Fig 1.  Night Summary Plot showing just how quickly the sky changed from clear sky to
 light cloud with a small amount of rain at its leading edge at 20:19.

Issue.  Observatory Dome's shutter hadn't completely reached a closed state before the start of a rain shower at 20:19 with risk to observatory equipment.

Description

A 'Dome Unsafe' red alert with message "CloudSensor detects Rain, but Shutter Sensor is open" was issued at 20:19:09 when rain began to fall during the observing session.  This alert was issued as per design as the ObsManager recognised that the cloud sensor was detecting rain but the shutter was open or at least not yet fully closed.  Alert was noticed from IPad using remote monitoring and a quick check showed that the shutter was already in state of closing when the rain was detected and successfully reached the closed state shortly after.

The NightSummary plot below shows that the change from clear sky to rain shower was very quick, and happened with little warning.




Examination in more details showed that the observatory systems reacted as fast as possible in the circumstances. 

At the time the job executor was finishing off a refocus operation for Target 4/33 (NGC 3021) when the ObsManager picked up sky conditions were deteriorating at 20:18:34 and raised a SoftSuspend flag (ie a call to suspend session at end of the target) when the Star Count fell from 30 to 16 with alert threshold set at 20. At the same time (20:18:34) the ObsManager declared that cloud conditions had become critical as clarity had fallen from 40.5 to 23.5 with alert threshold set at 24,  raised a HardSuspend flag and announced that the "Observatory Maanager shutter will close the Dome".   As is wasn't raining at this point, the Job Queue was allowed time to react to the HardSuspend flag and make a tidy exit from its current operation. In the event this comprised the reporting of the Focus Profile result and moving the Foc1 focuser to the best focus position. At this point the check focus measurement (3 fwhm measurements taken at best focus position was aborted, the target was aborted (cloud), and the job queue annouched as "paused for Session Suspension". 

At 20:18:50 (16s after HardSuspend flag was raised) the session was reported as suspending, and the command was given to the Pulsar Dome to close the shutter. 

At 20:19:10 (26s after detection of critical cloud conditions) and whilst the shutter was closing the ObsManager reported that the Cloud Sensor was detecting Rain (9).  

At 20:19:33 (59s after HardSuspend flag was raised) the shutter was declared closed (and confirmed to be so by the Zigbee Shutter sensor).  

Analysis
The ObsManager reacted precisely as per design.  Upon seeing critical cloud conditons it raised bHardSuspend Flag and closed the observatory once the Job Queue had enter a wait loop.

Even if ObsManager hadn't reacted, AstroGuard was running and percieved the same weather situation and would have closed the observatory if it found that AstroMain hadn't. Dome Relay was flagged as 'Pending' at 20:19:12 meaning that Relay was unsafe and would have triggered a shutter closure in 30s if it didn't change back to safe in the meantime).  It is possible that a few drops of rain fell onto the telescope during the time that shutter was still closing, but equipment wouldn't have been significantly affected. 

The ObsViewer pictures below show the state of the observatory at 20:17:37 (Clear Sky), at 20:18:42 (60s later), at 20:19:12 (30s later) and at 20:19:42 (30s later) which again show the rapid change in conditions and the response of the observatory.

20:17:37 (Dome: Open, Stars: 20, Clarity: 34, Rain: 0, Rain Threat: 13%, Dome Relay: Safe)


20:18:42 (Dome: Open, Stars: 16, Clarity: 22, Rain: 0, Rain Threat: 12%, Dome Relay: Safe)

20:19:12 (Dome: Closing, Stars: 5, Clarity: 19, Rain: 5.5, Rain Threat: 12%, Dome Relay: Pending)

 

20:19:42 (Dome: Closed, Stars: 3, Clarity: 17, Rain: 13.4, Rain Threat: 12%, Dome Relay: Unsafe)

The Report File from AstroGuard shows that it was monitoring the situation at the time and would have stepped-in to close the Observatory if necessary.

  Dome Safety                  Info      2023-02-22 20:18 (Local)
  Dome Safety                  Info      Dome is closing
  Dome Safety                  Alert     Rain Forecast is critical, 2023-02-22 20:18 (Local)

  Dome Safety                  Alert     2023-02-22 20:18 (Local)
  Dome Safety                  Alert     Conditions are critical
  Dome Safety                  Action    Dome will be checked (and closed if necessary)
  Dome Safety                  Action    Dome is closing
  Dome Safety                  Ok        Shutter has closed (47s)

  Dome Safety                  Alert     2023-02-22 20:19 (Local)
  Dome Safety                  Alert     Cloud conditions are critical, 2023-02-22 20:19 (Local)


Whilst the Observatory Safeguards responded in appropriate ways could/should the Shutter have been closed before  ?

