David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1087 (2023-01-16)

Notes (S1086)

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Notes (S1088)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (2),  Minor Issues (1),  Small Defects (3),  Continuous Improvement (6)
	Images from 2023-01-16 >>
	Snow slid off Shutter onto Scope

Session Aims & Highlights (2023-01-16)

Main aims

1. AstroMain. Check new 3.60.8 version of AstroMain for any issues introduced by recent bug fixes and small improvements, and
2. Weather Forecast. Check out AstroWeather's Weather Forecast operation using OpenWeatherMap as the data source. Also check AstroMain stability & absence of side effects when using OpenWeatherMap derived Weather Forecast records.
3. Targets.  Acquire images of a selection of variable stars, nearby stars, comets & deep sky targets as allowed by sky conditions.

 Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
• 80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
• CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft5, DeviceHub 6.6.1.1,  MeadeGeneric 1.3.5.414, UPB 1.5, ASCOM 6.6
• Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.11dev2, deCONZ 1.18.2, ASCOM 6.6 SP1
   
• AstroMain 3.60.8, AstroPlan 1.35.9,   AstroShCap 1.3.12, AstroGuard 1.10.2
  AstroVOE 1.12.2  AstroSN 1.8.7,  AstroProtect 1.7,  AstroMove 1.9.8
  (AstroWeather 1.19.7, AstroAllSky 3.17.2,  AstroObsCam 1.11.2, AstroLaunch 1.10.5

Highlights

• AstroMain. There were no new issues introduced by the new AstroMain version (3.60.8)
• Weather Forecast. The session successfully operated using OpenWeatherMap API as the data souce for the Weather Forecast, supplied to AstroMain via AstroWeather.
• Targets. 13 out of 30 planned targets were completed with the remainder lost due to an interruption because of cloud & snow. Images from 8 of the completed target were subsequently rejected as images were impact by uneven illuminsation due to snow landing on front of telescope from the shutter when it was reopened after snow showers.
• Dome Slews. There were no holdups associated with any of the dome slews made during the session (Hold Up Stats: 0/15 slews affected, 0%, 0.0 minutes total hold-up time).

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)

