David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 615  (2018-07-24)

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Notes (S616)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Executed Observing Plan  - Night Summary Plot
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (0),  Small Defects (0),  Continuous Improvement (0)
	Observing Plan
	Fully Automated Operations Test
	Images from 2018-07-24  >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2018-07-24) - Commissioning

Main aims of this nighttime session was to continue commissioning of Clair3 Observatory including

1) Perform live test of Observatory System operating in Fully Automated Mode

(This follows corrections and modifications to code since previous live test sessions on 018-07-18 and 2018-07-22.  Although operating in  Fully Automated Mode the session was again closely monitored to understand any issues and intervene if required)

2) Acquire some images

3) Continue checking stability of POTH.Hub (Telescope + Dome) & Observatory Control Software

Equipment & Software
- 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
- CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft 5, POTH Hub,

Highlights :

- The new Fully-Automated Operation Routines generally worked as designed but again a few further few things were noticed that will require further correction and improvement.  The test can be judged a success  (see test notes)

- Specific successful achivements of the automated system  : 
    - a new session (session ID, session name, session folders) was created for the night
    - an optimised Observing Plan/Schedule was created for the night from a database of targets and loaded ready for observing
    - Dome, Telescope and CCD Camera were connected to
    - Temperature Set Point on CCD Camera was set (based on ambient temperture)
    - Dome, Telescope and CCD Camera were operated 
    - Weather and Cloud Sensor data was used to open and close the Dome Shutter several times during the session
    - Execution of Observing Plan / Target Queue proceeded according to scheduled start times.
    - Close down of the Observatory (Telescope & Dome Parking, CCD Disconnection)
    - Post Session Housekeeping (File copying etc)

   (Wait to Next Night and Commence Next Session were not tested on this occassion)
  
- No specific failures of the automated system, however efficiency was rather poor due to shutter closures due to borderline cloud conditions and skipped targets due to previous targets overrun their respective time slot.
  
- A long list of corrections/minor improvements to the routines were identified.  Major items that needed to be attended to are:
    - Stop target imaging before each target overruns its time slot
    - Tidy up and rationalise routines dealing with Session Closing and Session Housekeeping
    - Autofocussing (previously noted)
    - Access (and Use) Centering Offsets held in Targets Database

- Images of several targets were obtained

- A bug within new Target/Job Queue routines meant that Mosaic (M11) could not be acquired.

- There were with no major issues with the Observatory System itself, except for an outage of the Cloud Detector

Executed Observing Plan (2018-07-24) (Targets marked with Red Status failed. Initial targets failed due to missing the scheduled start time. Later targets failed due to cloud/closed dome.

Night Sky Summary Plot - 2018-07-24 Top axis: Sky Brightness at Zenith (in ADU/s) Lefthand axis: Local Time (hh LT). Righthand axis: Sun Altitude (degs)

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Operational Issues (2018-07-24, S615)

Issues arising during the session:

• Outage of the Cloud Detector. Cloud Detector froze just before start of session meaning that Sky Clarity & Rain data was initially unavailable.  The session was able to proceed, but strictly the code needs to be carefully consider the remaining data available (weather station, all sky image and weather forecast) and if there is any doubt the session should be suspended and tthe shutter closed.  Precise cause is unknown.
  Fixed at the time by visiting the observatory, turning off power to Cloud Dector and unplugging the USB cable from the Cloud Dector's  USB-Serial adapter before replugging the USB cable and turning on power to the Detector. and restarting the Cloud Dector software.
  
• Problem with Autosave Number  Part way through the session autosave numbers jumped from 615001-615023 to 010000-010065 with no indication of any error or explaination for the reset (Problem occured at around 01:02, between the 1st and 2nd locate image on RX And).   The only explanation is that the Autosave Tab in the Camera Control window was accessed whilst imaging, and the Autosave Number was somehow set to 10000 (this Tab has previously been seen as weakness of the CCDSoft Control Settings).
  It was wondered if the problem was related to the next problem (where CCDSoft tried to access the laptop's web cam)
  Data issue was resolved later by renaming the affected .FIT files and Log File references
  (in command window  : ren 000100*.FIT  006151*.FIT
  (in log file and other files    replace 000100  by 006151)
  Not normally an issue
  
