 17 hours on 2025-06-20 & 2025-06-21 (see Fig 5). This is the latest in a series of anomalies in Y readings since the Magnetic Station went into operation on 2025-05-14 (see Geomagnetic Station - Anomalies, 2025-05-23 to 2025-06-20).  Whilst incidents can be individually cured by turning off the SAM III box and magnetometers and then restarting the SAM III box after 5-20 minutes, this neccesiates user attention & intervention and degrades the quality of station's recorded data.  It is proposed to implement the previously on-hold plan to ground the unused wires in 3 ethernet cable going to the buried magnetometer assembly at the Observatory end (see separate ticket). Should this not work a possible aid to making the necessary user intervention would be to add a Zigbee Smart Plug to allow a remote restart of the SAM III system.  The benefit or othwesie of Smart Plug will depend a lot on the success of a new remedial fix to the magnetometer station. (see Geomagnetic Station -  Remedial Fix 2, ground unused wires (2025-05-22) ).
   On-Hold  2025-06-21 (SAM III,  Zigbee )

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Geomagnetic Station -  Remedial Fix 2, ground unused wires (2025-05-22)

A Geomagnetic Monitoring Station is being added to the Observatory in Spring 2025 for monitoring changes in the earth's magnetic field and to supplement and build upon the Observatory's existing Aurora monitoring that use a Black/White AllSky Camera and new NorthCam Colour Camera.

During Commissioning & Diagnositics phase it was discovered that the initial setup suffered from two significant issues (Noise & Anomalous Spiking) that require remediation before the station could proceed to an Operational phase. A Remedial Fix that was made on 2025-05-10 with the addition of a low-pass filter. This made a significant improvement and . However there have been ongoing occasional Anomalies that necessitates additional remedial action (Remedial Fix 2).

The following notes describes the Remedial Fix 2 that was made on 2025-05-22

Other notes  :
| Review | SAM III | Site Prep | Assembly Design | Parts Assembly | Testing | Final Assembly | Installation | Commissioning | Remedial Fix |  Operation | Anomalies | GA Tool | Remedial Fix2 |

Remedial fix 2

Tests on 2025-05-10 had previousy demonstrated that there is a significant level of cross-talk between the cables passing from the magnetometers to the SAM III box in the Observatory.  Whilst the direct effects of the cross-talk/interference on noise have been eliminated by using a low-pass filter, there is still an issue that crops up every 7-10 days that is postulated to be caused by build-up of some charge within the system that eventually releases as a spike and/or shift in readings. 

It is likely that the problems encountered may have been prevented by using Shielded Cabling instead of the Unshielded Cabling used, and indeed it still might be necessary to dig up the entire magnetometer assembly & cabling at some point and rebuild /re-bury the assembly afresh using Shielded Cabling.

Before taking this drastic action a further potential fix will be tried.   In each of the 3 Ethernet Cables going to the Magnetometer Assembly there are 5 unused wires, giving a total of 15 unused wires. During assembly each of these unused wires was simply snipped off at each end.   It is possible that the postulated build-up of charge in the system or some of the cross-talk effect might potentially be stopped or reduced by grounding all of the unused wires.   The cabling is not accessible at the magnetometer assembly end, but is accessible at the Observatory end and this is where the fix will be made.  This is shown in the pictures below.

Unused wires pulled back and stripped Picture shows the 3 black Ethernet Cables (top) coming  from Magnetometers with brown, blue and orange 'used' wires connecting to the LC low-pass filter (bottom)		Unused wires pulled back and stripped Close-Up
Unused wires twisted together		Inline Resistor (1M ohm) connected to Earth Wire  connections twisted and subsequently soldered and later taped Note: The 1M ohm resistor was replaced with a 330 ohm resistor on 2025-06-29 (Remedial Fix 2b )
Earth Wire twisted to Unused Wires		Earth Wire / Unused Wire bundle roughly soldered
Remedial Fix Completeed Unused Wire Bundle taped.  Inline Resister taped. Earth Wire (green/yellow) taken outside the Observatory through same floor opening that the Ethernet Cables use and then  connected to a metal stake in the ground next to Observatory Wires from Low-Pass Filter Circuit reconnected to SAM III box.

The setup will be run for 14 days to see if the grounding of the unused wires stops the previously seen spiking/shifting issue, or if the issue persists. 

Update 2025-06-27

Coming just 4.4 days after Remedial Fix2  there was a significant spike and shift in Y readings of around +570 nT at 2025-06-26 21:00.  X and Z readings were unaffected.



This was disappointing outcome.  Proposal is to make a further remedial fix (2b) in order to replace the 1M ohm inline resistor used in the fix with one of much lower value (around 100-200 ohm) in the hope that this will make a difference.

There were further spikes and small shifts in Y readings the following morning (2025-06-27)
Again there were no effects on X and Z readings.


 
Update 2025-06-29 (continuing Y axis anomalies)

Continuing spikes & shifts in Y readings



Remedial Fix 2b, 2025-06-29  (replaced 1M ohm resistor by 330 ohm resistor)

Due to continuing issues with spikes & shift in Y Sensor reading, it was decided to replace the 1M ohm resistor with a 330 ohm resistor in the hope that this improves things (a resistor of 100 or 200 ohm would have been used, but I didn't have one to hand and I used a 330 ohm resistor instead).

