David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 783 (2020-05-19)

Notes (S782)

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Notes (S784)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (10),  Continuous Improvement (10)
	Images from 2020-05-19 >>
	Dome Relay  Follow Up Testing

Session Aims & Highlights (2020-05-19)

Main aims

1. Software Testing: Test new 3.22.3 version of AstroMain which has had multiple changes since 3.22.1. Check for absence of introduced bugs / new issues. Check bug fixes and new features/enhancements
2. Targets: Acquire images of a number of targets if conditions allowed.   Weather conditions forecast to be marginal.

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  2.6.8
   
• AstroMain 3.22.3,  AstroGuard 1.2.11,   AstroPlan 1.15,  AstroShCap 1.2.22, AstroVOE 1.3.6, UPB 1.5 
  (AstroWeather 1.9.4, AstroAllSky 3.5.1)
  

Highlights

• Software Testing. Testing of new 3.22.3 version of AstroMain was largely successful.  No major issues were found and the majority of bug fixes/ new features in new version worked well.
• Rain Protection.  Weather Data Comms & Obs.Manager operated well and closed the observatory dome at 00:18 when cloud developed

Lowlights

• Cloud.  Skies were cloudy for most of night and no targets was successfully imaged

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 showed variable skies range from 5 to 50% cloud cover,  light winds (wind 7mph) and a minimum temperature of 6°C. In the event conditions were clear and calm through the whole night, with a minimum temperature of around 4°C

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 22:01:12 Session Created Live Session Created (2020-05-19 S00783, ImageSaveNum: 783001) 22:01:38   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 22:03:07   Services Started Observatory Services started 22:08:50 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 22:08:55 Session Pending Session pending (2020-05-19) 22:08:57 Session Initiating Session initiating (2020-05-19) 22:08:59   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.15) 22:09:35   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2020-05-19 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 511) 22:09:49   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -10°C) 22:09:54   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 22:10:05 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 22:49:49   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 45s) 22:49:52   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 23:00:15   Camera1 SetPoint SBIG Camera Set Point Temperature Updated (new set point -15°C) 23:03:06   Equilibration Ended Dome Equilibration ended (13.3 mins total) 23:03:08 Session Running Session running 23:03:10   Queue Started Observing Queue started (14 targets selected) 23:04:08       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:07:38       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 23:07:41     Target Started (1/14) Target started (1/14, NGC 4277) 23:11:50       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - unable to find a star (TCF-S) 23:15:08 Critical Cloud Alert Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Shutter) 23:15:10   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend is called due to Critical Conditions (cloud) 23:15:15     Target Aborted (1/14) Target aborted (1/14, NGC 4277) due to cloud 23:15:17   Queue Paused Queue pausing for HardSuspend 23:15:18 Session Suspended Session suspended 23:16:07   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 49s) 23:23:24     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (1/14, NGC 4277) due to cloud 23:41:15 Session Resuming Session resuming 23:42:00   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 45s) 23:42:03 Session Running Session running 23:42:05   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 23:42:07     Target Started (2/14) Target started (2/14, NGC 3643) 23:53:10     Target Completed Target partially completed (2/14, NGC 3643) 23:53:12     Target Started (3/14) Target started (3/14, NGC 4568) 00:15:26     Target Completed Target completed (3/14, NGC 4568) 00:15:28     Target Started (4/14) Target started (4/14, 88P/Howell) 00:17:18 Critical Cloud Alert Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Shutter) 00:17:20   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend is called due to Critical Conditions (cloud) 00:17:22     Target Aborted (4/14) Target aborted (4/14, 88P/Howell) due to cloud 00:17:24   Queue Paused Queue pausing for HardSuspend 00:17:26 Session Suspended Session suspended 00:18:13   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 50s) 00:26:38     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (4/14, 88P/Howell) due to cloud 00:47:00     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (5/14, PGC 49584) due to cloud 00:57:26   Camera1 SetPoint SBIG Camera Set Point Temperature Updated (new set point -10°C) 01:09:22     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (6/14, IC 1222) due to cloud 01:31:44     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (7/14, UGC 10528) due to cloud 01:43:10     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (8/14, GCVS R CrB) due to cloud 02:02:47     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (9/14, UGC 10297) due to cloud 02:14:23     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (10/14, GCVS SS Her) due to cloud 02:25:24     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (11/14, GCVS U Her) due to cloud 02:33:59     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (12/14, HIP 87937) due to cloud 02:43:19     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (13/14, GCVS CY Lyr) due to cloud 03:05:49     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (14/14, Basel 6) due to cloud 03:05:54   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 03:05:58 Session Closing Session closing 03:06:03   Shutter Closed Shutter already closed (closed at 00:18, closing time 50s) 03:07:32   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 88s) 03:08:33   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 57s) 03:09:04   Scope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Powerbox. 03:09:50   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 03:09:52 Session Housekeeping Housekeeping Started (Cleanup FITS, Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 03:09:53 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts

Time     Alert Detail 00:17:18 Critical Cloud Alert               Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Shutter)

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Operational Issues (2020-05-19, S783)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (0)
• Minor Issues (10)
• Continuous Improvement (10)

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Observing Plan V1 was created with a start date of 23:09 (-9 deg sun altitude) rather than 23:26 (-10 deg sun altitude). Sky was still a little too bright at -9 deg sun alt for Target 1 (NGC 4277 w/ SN)  a deep sky target with 5 x 180s C frames planned. Examine the code shows that a -9 deg sun altitude start is set by 'the AutoSelectStartAlt() routine (called from  AutoBuildSchedule) when 'Night.Duration12.TotalHours' (i.e.e no. of hours that sun altitude <= -12) is under 2 hours, which started to happen the between date of the last session (2020-05-13) and this session (2020-05-19).   The AutoSelectStartAlt( routine is modified so that a starting sun altitude of -9.5 deg will be used when Duration12 falls below 2 hours (with -9 deg being used when there Duration12 is zeo (Night.Valid12 is false)
  Fixed 2020-05-20  (AstroPlan 1.15.1)
   
• Anomalous section of orange infill on 8 hour DPP chart between 05:30 and 05:45. During a small unexplained outage in Tube Temperature values (ObsEnv) or flat spot in which Tube Temperatures were set to vcNull,  the 8 hour DPP Chart (GraphID 38) produced section of inappropriate infill between 0 and -2  (possibly cropped from an infill between 0 and vcNull (-99) )
  Fixed 2020-05-20 (AstroWeather 1.9.5)
   
• Gaps in Wind Speed curve on Wind Charts. Gaps on hour wind speed graph (GraphID 4) due either an outage in wind speed values (Weather Station witnessed as showing --.-  at one stage in morning) ,  or zero values set to vcNull  too aggressively.
  Fixed 2020-05-20 (AstroWeather 1.9.5)
   
• Gaps in Pulsar Shutter Health Graphs are too numerous.  Earlier adjustment to ObsDomeValidation was too agressive and is producing gaps in Voltage, Battery %, MilliAmps & Temperature charts where the data has unjustifiably set to null..  (Graph ID 15, 28, 40, 45)
  Fixed 2020-05-20 (AstroWeather 1.9.5)
   
• Weather Graphs showing flat-line Outside Temperature, Humidity, Dew Point and DPP Curves (2020-05-21).   Example of Weather graphs effected are GraphID 4, 11, 12, 18, 30, 31,37 & 38.  After resetting Weather Station base unit (due to offline wind data), communications with Laptop 7 were lost, but as VWS software was still functioning it output flat-lined weather sensor data which we picked up and plotted by AstroWeather/Graphs program. Whilst the program has special validate for removing flat lined Observatory Temperature/Humidity and Wind Speed data, the program doesn't have anything for fixing issue where all the weather data goes flat.
  Fixed 2020-05-21 (AstroWeather 1.9.6)
   
• Obs Humidity and Obs Temperature charts have apparent gaps.  Data is present but there are stable period of 88mins where it is apparently not changed (Cutoff set at 90mins) 
  Fixed 2020-05-21 (AstroWeather 1.9.7)
   
