David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1410 (2026-03-20)

Notes (S1409)

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Notes (S1411)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (5),  Small Defects (6),  Continuous Improvement (16)
	- Figures (1)
	Images from 2026-03-20  >>
	Support frames for TS80/178MC (Cam2)

Session Aims & Highlights (2026-03-20)

Main aims

1. Targets.  Acquire images of a selection of variable stars, nearby stars, comets & deep sky targets as allowed by sky conditions.
2. ShCap Imaging/Processing.   Continue testing of AstroMain/AstroShCap routines and workflow including Siril scripts

 Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
• 80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
• TheSky6 6.0.0.65, CCDSoft 5.00.201, DeviceHub 7.1.0.4707, MeadeGeneric 1.3.12.522, UPB 3,  Pulsar Dome Firmware 1.51 & Driver 6.3.10
• Pegasus-UI 2.10, Peg-Focuser 2.10, Peg-Switch 2.10, TCF-LSI 3.3.5
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.13, Siril 1.4.1, deCONZ 1.18.2, ASCOM 7.1.0.4707
   
• AstroMain 3.80.29,  AstroPlan 1.46.2, AstroShCap 1.3.20, AstroGuard 1.13.1  (any new items or versions in bold)
  AstroMag 1.5.12, AstroVOE 1.16,  AstroSN 1.16,  AstroProtect 1.10.6,  AstroMove 1.17.7
  AstroAllSky 3.27.6, AstroWeather 1.30.1,   AstroObsCam 1.13.1, AstroNorthCam 1.8.1, AstroLaunch 1.14.6 / 1.14.8

Highlights

• Targets. 21/25 planned targets were completed with 2 targets partially completely. 2 targets missed their slots due to replacement by a ShCap Target ( M108, 50x60s) that were injected to the Job Queue as a ToO Target
• ShCap Imaging/Processing.   Images collected from 3 ShCap targets (Berkeley 63, M101 and M108)
•  Dome. Dome was reported to have closed, but phyically it did. Dome was successfully parked at the end of the session.

