David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1347 (2025-08-12)

Notes (S1346)

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Notes (S1348A)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (1),  Small Defects (0),  Continuous Improvement (1)
	- Figures (4)
	Images from 2025-08-12  >>
	New Master Flats - C Filter (2025-08-13)

Session Aims & Highlights (2025-08-12)

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.
2. Cam2 Camera Angle & TS80 alignment. Rotate guidescope camera to 0.0° position. Align TS80 guide scope pointing with that of the LX200 main scope.

 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 3.77.7,  AstroPlan 1.43.12, AstroShCap 1.3.15, AstroGuard 1.11  (any new items or versions in bold)
  AstroMag 1.5.8, AstroVOE 1.15.1,  AstroSN 1.14,  AstroProtect 1.10.6,  AstroMove 1.16.2
  AstroWeather 1.27.10, AstroAllSky 3.24.4,  AstroObsCam 1.11.4 (not 1.11.5), AstroNorthCam 1.5.3, AstroLaunch 1.13.6

Highlights

• Targets. 14/14 planned  targets were completed. Images from 5 targets were however later rejected due to cloud, bright sky, poor sky quality & bad guiding.
• CCD Camera.  No issues with CCD Camera during session.
• Slewing/Centering. Slewing and centering performance was again excellent (Av Error after slew 0.87', Av Error after centering.0.16')
• Cam2 Camera Angle & TS80 Alignment .  Ahead of the session the ZWO 178MC camera was rotated from 358.27° to 359.84° and alignment error was reduced from 1.61'  (Offset W -1.60', Offset N: -0.17') to a newlower figure of 0.32'   (Offset W 0.00', Offset N: 0.31') .
•  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 00:08:46 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 00:08 & 03:32 00:08:51 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (00:08) 00:09:04   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (to set AutoSave No.) 00:09:32   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -10°C) 00:09:35 Session Created Session Created (Live, 2025-08-12 S01347, ImageSaveNum: 1347001) 00:09:48   Services Started Observatory Services started 00:09:55 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 00:09:58 Session Pending Session pending (2025-08-12) 00:10:00 Session Initiating Session initiating (2025-08-12) 00:10:08   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -10°C) 00:10:14   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.43.14) 00:10:43   Observatory Door Observatory Door has opened 00:10:47   Observatory Door Observatory Door has closed (open time 5s) 00:10:50   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (Plan ID: 1132) 00:11:00   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 00:12:17 Session Running Session running 00:12:20   Queue Started Observing Queue started (14 targets selected) 00:12:22     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 20, HIP 99625) 00:14:20       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:17:21       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 00:19:34       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 00:19:36       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 00:21:20       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 00:22:57       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 00:23:16     Target Completed (NrZen) Target completed (Focus Field 20, HIP 99625) 00:25:42     Target Started (1/14) Target started (1/14, IC 4408 w/SN2025kfm) 00:32:33       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-LSI) 00:48:57     Target Completed Target completed (1/14, IC 4408 w/SN2025kfm) 00:49:01     Target Started (2/14) Target started (2/14, NGC 5957 w/SN2025fvw) 01:11:18     Target Completed Target completed (2/14, NGC 5957 w/SN2025fvw) 01:11:22     Target Started (3/14) Target started (3/14, T CrB) 01:17:28       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:19:26       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 01:23:34     Target Completed Target completed (3/14, T CrB) 01:23:38     Target Started (4/14) Target started (4/14, NGC 3938 w/AT2025naw) 01:45:43     Target Completed Target completed (4/14, NGC 3938 w/AT2025naw) 01:45:47     Target Started (5/14) Target started (5/14, HIP 87937) 01:48:41       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:50:54       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 01:53:54     Target Completed Target completed (5/14, HIP 87937) 01:53:58     Target Started (6/14) Target started (6/14, GCVS BL Lac) 01:57:25       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:59:38       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 02:03:25     Target Completed Target completed (6/14, GCVS BL Lac) 02:03:29     Target Started (7/14) Target started (7/14, M31 w/AT2025etj) 02:06:50       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:09:30       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 02:24:16       SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 02:25:01       SoftSuspend Cancelled Soft Suspend is cancelled due to improved conditions 02:25:29     Target Completed Target completed (7/14, M31 w/AT2025etj) 02:25:33     Target Started (8/14) Target started (8/14, GSC 1224:29) 02:30:12       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - unable to find a star (TCF-LSI) 02:37:00     Target Completed Target completed (8/14, GSC 1224:29) 02:37:04     Target Started (9/14) Target started (9/14, AT2023cuz) 02:42:01       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-LSI) 02:45:08       SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 02:46:18       SoftSuspend Cancelled Soft Suspend is cancelled due to improved conditions 02:51:12     Target Completed Target completed (9/14, AT2023cuz) 02:51:16     Target Started (10/14) Target started (10/14, GCVS Z And) 02:51:19       SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 02:51:29       SoftSuspend Cancelled Soft Suspend is cancelled due to improved conditions 02:56:57       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:59:21       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 03:02:53     Target Completed Target completed (10/14, GCVS Z And) 03:02:57     Target Started (11/14) Target started (11/14, GCVS RX And) 03:06:02       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:09:05       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 03:11:35     Target Completed Target completed (11/14, GCVS RX And) 03:11:39     Target Started (12/14) Target started (12/14, GCVS U And) 03:16:22       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:18:55       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 03:23:32       SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 03:24:12       SoftSuspend Cancelled Soft Suspend is cancelled due to improved conditions 03:29:10     Target Completed Target completed (12/14, GCVS U And) 03:29:14     Target Started (13/14) Target started (13/14, GCVS EV Lac) 03:32:23       SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 03:32:49       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:35:22       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 10) 03:35:33       SoftSuspend Cancelled Soft Suspend is cancelled due to improved conditions 03:37:55     Target Completed Target completed (13/14, GCVS EV Lac) 03:38:00     Target Started (14/14) Target started (14/14, Gliese 65) 03:43:56       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - unable to find a star (TCF-LSI) 03:51:03     Target Completed Target completed (14/14, Gliese 65) 03:51:05   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 03:51:07 Session Closing Session closing 03:51:55   Dome Closed Dome closed (Closing time 45s, Zigbee 43s) 03:52:36   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 32s), Az: 90.0 deg 03:53:13   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 31s total) 03:53:37   Telescope State Handbox reads 'Scope parked Turn scope off.' 03:53:59   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 03:55:22   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 03:55:25 Session Finishing Session Finishing started (Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 03:55:47     Dome (Find Park) Find Park started (Search Az 88.0 to 92.0°, Step 0.2°, Narrow) 03:56:30     Dome Find Park found (Best Park Az 90.4°) 03:56:36     Dome Dome has been synced at park position (Az 90.0°, Adjustment: -0.4°) 03:56:38   Dome Parked Dome parked 03:59:00   Dome Charging Dome is parked and re-charging Ok (48mA) 03:59:02 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts & Alarms