Situation will be monitored for the next 14 days.

Update 2025-07-05.
At around  2025-07-05 11:30 UT small shifts occurred in Y and Z readings of -37nT and -14nT respectively. This is at a point 6.0 days after the SAM III system was restarted with Remedial Fix2b in operation. The amount of shift is relatively small but non-ideal. Again this might suggest that Remedial Fix2b is broadly working, but the resistor needs to be dropped to 50-100 ohm.  It is too soon to draw any firm conclusions and more monitoring is needed.



Update 2025-07-07.
Over a nearly 3 hour period between 2025-07-07 21:15 & 00:55 UT) there were several small shifts in Z readings, with the most noticeable shifts at 22:40 & 23:35. (-28 nT & +56 nT respectively). This were at point 8.5 days after the SAM III system was restarted with Remedial Fix2b in operation. The amount of shift is much smaller than some of the earlier shifts and there were no further shiftsin the following 12 hours.  This might suggest that Remedial Fix2b is broadly working, but the resistor needs to be dropped to 50-100 ohm.  It is too soon to draw any firm conclusions and more monitoring is needed.





Update 2025-07-10.
Just after 2025-07-10 17:00 UT) there was a shift in Y & Z readings. (+26 nT & -23 mT respectively). This was followed by a shift of +38 nT in Y readings at 23:00 UT and an anomalous  in Z readings thereafter.These occurred at a point 11.2 days after the SAM III system was restarted with Remedial Fix2b in operation. The repaired grass turf above the cable runs was watered at around the tiime of first incident (17:00 UT) but this may just be a coincidence. There was no anomalies with reading from the X (shallowest) sensor.





Update 2025-07-11.
At around 2025-07-11 13:00 UT there was a +110 nT shift in Z readings., following by a -200 nT shift at 14:15.  There were further,  though smaller, shifts in Z readings at 14:30 and 15:00 (-90 nT & +60 nT respectively). These occurred at a point 12 days after the SAM III system was restarted with Remedial Fix2b in operation.  There was no anomalies with readings from the X & Y sensors.



Update 2025-07-12.
At around 2025-07-12 12:10 UT there was a -30 nT shift in X readings.  This  occurred at a point 13 days after the SAM III system was restarted with Remedial Fix2b in operation.  There was no associated anomalies with Y & Z readings.



Remedial Fix 2c, 2025-07-13  (replaced 330 ohm resistor by 47 ohm resistor)

Although the performance of the magnetometer station was better using Remedial Fix 2b (330 ohm resistor)  there are still occassional anomalous shifts in readings as documented above. As per current remedial plan the 330 ohm resistor used in grounding of unused cable wires, was replaced today (2025-07-13 08:30 UT) by a 47 ohm resistor and the SAM III system restarted.

The situation will be monitored for the next 14 days.

For time being the inline resistor connection (see photo below) is left unsoldered & untaped in case further changes are needed



Update 2025-07-15.
At around 2025-07-16 17:40 UT there was a +80 nT shift in Z readings.  This  occurred at a point 2.4 days after the SAM III system was restarted with Remedial Fix2c in operation.  There was no associated anomalies with X readings, but the Y sensor readings may have spiked at the same time.



Update 2025-07-16.
A series of anomalous shift and spikes in Z and Y readings occured om 2025-07-16 starting at around 09:10 with the largest shifts occuring at 12:00 UT  and 14:00 UT. This  occurred at a point 3 days after the SAM III system was restarted with Remedial Fix2c in operation.  There was no associated anomalies with X readings.




Update 2025-07-29.
Issue with anomalous shifts and spikes in Z and Y readings continues.  Magnetogram below shows data from 2025-07-25 09:00 to 2025-07-30 09:00.  The system was shut down for approximately 1 hour at 2025-07:28 07:30 UT, but the issues recommenced again just 32 hours later.

Magnetogram showing numerous anomalous spikes and shifts in Y & Z readings

There was no associated anomalies with X readings, but readings from colocated temperature sensor showing anomalies that correspond with
many of the anomalies in Y & Z magnetometer readings.

Update 2025-07-30
A 14 day test was started today (2025-07-30) in which the Y axis magnetometer was disabled by disconnecting its wires into the SAM III unit. This makes the Y axis not powered / not active. This will assess whether the Y axis magnetometer itself or the Y axis magnetometer position in relation to Z axis magnetometer or with the Temperature Sensor probe, might be causing the spike/shifts in Y & Z readings. One hypothesis is that the temperature sensor probe is touching the mini 'flux-gate' circuit board associated with the Y magnetometer.  This might show whether  building a new Y axis magnetometer and putting it in ts own buried sensor assembly might be a viable fix to the ongoing issue.

| Review | SAM III | Site Prep | Assembly Design | Parts Assembly | Testing | Final Assembly | Installation | Commissioning | Remedial Fix |  Operation | Anomalies | GA Tool | Remedial Fix2 |

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