The ObsManager could have begun closing the Observatory as soon as the Critical Cloud Conditions were detected.  In the event command to close the shutter came 16s after critical cloud conditions were detected.  Unless rain is actually falling (when Shutter would be immediately commanded to close) the ObsManager is designed to allow time (up to 2 minutes) for the Job Executor to gracefully abort both dome and telescope operations and report the close out of a target before switching the session state to 'suspending' which triggers the command to the close the dome's shutter.  It is rare for conditions to progress from critical cloud to detection of rain in as short as 26s, and it would be unreasonable to not allow the job executor to gracefully go into a suspended/wait state every time cloud conditions deteriorated. 

Prehaps Rain Threat should be have better recognised.   The probablity of rain in next 15 mins based on Minutely Forecasts from Rain Radar information increased from 0% to 17% at 20:14:34 with Rain Flag changing from Green (Ok) to Yellow (Warning). Probability increased to 18% at 20:16:04 and then dropped to 3-12% during period 20:16:35 to 20:18:42.  AstroGuard reported that Rain Forecast as being critical at 20:18 (seconds not stated).

ObsManager considers Rain Threat but only reacts if the probability climbs above x % or the expected rain rate climbs above

It is not reasonable to immediately respond to Rain Threat as the probablity will sometime be showing in completely clear sky conditions if rain is in the general region but not affecting the observatory site. Normally appearance of a Rain Threat would normally tally with arrival of rain in 15 minutes time, but on this occassion the arrival of rain came just 5 minutes after the first indication of a rain threat.

It has to be remembered that there is an inherent delay in the recognition of decreased sky conditions from AllSky Image due to time needed for exposure to be completed (30s) and the time to then download and process the image (15s) and time to get the data to Observatory Computer (5s) and recognised by the ObsManager (5s).   ObsPics don't show Star Count dropping to 5 until ObsPic at 20:19:12 (with Clarity 19).

Examining AllSky images show that the rain shower approached rapidly from the NW.  Cloud reaches above the observatory in image at 20:17:12 with Clarity 34.8 (fallen from 40 at 20:14) and Star Count 16 (fallen from 25 at 20:13). First fresh rain drops on AllSky Camera appear in image at 20:18:45 (i.e. between 20:18:45 and 20:19:15), which tallies with CloudSensor data file show first rain (0.6) at 20:18:44,  increasing (value 9) at 20:19:00  and the ObsManager reporting rain (value 9) at 20:19:10, and  increasing (value 13.6) at 20:19:39.  
(It would seem there is an apparent delay of 10s between CloudSensor detecting rain 9 and ObsManager reporting rain 9. 

It would be worth considering whether the deterioration in sky quality, star count and rain threat should have led to shutter being closed 60s earlier than it was.

Possible Defects
- ObsViewer picture at 2019:12  shows Clarity 19 with a Yellow flag even though Relay is already showing Cloud as being Critical. Should it not be Red ?

Continuous Improvement
- AstroGuard should probably show times including seconds.  Reporting "Rain Forecast is critical, 2023-02-22 20:18" doesn't allow a precise timeline to be established.
- Review the conditions defining a HardSuspend considering different factors that may be pointing to imminent rain. 

A new computer has been acquired that will eventually take over the role as the primary development/analysis computer, as the current one (dates back to 2018) is developing problems with its keyboard and cracks in it lid developing cracks,  but this doesn't have to be done immediately which is particularly handy as the new computer is pre-loaded with Window 11 Home, which isn't immediately suited for my style of computer use.  I could have probably have tried to source a Windows 10 machine,  but it was felt reasonable to move the development computer to Windows 11 to help identify potential issues moving Observatory and AllSky/Weather Computers to Windows 11 at some point in the future.

Stage 1 - Initial Setup (2023-02-24)

Computer was setup with a Microsoft Account.

Window 11 Home have removed a sidedoor which previously gave a means to setup the Computer using a Local Account. There is apparently a relatively complicated backdoor workaround to allow a Windows 11 computer to be set up from a Local Account but this wasn't known until afterwards

Implication of using a Microsoft is that the User Name on the computer has to be in format "Firstname  Surname", rather than simply "Firstname" which I have on all my past computers and which I wanted on the new development computer.   After setting up  "Firstname  Surname" account it wasn't possible to then create a "Firstname" account,  and I resorted to creating a "Firstname2" account and an "Admin" account.

Because the User folder (and File Owners) uses first 5 letters from the Username and my Firstname (David) has 5 letters it explains why I couldn't then create a "Firstname" account, but might potentially nullify (in part)  the impact of a different UserName to other computers as the folder name and owner names will be the same.