• Graph of Dew Heater Power is showing anomalous blips during background (non-session) periods. Investigations showed the automated dew control was double correcting a problem with raw humidity data from Pegasus UPB and incorrectly fixing Humidty values of 90% to 98%. The higher humidity was then going forward to give slightly elevated Dew Heater power setting. 
  (the raw humidity values are already fixed upon reading  the UPB in the routine GetEnvSensorData(). )
  Fixed 2020-05-22 (AstroMain 3.22.5)
   
• Pressure charts have inappropriate gaps in curve of 30-40 mins.  Data is present in dbase.csv  and there is no way that data is removed in the code, so unclear why gaps are present.  Resolved but not sure why.
  Resolved 2020-05-22 (AstroWeather)
   
• End of the Average Wind Speed Curve on Wind Graphs takes anomalous values just at the start and end of the period when wind data was offline  (2020-05-22).  Effects GraphID 4 for example.   Fixed by making sure that Average Wind Speed was only set for time where Wind Speed was not null.  Fix applied to other curve averages as well.
  Fixed 2020-05-22 (AstroWeather 1.9.7)
   
• Correct Title of 16 hour Humidity Graph.  Graph (GraphID 51) has ' last 8 hours' in title and need to be changed to 'last 16 hours' 
  Fixed 2020-05-23 (AstroWeather 1.9.8)
   
• Wind Data going offline (2020-05-21).   Wind Data (wind speed and wind direction) going offline during night (with occasional small intervals (1 - 5mins)  with readings). A series of investigations were made to looks at the best method for restarting Wind Data Communications :
  - pressing the reset button on the wind detector outside doesn't work (data appears to come back for 5mins but go offline again)
  - resetting the Oregon Weather Base Station fixes the wind data, but has the sideeffect of breaking the communication of weather data with the AllSky/Weather Computer.  This has to be resolved by concurrently pressing the up & down buttons on the Base Stations and then going to the Observatory and pressing the 'Search' Button on the USB-Weather Hub. (Restarting VWS software remotely isn't enough to resolve the lost comms).  Wind Data going offline is still an occasional problem that can be resolved when it happens but no way has been found to prevent it occuring.   (Update : Feb 2021  Wind Data is currently working fine)
  Fixed 2020-05-21 (AstroWeather 1.9.6)
   
• Wind Data went offline for 2 hours (2020-05-22).   Investigating showed the base station had been moved in away that seemed to interfere with the signal from the anemometer outside. Adjusting the base unit position resolved the problem immediately.
  Fixed 2020-05-22 (Weather Station)
   
• Wind Data went offline for 1 hours (2020-05-23).   Investigating showed the base station had been moved in away that seemed to interfere with the signal from the anemometer outside. Adjusting the base unit position back to its normal resolved the problem immediately.
  Fixed 2020-05-23 (Weather Station)
   
• After taking locate frames which on analysis contained too few stars for Plate Solution to be attempted, Guiding was activated which inevitably failed. It is suggested that guiding shouldn't have been started under such circumstances.
  To be reviewed and fixed (AstroPlan)

Continuous Improvement

• Upload latest full versions of Session Report and Log Files to Website whenever the Session entering Suspended State.  Files are created 2 minutes after entering Suspended state to allow other key activity to be done (closing shutter) and other time critical files to be uploaded
  Done 2020-05-22 (AstroMain 3.22.5)
   
• Remove  'Observatory Alert' Titles from Console/Report . 'Observatory Alert' Line and Title with Time break the information flow and prevent correct indentation of subsequent ReportComment messages that are associated with AddComment messages that were posted before the alert happened. The same alert can be displayed instead as a ReportComment2B statement.  So instead of
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Observatory Alert                       2020-05-19 23:15 (Local) 
  we will have the following instead
  > Observatory Alert            Alert   2020-05-19 23:15 (Local)  
  Done 2020-05-22 (AstroMain 3.22.5)
    
• Add Buttons on AstroMove, AstroLauch to close ACDSee and C:\Data windows. Checking shows that buttons are already present on the Admin Tab of AstroMove. No further action is needed.
  Closed (AstroMove)
   