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 19:26:48 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 19:26 & 04:20 19:26:49 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (19:26) 19:26:55 Session Created Session Created (Live, 2026-03-20 S01410) 19:26:57   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (to set AutoSave No.) 19:27:16   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Switch 19:29:02   Services Started Observatory Services started 19:29:12 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 19:29:14 Session Pending Session pending (2026-03-20) 19:29:16 Session Initiating Session initiating (2026-03-20) 19:29:38   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -15°C) 19:29:41   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.46.2) 19:30:04   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (PlanID: 1208) 19:30:48   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 19:31:12 Session Equilibration Session ready to Open Dome 19:31:58   Dome Opened Dome opened (Opening time 45s, Zigbee 41s) 19:32:43 Session Running Session running 19:32:46   Queue Started Observing Queue started (25 targets selected) 19:32:53     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 7, HIP 34070) 19:33:08       Dome Unparked Dome unparked 19:36:41       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 19:38:55       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 19:40:47       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 19:40:54       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 19:42:42       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 19:44:24       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 19:44:44     Target Completed (NrZen) Target completed (Focus Field 7, HIP 34070) 19:46:09     Target Started (1/25) Target started (1/25, UGC 525 w/SN2025ahxd) 19:50:53       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-LSI) 20:07:32     Target Completed Target completed (1/25, UGC 525 w/SN2025ahxd) 20:08:29     Target Started (2/25) Target started (2/25, Berkeley 63). Using SharpCap 20:11:02       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:13:16       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 20:21:57       Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -15°C) 20:22:00     Target Completed Target completed (2/25, Berkeley 63) 20:23:19     Target Started (3/25) Target started (3/25, GSC 1224:29) 20:28:09       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is lost (TCF-LSI) 20:34:45     Target Completed Target completed (3/25, GSC 1224:29) 20:35:48     Target Started (4/25) Target started (4/25, 240P/NEAT) 20:39:36       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:41:49       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 20:52:15     Target Completed Target completed (4/25, 240P/NEAT) 20:52:31     Target Started (5/25) Target started (5/25, PCG 1025+3601) 20:57:28       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:59:56       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 21:16:42     Target Completed Target completed (5/25, PCG 1025+3601) 21:16:46     Target Started (6/25) Target started (6/25, PCG 1045+2027) 21:20:19       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is lost (TCF-LSI) 21:36:24     Target Completed Target completed (6/25, PCG 1045+2027) 21:37:11     Target Started (7/25) Target started (7/25, PCG 1045+1758) 21:41:12       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:43:42       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 21:59:42     Target Completed Target completed (7/25, PCG 1045+1758) 21:59:46     Target Started (8/26) Target started (8/26, M108, ToO). Using SharpCap 22:01:56       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-LSI) 22:56:43       Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -20°C) 22:56:45     Target Completed Target completed (8/26, M108, ToO) 22:56:47     Target Missed (9/26) Target's time slot was missed (9/26, Z 160-45 w/SN2025abwt) 22:56:49     Target Missed (10/26) Target's time slot was missed (10/26, SHK 95) 22:56:51     Target Started (11/26) Target started (11/26, PCG 1045+4931) 23:10:13     Target Completed Target partially completed (11/26, PCG 1045+4931) 23:10:17     Target Started (12/26) Target started (12/26, NGC 4205 w/SN2026fvx) 23:29:47     Target Completed Target completed (12/26, NGC 4205 w/SN2026fvx) 23:29:51     Target Started (13/26) Target started (13/26, M101). Using SharpCap 23:31:59       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-LSI) 23:55:32       Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -20°C) 23:55:35     Target Completed Target completed (13/26, M101) 23:59:21     Target Started (14/26) Target started (14/26, SHK 105) 00:03:36       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:06:23       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 00:22:25     Target Completed Target completed (14/26, SHK 105) 00:22:29     Target Started (15/26) Target started (15/26, GCVS ER UMa) 00:25:40       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-LSI) 00:29:36     Target Completed Target completed (15/26, GCVS ER UMa) 00:31:59     Target Started (16/26) Target started (16/26, 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann) 00:35:49       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:38:16       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 00:50:00     Target Completed Target completed (16/26, 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann) 00:50:05     Target Started (17/26) Target started (17/26, UGCA 295) 00:53:55       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-LSI) 01:10:02     Target Completed Target completed (17/26, UGCA 295) 01:12:21     Target Started (18/26) Target started (18/26, MCG +7-28-15 w/SN2025adje) 01:15:50       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:18:11       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 01:34:10     Target Completed Target completed (18/26, MCG +7-28-15 w/SN2025adje) 01:34:41     Target Started (19/26) Target started (19/26, T CrB) 01:38:41       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:40:51       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 10) 01:44:58     Target Completed Target completed (19/26, T CrB) 01:45:37     Target Started (20/26) Target started (20/26, UGCA 285) 01:49:11       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - unable to find a star (TCF-LSI) 02:05:26     Target Completed Target completed (20/26, UGCA 285) 02:07:57     Target Started (21/26) Target started (21/26, NGC 4914 w/SN2026fjc) 02:12:28       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:14:55       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 11) 02:31:11     Target Completed Target completed (21/26, NGC 4914 w/SN2026fjc) 02:31:15     Target Started (22/26) Target started (22/26, AT2026cpv) 02:35:07       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:37:27       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 12) 03:37:37     Target Completed Target partially completed (22/26, AT2026cpv) 03:37:41     Target Started (23/26) Target started (23/26, GCVS BL Lac) 03:45:14     Target Completed Target completed (23/26, GCVS BL Lac) 03:45:18     Target Started (24/26) Target started (24/26, AT2026fkw (CV)) 03:50:36       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is lost (TCF-LSI) 03:57:01     Target Completed Target completed (24/26, AT2026fkw (CV)) 03:57:05     Target Started (25/26) Target started (25/26, 24P/Schaumasse) 04:00:31       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is lost (TCF-LSI) 04:11:06     Target Completed Target completed (25/26, 24P/Schaumasse) 04:11:10     Target Started (26/26) Target started (26/26, NGC 7292 w/SN2026fov) 04:15:35       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-LSI) 04:31:57     Target Completed Target completed (26/26, NGC 7292 w/SN2026fov) 04:31:59   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 04:32:02 Session Closing Session closing 04:33:06   Dome Closing Dome closure hasn't finished after 60s (ShutterState=Closing) 04:34:07   Pulsar Dome Recovering Dome 04:34:22   Pulsar Dome Restarting Dome Controller 04:35:17   Pulsar Dome Dome Controller has been restarted 04:35:29   Pulsar Dome Dome Service has been restarted 04:36:07   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 04:37:02   Dome Closed Dome closed (Closing time 30s, Zigbee 295s) 04:37:21   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 13s), Az: 90.1 deg 04:38:12   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 43s total) 04:38:36   Telescope State Handbox reads 'Scope parked Turn scope off.' 04:39:33   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 04:40:59   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 04:41:02 Session Finishing Session Finishing started (Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 04:41:49     Dome (Find Park) Find Park started (Search Az 80.0 to 100.0°, Step 1.0°, Wide) 04:42:48     Dome Find Park found (Best Park Az 91.0°) 04:42:54     Dome (Find Park) Find Park started (Search Az 89.0 to 93.0°, Step 0.2°, Narrow) 04:43:40     Dome Find Park found (Best Park Az 90.8°) 04:43:46     Dome Dome has been synced at park position (Az 90.0°, Adjustment: -0.9°) 04:43:48   Dome Parked Dome parked 04:46:47   Dome Charging Dome is parked and well charged (95%, 14.9v) 04:46:49 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts & Alarms