Actual Weather vs Pre-Session Weather Forecast

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 20:21:34 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 20:21 & 06:23 20:21:38 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (20:21) 20:21:58   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (to set AutoSave No.) 20:22:11 Session Created Session Created (Live, 2023-01-16 S01087, ImageSaveNum: 1087001) 20:22:38   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 20:24:21   Services Started Observatory Services started 20:24:28 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 20:24:33 Session Pending Session pending (2023-01-16) 20:24:35 Session Initiating Session initiating (2023-01-16) 20:24:37   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.35.9) 20:25:35   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (Plan ID: 860) 20:25:58   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (set point -25°C) 20:26:35   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 20:26:59 Session Equilibration Session ready to Open Dome 20:27:49   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 50s) 20:27:51 Session Running Session running 20:27:53   Queue Started Observing Queue started (30 targets selected) 20:27:55     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 5, HIP 23569) 20:28:08       Dome Unparked Dome unparked 20:31:11       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:33:37       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 20:35:31       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 20:35:34       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 20:37:34       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 20:39:17       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 20:39:34     Target Completed (NrZen) Target completed (Focus Field 5, HIP 23569) 20:41:05     Target Started (1/30) Target started (1/30, IC 1705 w/SN2023fa) 20:44:17       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is lost (TCF-S) 21:00:43     Target Completed Target completed (1/30, IC 1705 w/SN2023fa) 21:03:26     Target Started (2/30) Target started (2/30, IC 1756 w/SN2023Q) 21:06:15       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - unable to find a star (TCF-S) 21:22:31     Target Completed Target completed (2/30, IC 1756 w/SN2023Q) 21:25:45     Target Started (3/30) Target started (3/30, UGC 2926 w/SN2022acyd) 21:28:42       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:31:07       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 21:46:54     Target Completed Target completed (3/30, UGC 2926 w/SN2022acyd) 21:48:05     Target Started (4/30) Target started (4/30, NGC 1363 w/SN2022ackv) 21:51:20       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:53:21       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 22:09:08     Target Completed Target completed (4/30, NGC 1363 w/SN2022ackv) 22:10:25     Target Started (5/30) Target started (5/30, IC 2005 w/SN2023cg) 22:13:21       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 22:16:00       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 22:32:04     Target Completed Target completed (5/30, IC 2005 w/SN2023cg) 22:32:34       SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 22:32:36   Queue Paused Observing Queue pausing for Session Suspension 22:32:39 Session Suspending Session suspending 22:33:29   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 50s) 22:33:31 Session Suspended Session suspended 22:36:38 Obs.Monitor Frozen Obs.Monitor appears to be frozen at around 22:36 in section 'Refresh Dome Picture/Label Dome Azimuth' 22:51:41     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (6/30, AT2023nf) due to cloud 23:14:01     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (7/30, UGC 3044 w/SN2023cf) due to cloud 23:36:02     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (8/30, GCVS GW Ori) due to threat of rain 23:52:46     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (9/30, 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann) due to cloud 00:13:06     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (10/30, NGC 5631 w/SN2022aaiq) due to cloud 00:32:38     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (11/30, C/2022 E3 (ZTF)) due to cloud 00:53:28     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (12/30, AT2022xio (CV)) due to rain 01:15:28     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (13/30, NGC 2528 w/AT2023jo) due to cloud 01:37:48     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (14/30, AT2022uqw) due to cloud 02:00:08     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (15/30, UGC 10407 w/AT2022adyb) due to cloud 02:24:28     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (16/30, C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS)) due to cloud 02:44:48     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (17/30, LEDA 924001 w/SN2022ztk) due to cloud 03:07:08     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (18/30, NGC 3508 w/SN2022abgs) due to cloud 03:35:40     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (19/30, ARP 115) due to cloud 03:58:00     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (20/30, NGC 3938 w/SN2022xlp) due to cloud 04:20:20     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (21/30, UGC 8046 w/SN2022zxr) due to cloud 04:42:40     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (22/30, MCG +5-26-43 w/SN2023af) due to too few stars 04:49:47 Session Resuming Session resuming 04:50:37   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 50s) 04:50:39 Session Running Session running 04:50:41   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 04:50:44     Target Started (23/30) Target started (23/30, UGC 6608 w/SN2022zvr) 05:10:51     Target Completed Target completed (23/30, UGC 6608 w/SN2022zvr) 05:10:56     Target Started (24/30) Target started (24/30, C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS)) 05:26:19     Target Completed Target completed (24/30, C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS)) 05:26:23     Target Started (25/30) Target started (25/30, NGC 5548 w/AT2022abcs) 05:30:05       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 05:32:15       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 05:48:03     Target Completed Target completed (25/30, NGC 5548 w/AT2022abcs) 05:48:07     Target Started (26/31) Target started (26/31, C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS), ToO) 06:11:30     Target Completed Target completed (26/31, C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS), ToO) 06:11:32     Target Missed (27/31) Target's time slot was missed (27/31, NGC 3705 w/SN2022xxf) 06:11:34     Target Started (28/31) Target started (28/31, AT2023fm (CV)) 06:14:45       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-S) 06:20:43     Target Completed Target completed (28/31, AT2023fm (CV)) 06:21:28     Target Started (29/31) Target started (29/31, GCVS BL Lac) 06:24:15       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 06:26:27       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 06:30:35     Target Completed Target completed (29/31, GCVS BL Lac) 06:31:46     Target Started (30/31) Target started (30/31, AT2023ds (CV)) 06:35:04       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 06:37:20       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 06:43:23     Target Completed Target completed (30/31, AT2023ds (CV)) 06:44:06     Target Started (31/31) Target started (31/31, GCVS SS Cyg) 06:46:52       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 06:49:03       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 06:53:11     Target Completed Target completed (31/31, GCVS SS Cyg) 06:53:14   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 06:53:16 Session Closing Session closing 06:54:11   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 50s) 06:54:40   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 22s), Az: 90.0 deg 06:56:05   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 82s) 06:56:20   Telescope State Handbox reads 'Scope parked Turn scope off.' 06:56:42   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 06:58:09   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 06:58:12 Session Housekeeping Session Housekeeping started (Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 06:58:27 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts & Alarms

