David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 774 (2020-04-24)

Notes (S773)

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Notes (S775)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (1),  Continuous Improvement (0)
	Zenith FWHM Chart
	Images from 2020-04-24 >>
	2020-04-25
	CCD Desicator Recharge, SBIG Camera  (2020-04-25)
	Weather Station Batteries (2020-04-26)

Session Aims & Highlights (2020-04-24)

Main aims

1. Targets: Acquire images of a number of deep sky objects and comets.   Observations concentrated on following up on a number of recent supernovae.

Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
• 80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
• CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft5, PHD2,  POTH Hub
• Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.6dev3
   
• AstroMain 3.20.7 (new) ,  Astroguard 1.2.11,   AstroPlan 1.14.1,  AstroShCap 1.2.15, AstroVOE 1.3.5, UPB 1.4.17 
  (AstroWeather 1.8.6, AstroAllSky 3.5.1)
  

Highlights

• Good Conditions.  Very good seeing (< 2 arc secs) & calm conditions
• Targets.  4 targets successfully imaged
• Zenith FWHM Chart.  Modifications to Zenith FWHM Chart to give it a 0 to 8 arc sec Y-Axis range were finally delived(AstroMain 3.20.7)

Lowlights

• Cloud / Fog . Four hours of observing lost when clouds / fog rolled in at 23:45.

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)

Pre-Session Weather Forecast (API data from darksky.net) Pre-Session Weather forecast was for clear skies and calm conditions until around 04:00 when cloud was expected to begin developing. Minimum temperature forecast was 6°C. ( The TV Weather Forecast however showed that cloud would probably develop overnight at some point) In the event conditions were clear and calm to 23:45 at which point cloud / ? fog rapidly developed and forced the closure of the dome shutter for the remainder of the night. Temperature fell to minimum of 1°C at 23:45 before climbing to 6.5°C under the cloudy skies.

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 21:41:24 Session Created Live Session Created (2020-04-24 S00774, ImageSaveNum: 774001) 21:41:43   Obs.Manager Started Obs.Manager started 21:41:45   Obs.Overseer Started Obs.Overseer started 21:41:49   Services Started Observatory Services started 21:42:00   Scope Switched On Telescope power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 21:44:16   Services Started Observatory Services started 21:44:40   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 21:45:55   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 21:48:15   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 43s) 21:49:12       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:52:29       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 21:53:27       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 21:53:35       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 21:55:32       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 21:55:39       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 21:57:39       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 21:59:07 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 21:59:12 Session Pending Session pending (2020-04-24) 21:59:14 Session Initiating Session initiating (2020-04-24) 21:59:16   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.14.1) 21:59:41   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2020-04-24 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 498) 21:59:45   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 21:59:49   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 22:00:02 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 22:01:13   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 22:01:15   Equilibration Skipped Dome Equilibration skipped by user 22:01:17 Session Running Session running 22:01:19   Queue Started Observing Queue started (19 targets selected) 22:08:12     Target Started (1/19) Target started (1/19, NGC 2674) 22:12:16       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:15:48       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 22:31:45     Target Completed Target completed (1/19, NGC 2674) 22:31:47     Target Started (2/19) Target started (2/19, NGC 5157) 22:35:23       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:38:35       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 22:54:22     Target Completed Target completed (2/19, NGC 5157) 22:54:24     Target Started (3/19) Target started (3/19, NGC 4568) 22:58:02       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:01:22       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 23:17:08     Target Completed Target completed (3/19, NGC 4568) 23:17:10     Target Started (4/19) Target started (4/19, NGC 4636) 23:20:59       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:24:30       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 23:46:18   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 23:51:11     Target Completed Target completed (4/19, NGC 4636) 23:51:13   Queue Paused Queue paused for SoftSuspend 23:51:14 Session Suspended Session suspended 23:52:04   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 50s) 00:14:04     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (5/19, C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)) due to cloud 00:23:37     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (6/19, GCVS AM CVn) due to cloud 00:43:44     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (7/19, IC 4017) due to cloud 01:06:06     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (8/19, UGC 10528) due to cloud 01:28:28     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (9/19, UGC 10528) due to cloud 01:50:50     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (10/19, IC 1222) due to cloud 02:03:47     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (11/19, GCVS AM Her) due to cloud 02:21:28   Camera1 SetPoint SBIG Camera Set Point Temperature Updated (new set point -15°C) 02:23:53     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (12/19, UGC 10561) due to cloud 02:46:15     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (13/19, UGC 9422) due to cloud 03:08:37     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (14/19, PGC 54559) due to cloud 03:20:03     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (15/19, GCVS R CrB) due to cloud 03:28:54     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (16/19, GCVS SS Her) due to cloud 03:37:04     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (17/19, HIP 87937) due to cloud 03:46:24     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (18/19, GCVS CY Lyr) due to cloud 04:04:26     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (19/19, 61 Cyg) due to cloud 04:04:31   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 04:04:37 Session Closing Session closing 04:04:42   Shutter Closed Shutter already closed (closed at 23:52, closing time 50s) 04:07:47   Dome Park Aborted Dome Park aborted (185s, Az=111.5degs) 04:07:59   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 10s) 04:08:29   Scope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Powerbox. 04:09:18   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 04:09:20 Session Housekeeping Housekeeping Started (Cleanup FITS, Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 04:09:22 Session Finished Session Finished