Time     Type       Name Detail 00:15:39 Yellow Alert Dome Dome has been stationary for more than 15 mins 00:22:40 Green Alarm Dome Dome Movements have begun again (outage 22.0 mins) 04:33:06 Red Alarm Dome Closing Dome closure hasn't finished after 60s (ShutterState=Closing) 04:34:07 Red Alert Dome Alert Dome hasn't reached 'Closed' state after 120s during 04:46:47 Yellow Alert Dome Charging Dome is parked and well charged (95%, 14.9v)

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Operational Issues (2026-03-20 S1410)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (0)
• Minor Issues (5)
• Small Defects (6)
• Continuous Improvement (16)
• Figures (1)
  

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Observatory Shutter didn't fully close during initial CloseShutter request at end of session (04:33).This is an occasional problem with the Observatory's Dome System (Pulsar Observatories 2.2m  with Dome Rotatiion and Shutter Drive systems). During 'Session Closing' the Shuter was requested to Close at 04:32:04 and the Zigbee Sensor records shutter begining to physically close ar 04:32:04.   'Dome Closing' and 'Dome Alert' red alerts were raised at 04:33:06 and 04:34:07 respectively, with messages  "Dome closure hasn't finished after 60s (ShutterState=Closing)" and "Dome hasn't reached 'Closed' state after 120s during".   The ObsManager 'Closing' checks initiated Dome Recovery' operations at 04:34:07 which reset the Pulsar Dome, and reconnect to it.  An  new request to close the Shutter was made at 04:36:31 and Zigbee reported the Shutter to be finally Closed at 04:36:59.  The entire operation to close the Dome took just under 5 mins, compared to a normal closure time of 45s. Can this be improved ?, In the event of critical weather (e.g. rain) , the initial failure to close would have left the Dome & Equipment unprotected for 4.1 minutes longer than normal.   Bottom line is that Ion this occassion the ObsManager system operated as per design and made the Observatory Safe as quickly as possible.  A separate Continuous Improvement ticket has been raised to see if there were there any warning signs that could have allowed ObsManager to predict the issue with Dome Shutter ahead of time.  A number of some defects related to RPC excepetion and green AllClear alerts are also raised below.  Issue closed after review on 2026-03-22.
  Closed after review (Session, Pulsar Dome)
   
• A green 'Dome Shutter' all-clear wasn't raised by ObsManager after successful Dome Recovery/Shutter Closure(04:36). After the Dome Shutter failed to fully close an Initial Close Shutter request at 04:32 the ObsManager initiated Dome Recovery procedures that successfully reset the Pulsar Dome and the finally had the Shutter closed at  04:36:59. Whilst red Dome Shutter alerts were raised,  no green 'all-clear' was raised after recovery & confirmed shutter closure. It would have been useful to see the green 'all clear' in the table of Session Alerts and immediately see the close issue had be automatically resolved without frantic inverstigation / checking on the Dome's Status. Fixed in AstroMain 3.80.30. Changed to bDomeClosingIssue to Flag.bDomeClosingIssue and used to raise green alert when Shutter finally closed. A green all-clear had also been added where there has been a raised DomeOpening flag.  bDomeOpeningIssue changed to Flag.bDomeOpeningIssue.
  Fixed  2026-03-23 (AstroMain 3.80.30)
   
•  'Siril_CLI' unable to successfully run siril script with spcc colour calibration. When trying to run the 'OSC_PlateSolveAndSpcc.ssf' script via Siril_CLI today (2026-03-22), the script reaches the command
     spcc "-oscsensor=Sony IMX178" -atmos -obsheight=20
  and it produces the error:
     running command spcc
   HTTP range request failed with code 416 for URL 
     https://zenodo.org/records/17988559/files/siril_cat1_healpix8_xpsamp_5.dat
   Failed to read data entries via HTTP
   Query failed on mirror https://zenodo.org/records/17988559/files, trying alternatives...
  Fixed 2026-03-23 by downloading astrometric and spcc catalogues to local folder
  Fixed 2026-03-23 (Siril / local catalogue files)
   