Time     Type       Name Detail 22:37:13 Red Alert Obs.Monitor Obs.Monitor appears to be frozen in section 'Refresh Dome Picture/Label Dome Azimuth' (last cycle at 22:36:38) 22:38:13 Green Alert Obs.Monitor Obs.Monitor has resumed again (22:38) after 1.5 mins 10:04:30 Yellow Alert Disk Space Free Space on C:\ Drive (41.63 GB) is less than 50 GB

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Operational Issues (2023-01-16, S1087)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (2)
• Minor Issues (1)
• Small Defects (2)
• Continuous Improvement (6)
  

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• Images acquired following the session resumption at 04:49 have uneven sky background. Images from 8 targets (23/30 to 31/31) had uneven sky background that was suspected to be due to ice/snow on front of telescope, which visual inspection of the telescope in the morning confirmed. During session suspension between .22:32 and 04:48 around 2cm  of snow fell, and when the shutter was reopened some of the accumulated snow fell onto the front of the telescope, leading to problems seen.  Flats were attempted in the morning and whilst they captured some of the same uneven background,  the extent of snow on the front of telescope and its illumination by ambient light varied with time and sky position and the averaged flat was unable to sufficiently flatten the uneven background and images from all of these 8 targets were rejected.
  Closed after review 2023-01-17 (Session)
   
• Snow fell onto the front of the telescope when shutter was opened (04:48). During session suspension between 22:32 and 04:48 around h  a 2cm  of snow fell, and when the shutter was reopened again after session resumption some of the accumulated snow & ice fell onto the front of the telescope, leading to poor images for all the targets in second part of the session.  Telescope was pointing at Altitude 58° when scope opened and this contributed to problem with snow getting on the front of the scope.   With the risk of snow sliding off the shutter when it opened the session should have either been aborted or the telescope moved to horizontal before opening the shutter so that any snow would fall off the scope.
  Snow/ice was cleared away from the front of the scope in the morning and dried out.  Other snow/ice was collected with brush and pan, and removed from observatory.
  Closed 2023-01-17 (Observatory, User Awareness.)

Minor Issues

• Marks on inside or outside of AllSky Camera Hemisphere are visible on AllSky Camera Images. After dew was removed following the last session with tissues it is possible that marks where left on outside or more likely inside of the AllSky Camera hemisphere (See Fig 1).   It is possible that this is due to condensation inside the hemisphere but it doesn't look like it. It is possible that it is due to the remains of a bird dropping on the outside of the hemisphere. Need to check hemisphere in daylight for marks or issues.   Marks gradually disappeared during the second half of night.  It is believed that the marks were due to ice inside or outside the top of the camera's hemisphere that subsequentally sublimated.
  Closed after review 2023-01-17 (AllSky Camera)
   
• Observatory Session was run with Shutter Battery starting out at only 86%. Following an earlier session (S1085, 2023-01-11) the Shutter Battery failed to recharge itself  (& failed again following the S1086 session) and the battery levels fell from their normal levels of 97% to 86% (with voltage falling from 15.0v to 14.6v)  (Fig 2) This was only noticed on 2023-01-18.  Issue was probably due to the two halves of the induction charger not being sufficiently aligned following park operation at end of S1086 session.  This was only noticed in the following days and therefore no action was taken ahead of the S1087 session to 'correctly' park the dome with good induction charger alignment and boost battery level back up to 97% (15.0v) level.  The 86% level was still ok to conduct the S1087 session and the problem resolved itself following the session and the shutter was recharged back up to 97% level in time for the following S1088 session (2023-01-18). It would be helpful if the general session following a live session was able to make an assessment of the battery recharging status and raise an event if there is a problem (a separate continuous improvement ticket has been raised for this).
  Closed after review 2023-01-21 (Observatory)