Time     Type       Name Detail 03:59:00 Green Clear Dome Charging Dome is parked and re-charging Ok (48mA)

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Operational Issues (2025-08-12 S1347)

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

Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Observatory Computer doesn't currently meet Window 11 system requirements. Microsoft Support for Windows 10, which is the Windows Version still used on the Observatory Computer (ASUS ExpertBook Core i7-10510U), is due to finish on 2025-10-14 (ie in about 2 months time). The computer doesn't currently meeting Windows 11 system requirements - a PC Health Check shows the alert message "TPM 2.0 must be supported and enabled on this PC,   TPM not detected" (see Fig 1)  TPM (Trusted Platform Module) enabling secure storage and authentication functions, and is typcially provided by Platform Trust Technology (PTT) that provides TPM capabilities for a computer without needing a separate hardware chip   Attempting to run TPM.msc confirmed that TPM was unavaillable.  Since the computer is reasonably high spec and only 3 years old,  TPM should theoretically be available. but may require a modification to the system BIOS to make it available.  Issue fixed 2025-10-26 by the upgrading computer BIOS from v303 to v318 (see Observatory Computer - BIOS Upgrade from v303 to v318 to enable TPM 2.0 & meet Windows 11 requirements). Rerunning PC Health Check after the BIOS upgrade showed that the computer now meets Windows 11 requirements (see Fig 2).
  Fixed 2025-10-26 (Observatory Computer, Computer Bios v318,  TPM 2.0)