• The Develpment/Analysis Computer has run out of processing space and room to install spcc catalogs for Siril. The Observatory Computer is down to only 20-40 GB of free space.  This is not enough to process the ShCap Image Sets in Siril (needs around 8-10 GB working space for 50 light frames), build Master Dark & Flat Libraries (25 MB each master), create/store stacked FITS image (74 GB per image), create/ store picture files (8 MB per 50% scaled png file).  There is also not enough room to freely install Astrometric and spcc catalogs for convenient offline use (18 GB),. Issue resolved 2026-03-23, by moving older AllSky / TapoCam / Aurora sessions files to offline External HardDisk. This allowed spcc catalog to be downloaded and used by Siril for offline use.
  Fixed 2026-03-23 (Development/Analysis Computer)
   
• Images descriptions created on Page Builder are writing 'CMOS Image' instead of 'CCD Image'. For some known reason a bug has appeared that cause Image Descriptions in Page Builder to be written like 'Annotated CMOS Image' when they should be written like 'Annotated CCD Image'.  For some reason the description is taking on the default Cam2/ShCap description format instead of Cam1/ST-10 (normal) format. The bug has gone unnoticed for a while and the error has inserted itself into Session Pages and Gallery Pages. Examining past pages indicates that the bug appeared around 2026-03-18 (currently around 6 days ago. A appl use 'CCD' button has been added to the Page Builder/Image Block tab to make corrections from CMOS to CCD as easy as possible.  Bug found in ImageBuilder's btnSaveJpgFinal_Click ()routine. Bug fixed in AstroMain 3.80.31, and pages corrected 2026-03-24.  CCD Images now call 'BuildImageTypeDescription2_CCD() routine, whilst ShCap/CMOS Images call  BuildImageTypeDescription2_ShCap().
  Fixed 2026-03-24 (AstroMain 3.80.1 ImageBuilder/PageBuilder, Website)

Small Defects

• Average  Camera Temperature of a ShCap Light Frame Set isn't being calculated and stored at runtime. AstroMain 3.80.29 was released with a fix to an earlier issue when Cam2 temperatures were being read from SharpCap, as temperatures of the camera connected to PHD2 were being read instead.  Whilst this has been fixed, and temperature is reported by each frame as its acquired, the temperatures are being summed and an average calculated, saved to the ImageSet.xml and used for BestMasterDarkSelection.. Fixed in AstroMain 3.80.30.
  Fixed  2026-03-21 (AstroMain 3.80.30)
   
• Hyperlinks from 'regular' records in the '(error)'.htm file aren't working correctly.  Hyperlinks from '(error)', '(warn)', (ok) lines are working ok and open the (log).htm file at correct bookmark.  Some regular Session 'change' records have been recently added to the '(error).htm file, but there hyperlinks don't work correctly, they don't go direct to the expected bookmark position, but instead open the '(log).htm file at the top and don't automatically jump to the equivalent record line. Fixed in AstroMain 3.80.30.
  Fixed  2026-03-23 (AstroMain 3.80.30)
   
• The 'Create Scope Log' routine called at end of session, only included Scope Records from the last part of session.  The CreateScopeLog() routine was recently modified so that it was called at end of session to avoid user needing to run routine during the immediate post-session reduction stage.  The routine only picked up the MeadeGeneric Log from the final part of the session on 2026-03-21 ASCOM Log folder when Telescope was disconnected from all clients iat around 04:33 n order to restart DeviceHub/Pulsar Dome.  The routine failed to pick up and use the MeadeGeneric Log from 2026-03-21.   Fixed in AstroMain 3.80.30.
  Fixed  2026-03-23 (AstroMain 3.80.30)
   
•  '(log).htm' and '(error).htm files don't contain '(alert)' records that mention the Dome Shutter alerts (04:33).  Whilst red alerts were raised to indicate the failure of dome to close within expected time,  there is no corresponding record in the log file. This is a gap which should be eliminated.   Whilst red exception 'The RPC server is unavailable" records are present in the log file, these will be removed in future, as logically they should occur and be logged (see separate Minor Issue above). An '(Ok)' record should also be logged after successful Dome Recovery. Fixed in AstroMain 3.80.30.
  Fixed  2026-03-23 (AstroMain 3.80.30)
   