Small Defects

• Slight discrepency between Wind Indicators on the Plan AzAltChart and the Result AzAltChart. The Plan AzAlt Chart (created in AstroPlan) shows distinct longer length Wind Indicators (Exclusion) in the WNW Sky whilst the Result AzAlt Chart (created in AstroMain) show shorter length indicators in W & WNW sky.  Forecast shows 15 mph winds in first part of night (16:00 to 20:00) increasing to 17-18 mph ( 21:00 to 02:00) dropping to 15 mph (03:00 - 05:00) before climbing to 19 mph (06:00 - 07:00).  Need to check that AstroPlan and AstroMain use the same WindThreshold for controlling exclusion / line length, but it seems that 15 mph probably has small length whilst 17 mph and above have longer length. 
  Closed after review 2023-01-17 (AstroMain 3.60.9) but continue to monitor.
   
• Report Message associated with import ToO is too long for the Console Text Box.(03:39). The newly modified message intended to give more information related to import of a new ToO  "C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) (priority 2) imported at 03:39:14 (window : 05:35 - 06:35)" is too long. Text 'window: ' should be removed.
    Done 2023-01-17 AstroMain 3.60.9)
   
• Review the messaging / handling of conditions where ObsMonitor freezes for 1.5 minutes (22:37).
    > Obs.Overseer Warning Obs.Monitor is frozen (22:37) in section 'Refresh Dome Picture/Label Dome Azimuth'
  > Obs.Overseer Info Obs.Monitor has resumed again (22:38) after 1.5 mins
This problem has been reported before, this tickets acts as a reminder. Issue is actually related to code that Label sScope Position rather than Dome Azimuth and the associated code has been therefore now given its own gObsViewerSection named "Label Scope Position" (AstroMain 3.61.2).  Issue is that TheSky6 hangs for 90s periods for some unknown reason and   .  InstallShield checking of TheSky6 and CCDSoft V5 has been disabled (as there are no longer any updates to these programs and the InstallShield checking might possibly be the cause of these 90s hang ups.   Next step would be consider making ObsViewer access virtual model variables rather than access TheSky6 ? Looking at code ObsViewer mostly access Scope Properties which are generally taken from objScope Properties, and therefore shouldn't be held up by TheSky6 sleeping.   One possibility is that the Scope.Constellation.Fullname accesses GetConstellationFromPresentRaDec() which accesses TheSky6.Utils.PrecessNowTo2000().  Modification made to GetConstellationFromPresentRaDec( ) so that program's own PrecessNowTo2000() routine is used instead of using TheSky6's. Utils.PrecessNowTo2000( routine.  Coordinates calculated by own routines differ from those calculated by TheSky.Utils, but the ones from own routine compare much better with those from three online Precess Calculators (see Notes : Precessed Coordinates)
  Fix attempted 2023-01-17 (Observatory Computer, AstroMain 3.61.2)

• AstroSN to report if a newSN / Transient is being added to Targets Database as a Tier I / Tier II target.  AstroSN was developed prior to use of Must Include targets and certainly before the use of Tier I / Tier II targets. Whilst data submission to database has been brought up to date the reporting lags behind.  It will be helpful to know if a target is being set as a MustInclude target or not.  For targets that are being updated it will be helpful if AstroSN reports the current MustInclude / Tier status of the target. 
  Done 2023-01-17 (AstroSN 1.9)
   
• Consider adding Wind Gust value to Weather Forecast Chart.  Writing wind gust value in regular (non-bold) text above the Wind Speed (bold) is proposed.
  Done 2023-01-17 (AstroWeather 3.19.9)
   
• Change "-Target Result:" message to "-Target Result (6/30) :"  For a particularly long set of messages for a given target it is useful to see the Target's QsoIofN number.
  Done 2023-01-18 (AstroMain 3.60.9)
   
• Format of particular Zigbee messages to be improved (22:33). For the message
    Observatory Shutter   Info      Shutter has closed        (22:33:25, open time 2.1 hour)
  where 'Shuter has closed' is <=18 chars the message should use the LPad18() formating to write
    Observatory Shutter   Info      Shutter has closed(22:33:25, open time 2.1 hour)
  Implemented in AstroMain 3.60.9 but just in the case there is a Live Session operating otherwise LPad30() is retained.
  Done 2023-01-18 (AstroMain 3.60.9)
   