• CCDSoft5 trying to access the Laptop's WebCam.  For no obvious reason CCDsoft5 seemed to freeze at one particular point and Kaspersky produced a message saying that CCDSoft5 was trying to access the latop's WebCam camera. I clicked 'Allow' and the WebCam turned on whilst CCDSoft resumed and continued imaging with SBIG camera (WebCam was manually closed). It is unclear if this was just some random glitch (CCDSoft got confused about what camera it should read, and possiblily what its correct autosave number was. (See 'Problem with Autosave number' above)  or whether there was an attempted hack or attack on my computer or network).  Later testing showed that if Camera in CCDSoft's Camera Control window is changed to 'Video 1.4' it opens the webcam.
  This could also explain a resetting of the autosave number.
  Not normally an issue
  
• Shutter repeatedly Closing & Opening within a Short Interval .  Between 02:04 to 02:16 (Local) Shutter closed, then opened again, then closed again, then opened again  Issue was caused by Sky conditions bounching either side of threshold values and/or random glitches in Cloud Detector Clarity values, are picked up by Observatory Manager leading to commands to 'Close the Shutter', followed a few seconds later by comands to 'Open the Shutter' when favourable Cloud Detector values are seen.
  Scorecard assessment of Shutter Safety needs to be modified to provide a more useful response to changing Clarity levels.  This is on the 'To Do List'
  Issue Resolved (Obs.Manager code modified to reduce the likelihood of this issue)
  
  

Observatory Software Issues

Shutter repeatedly Closing & Opening within Short Interval (02:04 to 02:16 Local)

Observatory Alert                       2018-07-25 02:04 (Local) Critical Cloud Conditions:    Alert     Observatory Manager will close the Dome Shutter Session Suspended                       2018-07-25 02:04 (Local)   Session: 2018-07-24         Info      Session suspended (..)   Close Shutter...            Ok        Shutter is closing...   Checking Conditions...      Ok        Conditions have improved   Observatory Manager:        Action    Opening Dome again   Open Shutter...                Open Shutter...             Ok        Shutter is opening... Observatory Alert                       2018-07-25 02:04 (Local) Critical Cloud Conditions:    Alert     Observatory Manager will close the Dome Shutter   Close Shutter...            Ok        Shutter is closed (40s)   Checking Conditions...      Ok        Conditions have improved   Observatory Manager:        Action    Opening Dome again   Open Shutter...             Ok        Shutter is open (45s) Observatory Alert                       2018-07-25 02:11 (Local) Critical Cloud Conditions:    Alert     Observatory Manager will close the Dome Shutter Session Suspended                       2018-07-25 02:11 (Local)   Session: 2018-07-24         Info      Session suspended (..)   Close Shutter...            Ok        Shutter is closing...   Close Shutter...            Ok        Shutter is closed (45s)   Checking Conditions...      Ok        Conditions have improved   Observatory Manager:        Action    Opening Dome again   Open Shutter...                Open Shutter...             Ok        Shutter is opening...   Open Shutter...             Ok        Shutter is open (45s)   Continue..   Checking Target ...         Ok        RA: 19 14 36.399, Dec: -02 42 22.00, J2000 (NGC 6772)   Checking Altitude ...       Ok        Altitude 25.1 degs   Checking Airmass ...        Ok        Airmass 2.35   Checking Declination...     Ok        Dec -2.67 degs   Slewing ...                  Observatory Alert                       2018-07-25 02:15 (Local) Critical Cloud Conditions:    Alert     Observatory Manager will close the Dome Shutter Session Suspended                       2018-07-25 02:15 (Local)   Session: 2018-07-24         Info      Session suspended (..)   Close Shutter...            Ok        Shutter is closing...   Checking Conditions...      Ok        Conditions have improved   Observatory Manager:        Action    Opening Dome again   Open Shutter...                Open Shutter...             Ok        Shutter is opening... Observatory Alert                       2018-07-25 02:16 (Local) Critical Cloud Conditions:    Alert     Observatory Manager will close the Dome Shutter   Checking Conditions...      Ok        Conditions have improved   Observatory Manager:        Action    Opening Dome again            Open Shutter...             Ok        Shutter is open (35s)

'Bad' Clarity Values causing momentary 'Must Close' Flags Unexplained spikes in Clarity between 02:04 and 02:16 LT. The Scorecard Routine interprets these as Critical Cloud and as a consequence Shutter Safety is momentarily set to 'Must Close'.

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Fully- Automated Operations Test (2018-07-24)

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