• Siril 'PlateSolveAndSpcc' script failed with cryptic error message "FITS error: failed to create new file (already exists?):" (post-session).  During post-session work and an earlier image set from S1405 session (Berkeley 1), the OSC_PlateSolveAndSpcc' script was being run via Siril_CLI. After inserting OBJCTRA and OBJCTDEC keywords into 'stacked'.fit', the script saves the image with the same name.  Normally this works ok and overwrites the existing stacked.fit file.  However when reprocessing images from Berkerley 1' the script failed with the error message "FITS error: failed to create new file (already exists?):". It was determined that the issue was due to 'stacked.fit' being open in ESA?ESO/NASA FITS Liberator (it doesn't seem that script matters if the stacked image is open in ASIFitsViewer CCDSoft or Siril FrontEnd). The error message is somewhat cryptic and doesn't refer to the file bing used/open in another application.  To avoid the issue other applications should close the file in FITS Liberator (and ideally other applications) prior to running the script. Closed after review - user needs to be aware of the issue and it cause/solution.
  Resolved  2026-03-23 (Siril CLI, FITS Liberator, User Awareness)
   
• Get Dome.Connected requests were unnecessarily made to the Dome whilst it was in the process of being restarted (04:34). Three red '(error)' exceptions with messages "Exception whilst getting Dome.Connected property.  The RPC server is unavailable" where recorded in the '(log).htm' and '(error).htm' files at 04:34:17 , 04:34:20  and 04:35:17.  The associated  attempted calls to th Dome.Connected property shouldn't be made whilst the 'Restarting Dome' flag is raised, as they will always generate such exceptions.  Searching AstroMain's code reveals 41 statements where Get Dome.Connected is used.  Changed Dome.bRestartingDome to Flag.bRestartingDome.  Fix attempted in AstroMain 3.80.31 - the Dome.Connected property modified to return False when Flag.bRestartingDome is raised instead of querying objDome.Connected.  To be monitored for side effects.
  Fix attempted (AstroMain 3.80.31)

Continuous Improvement

• Extend AstroMain and AstroShCap to be able to take Flat Frame Sets using SharpCap & ASI178MC Camera.  Continuing the project to maximise the use of the ZWO ASI178MC OSC colour camera for imaging with the secondary scope instead of using it soley for guiding the main scope, it is necessary to correct light frames using a suitable masterflat frame in order to remove the pixel to pixel variation in sensitivity and any vignetting and dust motes.  The first stage is to extend AstroMain Camera2 capability to direct the acquistion of Flat Frame sets, via the AstroShCap Python application running in the SharpCap scripting environment. II is proposed to add to rename the Darks sub tab (on AstroMain's 'Guide Scope' tab) to 'Darks & Flats' and extend it to taken Flat  Frames.  Implemenetd in AstroMain 3.80.30 & AstroSharpCap 1.30.21.
  Done 2026-03-21 (AstroMain 3.80.30 AstroSharpCap 1.30.21)
   
• Create Siril Script (OSC_StackFlatFrames) to process Flat Frames and produce a MasterFlat. 
  Outline for script to process flat frames is as follows:
     cd flats
 convert flats_ -out=../process
#
# Calibrate flats using master dark-flat (keep CFA intact, no debayering)
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  cd ../process
  calibrate flats_ -dark=../calibration/MasterDark.fit -cfa -prefix=cal_
#
# Stack calibrated flats to create MasterFlat
# -------------------------------------------
  stack cal_flats_ rej 3 3 -norm=mul -out=../MasterFlat
  Implemented in AstroMain 3.80.30
  Done 2026-03-21  (AstroMain 3.80.30, Siril)
   
• Create button routines in AstroMain and AstroMove that can shut all 'ASIFits View' windows. Each time a Fits file is clicked upon it opens in a new 'ASIFits View' window. Unless each one is closed down manually after reviewing image, multiple windows can be left open, required later manual cleanup. It would be useful to have a button facility to kill/close all windows, similar to button routines for closing all PaintSHopPro windows or all ACDSee32 windows.  .Each time a wndows is open it creates a separate process with name 'ASIFisView.exe' so it should easily be possible to search process list and kill each one.  Implemented in AstroMove 1.18.1.
  Done  2026-03-22 (AstroMove 1.18.1, ASIFits View)
   