• General session to make an assessment of the shutter recharging status following a live session. General Session to make a check that shutter battery is getting recharged and raise a yellow alert (battery < 88%) or red alert (battery < 85%) or green alert (battery > 95%) accordingly.  Implemented in AstroMain 3.60.11. Still need to add functionality so that a Live session reports status of battery charging when startingand issue alert as appropriate.
  Done  2023-01-25 (AstroMain 3.60.11)
   
• Consider allowing AstroSN to load a new Transient/SN target to database as a Must Include Tier 1 target. AstroSN was developed prior to the introduction of Tier 1 & Tier 2 targets, and hasn't been fully updated to reflect the occurance of Tier 1 Targets. At present Targets defined as Rank >= 2 are set to be Tier 2 targets and none are automatically set to Tier 1. This is partly to control the number of targets being entered to the Observing Plans as Must Include targets and Tier 1 targets in particular which could totally block the inclusion of a certain number of randomly selected lower ranking targets.  However it might be possible to automatically identify particularly significant new transients / supernova that really must be acquired at the next available opportunity.
  To review 2023-01-17 (AstroSN 1.9+) 

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Snow slid off Shutter onto Scope (2023-01-16)

During session on 2023-01-16, the shutter was closed and the session suspended ahead of cloud with frequent snow showers. Two hours after the showers had ended (having dropped around 2cm of snow) and after the skies had cleared of cloud the dome was reopened and the session continued with the acquisition of images from 8 further targets.   When those images were quickly examined in the morning it was discoved that whilst they contained stars the background had a very uneven illumination pattern. Investigation showed that images appeared this way because of snow / ice on parts of the front lens of the LX200 scope.  There was also some snow/ice on front part of the fork, on the left hand fork arm and on two small regions of the observatory floor located either side of the scope.  The distribution of ice and the fact that the observatory was closed during the snow showers, strongly suggest that some of the snow/ice that had accumulated on the shutter has slipped and fell into the Observatory when the shutter was opened.   Unfortunately the telescope was pointing in a fairly upward direction at the time (pointing to altitude 58°) and some of the snow/ice fell into the dew shield and onto the LX200's corrector lens. 

The snow/ice was cleared away from the front of the scope in the morning and dried out.  Other snow/ice on the telescope and floor were was collected with brush and pan (before it had a chance to thaw),  and removed from observatory.

Whilst the risk of snow entry during shutter opening is a known risk,  the mitigation of pointing the telescope in a horizontal direction wasn't actioned.   ( had just woken up from alarm I had deliberatlly set and I was too sleepy at the time to think through the operation / risks).   Whilst putting the telescope into horizontal position wouldn't have prevented the snow/ice slipping into the observatory, the dew shield would have stopped that snow/ice getting onto the front of the telescope optics and would thus allowed the imaging to have been successful rather than a failure.

Although the most of the snow /ice was removed the following morning, a consequence of the incident was that water (due to the melting of the snow by dew heaters and later by use of a hairdryer)  entered the interior of the LX200 telescope tube through small gaps in the corrector lens' supporting ring.  This water became absorbed by the air inside the tube which later condensed on the inside surface of the corrector lens and primary mirror. Unfortunately this wasn't checked and when the following session was attempted all the images taken through the telescope showed diminshed and very uneven illumination (see notes  LX200 - Condensation inside Scope (2023-01-18) ).

Raw Image showing anomalous illumination / background		Raw Image showing anomalous illumination / background
Photo showing snow /ice on front of telescope optics		Photo showing snow/ice on front of fork and balance weights
Photo showing snow/ice on left hand fork arm		Photo showing snow/ice on  floor of observatory (either side of scope)
Observatory Picture/Dashboard at time of incident
Raw Image showing continued anomalous illumination / background in images during following session S1088 (2023-01-18)		Photo showing condensation still present inside telescope at end of following session  (2023-01-19)

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