Small Defects

• None

Continuous Improvement

• Improve AstroMain facility to measure offset of TS80 guidescope pointing from that of the LX200. AstroMain's current routine to measure the pointing difference between the TS80 guidescope and the LX200 main scope, involves taking and linking a 15s image taken through the LX200 computer, followed by taking and linking a 1.5s image taken through the guidescope.  This is inefficient when making successive adjustments to guidescope point to minimise the offset.  Once pointing of LX200 is establish, the facility should keep a record of the main scope pointing and allow the Check Offset routine to simply take and link image through the TS80 guidescope, reducing the cycle time. Implemented in AstroMain 3.77.8.
  Done 2025-08-14 (AstroMain 3.77.8)

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Fig 1.  PC Health Check on Observatory Computer - TPM 2.0 not detected / not enabled

Windows 10 Support is due to end in Q4 2025 and a Health Check shows the Observatory Computer doesn't currently meet Windows 11 system requirements. Health Check show the the message "TPM 2.0 must be supported and enabled on this PC,   TPM not detected"

Fig 2.  PC Health Check on Observatory Computer after upgrading BIOS from v303 to v318 (2025-10-26) - TPM 2.0 enabled.

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New Master Flats - C Filter (2025-08-13)

Sets of New Flat Frames were acquired on 2025-07-30 using Light Board place in front of the LX200.  This was necessiatated by installation of new TCF-LSI focuser and recognition that it leads to a different vignetting levels compared to those using the prveious TCF-S focuser. and recognition that flat field / vignetting artefacts are seen if new images are flat field corrected using older master flats.

Flat Frames

Flat frames were acquired for each binning mode (3x3, 2x2 & 1x1) and for C filters held in the Filter Wheel., with CCD Tempearture operating at -5°C per the following table

Filter

Filter

3x3

2x2

1x1

Position

Name

n

Exp(s).

Sheets

n

Exp(s)

Sheets

n

exp(s)

Sheets

1

C

25

x

1.6s

(2)

25

x

3.6s

(2)

25

x

2.3s

(1)

Bias & Dark Frames

In order to create Master Bias & Master Dark Frames, sets of bias & dark frames were acquired with CCD Temperature operating at the same value of 0°C that the flat frames were acquired at.

Bin		Temp		n		Exp
3x3		0		19	x	Bias
3x3		0		19	x	0.12s
3x3		0		19	x	1.6s
3x3		0		19	x	15s
2x2		0		19	x	3.6s
1x1		0		10	x	2.3s

Master Frames

For each Bias & Dark Set the Dark Frames were stacked using AvMedian method in the Sigma Beta program. The Master Bias & Master Dark Frames generated were copied to the relevant subfolder (1x1 Masters, 2x2 Masters & 3x3 Masters) at 'C:\Data\CCD Imaging\Analysis\_Darks\-5c'

For each Flat Set the Flat Frames were reduced in CCDSoft using the Reduce Folder facility using the Flat Frame Reduction group and relevant master Dark and Master Bias Frames. Reduced flats from each set were then stacked using AvMedian method in Sigma Beta program. The Master Flats generated were copied to the relevant subfolder (1x1 Masters, 2x2 Masters & 3x3 Masters) at 'C:\Data\CCD Imaging\Analysis\_Flats'

Pictures below show the newly generated Master Flats for the C Filter, and are compared with the previous Master Flat.
The new dust motte (left side) can clearly be seen.

Previous Master Flat, C filter (3x3) from S1344 (Average Median for 21 frames )		New Master Flat, C filter (3x3) from S1347 (Average Median for 25 frames )

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This Web Page:	Notes - Session 1347 (2025-08-12)
Last Updated :	2025-10-28
Site Owner :	David Richards
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