• Take a Dark Frame Sets for the ASI178MC Camera at Gain 200 to support processing of M108 Images. ShCap Light frames were acquired for M108 in Session S1404 at 60s and Gain 200.  The closest matching DarkMasterDark is of only 30s exposure. In order to correctly calibrate it, Dark Frame set of 60s exposure / Gain 200) needs to be collected post-session. Following sets were acquired on 2026-03-22:
    Darks: Gain 200, Exp  60s, Num 30, Temp 21.1°C  Median  980, bgnoise 128.1
  Darks: Gain 200, Exp 120s, Num 30, Temp 22.5°C, Median 1035, bgnoise  63.9
  Darks: Gain 350, Exp  60s, Num 30, Temp 22.7°C, Median 1440, bgnoise 740.3
  Bias:  Gain 100, Exp   0s, Num 30, Temp 23.7°C, Median  546, bgnoise  23.6
  Bias:  Gain 200, Exp   0s, Num 30, Temp 24.3°C, Median  970, bgnosie  63.4
  Bias:  Gain 300, Exp   0s, Num 30, Temp 24.4°C, Median 1312, bgnoise 189.4
  Bias:  Gain 400, Exp   0s, Num 30, Temp 24.7°C, Median 1356, bgnoise 590.1
  Temperatures are a bit as they were collected in daytime, this is not ideal, but workable for time being. Bias Frames were warmer due to extra work being done by the camera and the fact that the camera is non-cooled version.. These frame will be made into MasterDarks, MasterBias in AstroMain/Siril, and the Light frames from M108 reprocesed.
  Done 2026-03-22 (AstroMain, AstroShCap, SharpCap, ZWO ASI178MC camera)
   
• Take a Flat Frame Sets for the ASI178MC Camera at selected Gain levels along with 'matching' Dark Frames. Utililising the proposed extension to AstroMain and AstroShCap to take Flat Frame Sets, taken Flat sets at specific Gain levels, beginning with 100 and 200.   Following sets were acquired on 2026-03-22:
   Flats: Gain 100, Exp 3s, Num 50, Temp 22.7°C, Median 26922, bgnoise 7446
 Flats: Gain 150, Exp 3s, Num 50, Temp 22.3°C, Median 25934, bgnoise 7319
 Flats: Gain 200, Exp 3s, Num 50, Temp 22.5°C, Median 27934, bgnoise 8065
 Flats: Gain 250, Exp 3s, Num 50, Temp 22.5°C, Median 23416, bgnoise 6842
 Flats: Gain 300, Exp 3s, Num 50, Temp 22.6°C, Median 24964, bgnoise 7387
 Darks: Gain 100, Exp 3s, Num 50, Temp 22.2°C, Median   568, bgnoise  24.9
 Darks: Gain 150, Exp 3s, Num 50, Temp 22.1°C, Median   804, bgnoise  39.6
 Darks: Gain 200, Exp 3s, Num 50, Temp 21.9°C, Median  1040, bgnoise  65.2
 Darks: Gain 250, Exp 3s, Num 50, Temp 21.8°C, Median  1280, bgnoise 110.3
 Darks: Gain 300, Exp 3s, Num 50, Temp 21.6°C, Median  1536, bgnoise 194.5
 (3.2E-05)
  Done  2026-03-21 (AstroMain, AstroShCap, SharpCap, ZWO ASI178MC camera) 
   
• Update process to calibrate light frame including use of MasterFlat. 
  Outline for script to process calibrate light frames using MasterDark and MasterFlat
calibrate light -dark=../calibration/masterdark.fit -flat=../calibration/MasterFlat.fit -debayer -prefix=pp_
  To build and test .
  Done   2026-03-22 (AstroMain 3.80.30,)
   
• Download Astrometric and spcc catalogs for offline use by Siril (2026-03-22). For a couple of weeks now, there has been an intention to download astrometric and spectral colour calibration (spcc) catalogs to the Development Computer for offline use by Siril  but lack of free space (18 GB needed) has delayed this and online catalogs have been relied oon in the meantime. However Siril has run into problems on the Development/Computer using online spcc catalogs when trying to perfom spectral colour calibration using siril scripts submitted to Siril_CLI (Issue documented above in 'Minor Issues' section). After freeing up disk space (18 GB needed for catalogs), the catalogs where eventually download, taking just over 1 hour.
  Done  2026-03-23 (Siril / Offline Catalogs, Development/Analysis Computer)
   
• Add Camera Pan and Tilt to the parameters collected and stored in FrameSet's .xml file, and displayed on AstroMain's ShCap tab. Implemented in AstroMain 3.80.30
  Done  2026-03-22 (AstroMain 3.80.30)
   