Stage 2 - First Impressions & First Changes (2023-02-25)
First impression after starting up Windows 11 was that this new environment is a significant step backwards in productivity (for me at least).

I have multiple applications running at one time when running observatory operations on the Observatory Computer or analysis operations on the Development/Analysis Computer, and having a means to access key folders, key documents & key applications with just 2 mouse clicks is critical.   Previously this has been achieved in Windows 7 & Windows 10 computers using Toolbars that can be easily setup and added to the Taskbar, but Toolbars have been removed in Windows 11 (great work Microsoft ! ).  Hunting through the Start Menu, or Navigating using File Explorer or Hiding Windows to access shortcuts on the desktop are unwieldy methods to replicate the facility offered that was previously provided so effectively by toolbars.

Start Button is initially positioned in Centre Bottom along with several Pinned Apps that I simply don't need  / don't use.  Start Menu similarly has pinned apps that I simply don't need  don't use.   Right clicking on a folder or file, it was was found that one had to use a 'More Options' option in order to then show options for Rename, Delete, Copy etc.  May ok for novice user / child but how inconvienent/annoying for a power user.

 - Windows settings changed so that the Start Button is positioned on the Left (instead of he Centre)
 - Right hand options changed to disable the 'more options' checkpoint and always show Rename, Delete options
  (this was achieved using a Cmd command.

Stage 3 - Making Windows 11 into a productive environment (2023-02-26).

Searching internet confirmed that 'Taskbar' has been completely recoded in Windows 11.  Toolbars have definiately gone, very unlikely to be re-added (a top bar may appear at some point in the future) . Quite a lot of users seem to complain, but we do know how slow Microsoft are to respond.   However some users pointed to a freeware (with potential donation) that has been created by Valentin-Gabriel Radu called ExplorerPatcher that installs a DLL that re-offfers Toolbars on a Windows 11 computer as well as things like being able to un-group icons of same type.

After a bit more research and a check that I could go uninstall ExplorerPatcher in the event of problems I installed that latest version from
https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher

StarDock was looked at I've used StarDock Fences for several years and the Start11 or other product may have convenient features, however it doesn't seem to be able to reinstate Toolbars on the TaskBar (at least not yet).

Some problems after instaling ExplorerPatcher (which may not necessarily be firmly associated with ExplorerPatcher)

 - Start Window and Task Bar not opening /  not working after making configuration change
 
- Unable to open /  successfully setup the 'Admin' account.

Admin account created prior installing ExplorerPatcher.  But attempt to access/setup account was made after installing ExplorerPatcher Windows 11 seemed to stall when trying to set things up for new user. and later goes into loop why trying to ask for whether Current Location can be accessed or not.  In the end had to Delete the account.

- Search button on TaskBar and Search Field in Start Menu not working on 'Firstname Surname' (MS) Account, but is working in 'Firstname2' account.   It began working again after 'Restarting Computer'

Other things
- The thin scroll bars which only change to thick scroll bars when the mouse hovers over them is annoying.  An attempt to solve this  from 'Settings/Accessibility/Visual Effects' by setting the "Always show scrollbars" option to On doesn't fix it.   (2023-03-12) .   Tried modifying HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility. DynamicScrollbars = 0 means don't shrink; = 1 means shrink,  but this doesn't work.   ScrollWidth can be changed by HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowsMetrics\ScrollWidth and changing value from -255 to say -350.

Stage 4 - Some Initial Data & Software Installs (2023-02-27).

- C:/Data/Computer copied from Current Development Computer (including 'Software Source'  folder & subfolders)
- Ultra VNC, TextPad4,  ACDSee Classic
- AstroMove, AstroLaunch

Steps for the setup and migration to the new observatory computer

Stage 5 - Decision Time (2023-02-28).

 Decide upon primary user account to use.

Stage 6 Software Installation (2023-03-03)

Windows 11
- Admin and User Accounts
- Computer Name ( LAPTOP11) , HomeGroup
- Desktop Picture, Desktop DPI, Icons Sizes
- Taskbar  (Toolbars required
- Toolbars (Astro, Comp, Apps)
- Control Panel
- Device Manager
- MS Edge,  Google Search Provider.