• Create Smoother Pressure graph curve (especially for 16 hour plot) by taking a rolling average. Pressure curve (expecially 16 hour plot) can be a bit jagged due to 1 mb increments which appear as 2 pixel jumps. Rolling average will lead to curves jumps of only 1 pixel.   Applies to GraphID 12 and 20. Rolling average created by CalculateWsAverages() routine. Change hasn't made as much difference as hoped.
  Done 2020-05-22 (AstroWeather 1.9.7)
   
• Reuse GraphID's that appear to have been deprecated. No longer used graphs appear to GraphID 27 (5 day, UPB Env Humidity), GraphID 1 (5 hour Clarity) GraphID 3 (5 hour Obs Temp Difference), GraphID 19 (5 day, light & clarity) .   Graphs reused for Wind & Dew Heater values.
  Done 2020-05-23 (AstroWeather 1.9.8)
   
• Calculate Wind Gust & Display Value on Current Weather web page.  Wind Gust calculated as maximum wind speed in last 10 minutes.  (or +/- 10 minute rolling window for past data).  Latest Wind Gust value is output to Graph 3
  Done 2020-05-23 (AstroWeather 1.9.8)
   
• Create custom graph boxes for displaying latest Wind Values.  New Box graphs created showing Latest (Av) Wind Speed (GraphID 1), Latest Wind Gust Graph ID 3) & Latest (Av) Wind Direction (19).  This releases 3 previously used graphs vws883, vws884 & vws885.
  Done 2020-05-23 (AstroWeather 1.9.8)
   
• Create custom graph boxes for displaying latest Dew Heater Values.  New Box graph created showing Latest Dew Heater 1 / Dew Heater 2  (GraphID 27)
  Done 2020-05-23 (AstroWeather 1.9.8)
   
• Modify existing Obs.Manager routines for assessing weather conditions and build into new distinct well written routines . New routines 'MustShut', 'RecommendToShut', 'CanOpen', 'CanResume' , with aim to i) clarify the precise conditions pertaining to each key question, ii) write simplier if statements to make the logic absolutely clear and auditable, iii) simplify/shorten the Obs.Manager loop,  iv) embed gearter fault tolerance, weather risk inclusion.
   Implemented Q4 2020 (AstroMain)
   
• Extend handling to read the Cloud Sensor file 'clarity_2.dat' file which contains the precise Relay State (Safe / UnSafe) that is currently active  and pass information onto the Observatory Computer . File to be read and data forwarded using AstroWeather. . May require to use an additional TP/IP port.   Whilst this enhancement has been coded, the format of clarity_2.dat has two versions (one with relay info and a csv file that doesn't), which prevents moving forward with this planned feature. Eurotech (the makers of Aurora Technical Support) have been contacted to find out more information.
  On Hold (AstroWeather / AstroMain)

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Dome Relay - Follow Up Testing (2020-05-19)

Following on from repair to Dome Relay system (2020-05-15), some addition tests where made during a day time test on 2020-05-19 to confirm that the Dome's Relay Protection System was still working and to confirm precise understanding of how it works in practice. 

New Results

Tests conducted in daylight & overcast skies with a 30s Relay Delay and 'NO' Relay Polarity
(Note: Normally Open 'NO' is the polarity that my selected wiring is designed to work with)

Conclusion

• The Dome's Relay Protection is continues to be working
  
• Random glitches in any sensor value causing the Cloud Sensor to show Unsafe won't trigger a Shutter Closure during observing.
  Cloud Sensor has to show Unsafe Condition for the entire Delay Period  (i.e. 30s)

Cloud Sensor Software Issue

Following up on an earlier observation that Cloud Sensor relay thresholds value settings can not sometimes be adjusted (though Enable/Disable settings still can), it was shown that there was again this same issue.  Cloding and restarting the Cloud Sensor III software didn't resolve the problem.  

Previously the problem has been fixed by restarting the Computer or turning the Cloud Sensor off/on etc until the problem resolved itself. This was tried on this occasion as it takes time and can destablising things .    Normally this issue is not a problem (outside of testing), but in the event of needing to adjust the Rain setting to a higher level to trim the threshold on the rare occasions that a Observing Sessions is required in the siutation that the base level rain reading level (nornmally -1) is slightly elevated to 1 - 4 due to earlier 'dampness/water' entering the box, but Relay Protection against rain is still required.

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