• Add a 'a/a' button to Page Builder's Image Block Tab. Whilst there is a pull-down list to select description 'type'   : (Normal, As Above, As Left etc ) is would be handy to have a button that can use the 'as above' description with a single click instead of 2-3 mouse operations involved in select 'as above from the combo list. Implemented in AstroMain 3.80.31
  Done  2026-03-24 (AstroMain 3.80.31)
   
• Provide metadata file for MasterDark/MasterFlats copied into \calibration folder. After autoselecting the best MasterDark and best MasterFlat fom Darks/Flats libray for a particular image set, the master file is copied into the image set's \calibration folder  as 'MasterDark.fit' and 'MasterFlat.fit' respectively, Simple names are used to add pre-processing scripts to be generic. Apart from looking through report/log files there is currently no quick access record over which particular MasterDark or MasterFlat was used. It is proposed to write a text file in the calibration folder with a name that equates to the masterflat or masterdark used. For example if
      MasterDark.g200.030s.T_24c.S1408.Set2.num25.fit is imported as 'MasterDark.fit
  a text file will be created with the name
      MasterDark.g200.030s.T_24c.S1408.Set2.num25.txt
   Implemented in AstroMain 3.80.31.
  Done  2026-03-25 (AstroMain 3.80.31)
   
• Update process to Capture a Single ShCap Frame and show its histogram and stats. In order to take good Flat Frames the Exposure Time needs to be set so that Median Value is within the 30-50% of the full Bit Depth (ie. 19960 to 32770 for 16 bit Image having max ADU at 65536 (or between 4915 and 8192 when looking at raw 14 bit histogram) The required exposure time / light panel brightness have to be set by trial and error. It would be a handy to see the histogram and peak value to shorten this effort. This new feature is to be implemented by adding a new "Take Trial Flat" buttons to AstroMain's Cam2 "Darks + Flats" tab and  "Trial Flat" tab. The buttons call RunTask.TakeCam2_SingleFlat(TargetName, Exp, Gain), which runs a Task thread to run  ShCapOps.TakeCam2_SingleFlat() that calls AstroShCap using the 'take_single_flat' method, which runs the TakeSingleFlat() routine that captures a single flat frame in SharpCap.  The image path name is passed back as LASTIMAGE property which is accessed by RunTask.Run_TakeCam2_SingleFlat() to call TakeCam2_ChartSingleFlat(ImagePath) . The latter routine generate a histogram graph with lines for each colour channel (R, G, B) Twhich is then displayed in a picture box on the 'Trial Flat' tab. The histogram source is the raw histogram for the 14bit 178MC Camera Output (i.e bins  0 to 16383). but is shown as "% of max ADU" on the chart . The histogram path name is determined by replacing "'.fits"  in ImagePath with ".histogram.csv".  Implemented in AstroMain 3.80.31, AstroShCap 1.3.23. 
  Done 2026-03-26 (AstroMain 3.80.31, AstroShCap 1.3.23)
   
• Create button routines in AstroMain to launch ACDSee with the Png file created by ShCap Processing of a Set. .
  Done 2026-03-26 (AstroMain 3.80.31)
   
• Position a ShCap Target's Cropped Jpg Picture to the right of the full frame picture on the Latest Session Images page. For CCD Targets the Cropped Jpg picture is positioned to the right of the full frame picture on the Latest Session Images page: https://www.astro-richweb.net/astro/images_current.htm . However for ShCap Targets the cropped picture is positioned bleow the full frame picture,  creating a longer web page and a visually inconistent format. The reason is that the cropped picture is made from a different source image to the full frame picture, as results in a two calls to the ConvertZwoPngToJpg () routine which are lead to separate picture rows appearing on the web page. Explore/investigate ways to make the pictures appear on the same row.  Implemented in AstroMain 3.81.5 by creating a 'detail' image that is cropped from original source image without image resizing.
  Done 2026-04-04 (AstroMain 3.81.5 / ConvertZwoPngToJpg)
   
• Incorporate correction for Airmass into the value of Sky Transparency (Normalised ZP) that is show on Night Conditions chart.  The effect of airmass can be removed from the measurement of a Zero Point (ZP) for a Locate Frames taken as a given Altitude (Airmass) . See Fig 1.    A basic CalculateZeroPointAtZenith() function using extinction coefficient of 0.2 has been implemented in AstroMain 3.81.6 and used by AnalyseStarsInImage() routine to report ZP_zenith alongside the existing Normalised ZP. For time being the chart will still show the current Normalised ZP before committing to changing the graph.
  Partially done 2026-04-05 (AstroMain 3.81.6)
   