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Operational Issues (2020-04-24, S774)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (0)
• Minor Issues (1)
• Continuous Improvement (0)

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Dome Failed to Park within Permitted Time.    Checking observatory status at 04:45 using 'Latest Session webpage showed there had been a Park Dome failure at 04:07 whilst closing the Observatory down.   The dome hadn't reached its Park position after 3 minutes and the operation had been aborted by the Obs.Manager.  Since the shutter was closed and the telescope had been successfully parked the observatory was deemed safe and no immediate action was taken.  The following morning the dome was found to be sitting at Az 111.5° (21.5° away from its normal Park Position). The dome was moved to Az 115° using POTH.Hub over a remote connection to check dome movement and then Parked (Az 90°) with no issue.  The dome is assumed to have failed to park due to rotation slippage related to the dome sitting for 4 hours in the same position (Az 188°) and with foggy / humid conditions and the dome roof flange had probably become too wet for the dome rotation drive wheels to grip the flange sufficiently well.
  (This issue occurred previously in session S759 when the dome parking encountered a 180s timeout at Az 99.5° )
  Closed 2020-04-25 (Observatory)

Continuous Improvement

• None

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Zenith FWHM Chart

A new version of the Zenith FWHM Chart was finally delivered with AstroMain 3.20.7 which uses a Y-Axis range of 0.0 to 8.0 arc sec FWHM

Delivery was delayed due to a number of bugs associated with correctly using and displaying the new range.  The previous version of the chart had used a  2.0 to 6.0 arc sec range for the Y Axis, but was unable to properly show FWHM values between 1 and 2 arc sec which have been associated recent good seeing conditions.

Zenith FWHM

Notes
- Hard Data. Large blue markers show the Zenith FWHM extrapolated from measurements of FWHM produced from the apex of Focus Profiles
  These profiles are created using 0.3 to 2s Focus Frames

- Soft Data. Smaller cyan markers show the Zenith FWHM extrapolated from measurements of FWHM from 5-20s Locate Frames. 

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CCD Desicator Recharge, SBIG Camera  (2020-04-25)

After spotting the first signs of frost slugs on first few images from the recent session (S774, 2020-04-24, CCD  -20°C), the CCD Desiccator from the SBIG camera was recharged by heating it in an oven for 2 hours at 140-150 degC. After cooling the desiccator was reinstalled in the SBIG Camera and left sitting for 2 days. The preventative action seems to have worked and there was no frosting problems at the start of the next session (S775, 2020-04-27, CCD -20°C)

Image of first target from Session showing 3 frost slugs (although the frost had sublimed by the time of second target, this frosting might get worse in future sessions without taking action to recharge the CCD Desiccator now)

CCD Image (50% size, square root scale) 5 x 180s exposure (average combine), 3x3 binning, C Filter 2020-04-24 21:25 UT (#774004-08) 12" LX200R (at f/10.4) + ST-10XME Auto-guided using TS 80mm APO, ZWO ASI178MC & PHD2

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Weather Station Batteries (2020-04-26)

After a decline in performance/robustness of the Weather Station system and precaution against a future outage during a live observatory session the batteries in the WMR80 Home Box (4 x AA) were replaced.

Batteries in the Observatory Humidity/Temperature sensor (2 x AAA) were also changed out for new ones, and the unit repositioned in an attempt to get better signal communication.

Observatory Humidity/Temperature data is now back online.

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