• Modify Siril Script building to access new Script Templates. During Runtime Processing of ShCap ImageSets or later reprocessing AstroMain (3.80.31) runs a script from the \Data\Siril\Scripts folder using Siril_CLI.   These scripts can be either 'generic' immediately runnable scripts in the C:\Data\Siril\Scripts folder or customised scripts that are generated from code and then moved to the \Scripts folder.  The latter is performed in the case of the OSC_PlateSolveAndSpcc.ssf' script as Image/Target coordinates have to be writtern to the script to allow PlateSolve to start its processing with the approximately correct numbers in order for a plate solution to be successfully found.  Whilst this works it leaves a 'custom' script in the 'generic' scripts folder, and doesn't leave a permanent record of the script used, as the script is overwritten by the next target.  Should extra steps need to be added to the script or command options changed / improved the program source code has be modified to achieve this which is not sufficiently flexible.  The gaps and issues can be resolve by
  1) the use of Script Templates, which provide the script framework and can be customised with specific parameters , specified as {replacement}  tags
  2) the saving of custom scripts to the a '\Scripts' folder within the ImageSet's local folder/file structure
  An implementation has been build and applied to the PlateSolveAndSpcc operation using new template 'OSC_PlateSolveAndSpcc.ssf' with use of {Ra2000} and {Dec2000} tags Code needs to be made more general and can be applied to other script operations. but it principal its new proven to work.
  StackCam2Frames() was modified to use OSC_StackLightsPlateSolveAndSpcc.ssf template in AstroMain 3.81.5, which includes injecting Ra2000/Dec2000 coordinates into the Stacked.fit allowing PlateSolution and Spcc Color Calibration to occurs.
  Done 2026-04-05 (AstroMain 3.81.5)
   
• Query. Could ObsManager have predicted the failure of dome shutter to close ahead of time. An occasional problem with the Observatory's Dome System (Pulsar Observatories 2.2m  with Dome Rotatiion and Shutter Drive systems). is that Closing Shutter operations will fail part way through closing the shutter. Whilst fallback 'Dome Recovery' proceedures are automatically run they can leave the Dome & Equipment unprotected / exposed to elements for 4.1 minutes longer than normal.  This ticket is to explore whether there any warning signs that could have allowed ObsManager to predict the issue with the Dome System ahead of time or is the failure a completely random glitch that can't be predicted.
  To investigate (AstroMain, Pulsar Dome)
   
• Update images and objects on Virgo Galaxy Cluster page. It was noticed that the Virgo Galaxy Cluster page (see galaxycluster_virgo.htm) contains a lot of older images, and more recent/better images have likely been taken since.   It is also possible that images of other cluster members are also be taken and are not shown on the page.  Or there are unimaged members that could be entered into the Targets Database for future acquisition.  Page to be updated.
  To do (Website, Targets Database)
   
• Create Siril Script that can generated a cropped down MasterDark/MasterFlat to match the CaptureArea of Light Files. that are not Full Frame. Capturing and building MasterDarks / Master Flats for 'custom' capture areas would involve significant extra work (collecting the frames, calibrating and stacking therm). It should be feasible to create Custom Darks/Flats on the fly by cropping MasterDark to the required 'Area' based on the CaptureArea of the Light Frames. This has to done in way that honors the Bayer Pattern.
  On Hold 2026-03-22+ (AstroMain 3.80.31+)
   
• Consider extending Siril Scripting in order to make a more detailed cropped picture. For small targets it would be useful to create an image that is a cropped 100% scale picture or a cropped 50% scale picture of the target itself.. To explore/investigate how to achieve this. Ticket is on-hold pending other higher priority improvements.
    On hold 2026-03-22+ (AstroMain 3.80.31+)
   
• Consider the option of upgrading to a cooled Colour CMOS camera for the LX200 Main Scope. Main Scope imaging is currently performed using the observatory's 18 year old ST-10XME CCD Camera with 10-position filter wheel. A consideraton of whether this is the right kit moving forward needs to be made.  Exploration of techniques for improved imaging using the secondary scope and existing ASI178MC OSC Camera, and software like Siril is ongoing.  No urgency on this ticket, it is a placeholder for an improvement that is placed on-hold for time being. A review would be useful to allow an appropriate decision to be taken should the existing ST-10XME CCD Camera fail.- Would it be a simple OSC camera or monochrome camera with filter wheel.
  On hold 2026-06-01 (LX200 Imaging Camera)

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Support frames for TS80/178MC (Cam2)

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