Core / General Software (2023-02-27 & 2023-03-03)
- UltraVNC Server (for remote control access)
- TextPad 4   (for file editing)
- ACDSee Classic (for general non-Fits image viewing)
- PaintShopPro 5 (for image capture)
- Dimension 4 (for time synchronisation)
- Net Framework (for ASCOM & other programs)
- Visual Studio 2022 (for program authoring)
- Norton Antivirus  30 day trial

   (TBA - Kaspersky Internet Security (for firewall & antivirus))

Observatory Software
- CCDSoft5  (CD w/updates :  5.00.156 New, 5.00.156 (Key), 5.00.201)
- TheSky6     (DVD w/updates:   6.00.35, 6.00.40 (Key), 6.00.65)
- ASCOM 6.6.SP1
- DeviceHub 6.6.1.1
- PHD2  (autoguiding)
- SharpCap 3.2
- PHD2
- ASTAP
- ImageMagicK
- Sigma Beta 11 (2023-03-07)
- RSpec (2023-03-07)

Drivers
Drivers are not critical to computer in its development/analysis role as it uses ASCOM Simulators instead of Physical Devices. However future testing my require access to Physical Devices at some future point and therefore drivers will need to be installed.   

Drivers so far installed
  - SBIG Camera drivers
  - Pegasus UPB 1.6
  - Pegasus UPB Ascom Drivers (Switch, Focuser, Observing Conditions)
  - ZWO Camera drivers
  - Pulsar Dome Software / Driver 1.0.38

Drivers that haven't yet be installed are
 - OptecTCF-S Installer (6.0.6), TCF Commander and ASCOM Driver/Local Server
 - Pierro-Astro USB-RS232 LX200 Cable
 - Meade Generic

New Settings
Once new programs have been installed a number of program/data settings will have to be input. These include:
   UltraVNC
   DeviceHub. Dome
   Meade Generic
   PHD2
   SharpCap
   Pegasus UPB

Key Tests:
   AstroMain access to TheSky/CCDSoft objects
   AstroMain access to TCP/IP datafeeds from AllSky/Weather Computer
   AstroPlan access to Targets Database
   TheSky6 access to TeleApi/TeleLink/DeviceHub Telescope
   DeviceHub  Working (with Access to Simulator Dome & Simulator Telescope)
   AstroMain access to Pegasus UPB PowerBox, Pulsar Dome & LX200 Telescope

   PHD2 access to DeviceHub and Simulator cameras
   SharpCap access to Simulator cameras
   AstroMain access to PHD2 & SharpCap.
   AstroMain access to ASTAP.
   AstroSN able to access Supernova File,  and update Targets Database

    Visual Studio Projects accessible and build's succeed without issue.
   AstroMove able to backup VS Projects
   AstroMove able to copy Targets Database to Observatory Computer
   AstroMove able to move new AstroSuite programs to Observatory and AllSky/Weather Computers
   AstroLaunch/AstroMove able to open VNC connections to Observatory and AllSky/Weather Computers
   AstroMove able to
   AstroMove able to open FTP and File Explorer views on Web Host

 MS Office, Excel etc (2023-03-04)
- Excel, PowerPoint, Word (Microsoft Office Home & Student 2016) confirmed to be accessible
- Excel checked

AstroSuite Programs (2023-03-04)
- AstroSuite Programs (More Programs) transferred (2023-03-04)
- Visual Studio Projects transferred (2023-03-07), see below for more info.

IP Addresses
- Laptop9 VNC Links (changes to IP Address as required)

PHD2 
Equipment Profiles  (imported 2023-03-04)
   TS80/178MC  -  Camera: Simulator (later ASI 178MC),   Mount: Device Hub Telescope (ASCOM)
   LX200/ST10  -   Camera: Simulator (later SBIG),  Mount:  Device Hub Telescope (ASCOM)

Email (2023-03-06)
- Attempted again to get Windows Live Mail 2012 to start up but failed.
- Downloaded and installed emClient (https://www.emclient.com/ )
- Copied Windows Live Mail folder from old computer
- Imported email accounts, contacts & storage folders into emClient
- Corrected Email Folder Names where long names weren't preserved during import (2023-03-07)
- Email usage officially transferred to new computer (2023-03-07)

Visual Studio Projects (2023-03-06)
- VS2022 projects copied (2023-03-04)
- VS Project Authoring / Building Checked (2023-02-06)
- 'VS Project Backups' folder copied to new computer (in C:\Data) (2023-03-06)
- AstroMove's project backup changed to use new backup location  (2023-03-06)
- VS2022 project updates copied (2023-02-07)
- VS Project Authoring officially transferred to new computer (2023-03-07)

Web Site Authoring  (2023-03-07)
- Local Website Files already copied,  WebExpression4 already installed
- Latest files copied today (2023-03-07)
- FTP access to Web Host set up (2023-03-07)
- A Continuous Improvement ticket has been raised to look into use of WebDAV as better alternative to FTP.
- Web Site Authoring officially transferred to new computer (2023-03-07)
- Access to RichCloud reinstated (using admin account)

CCD Sessions (2023-03-07)
- Session folders transferred (S1103 to S1035)
- Other sessions left on old computer for the time being.
- Session Analysis work officially transferred to new computer (2023-03-07)

AllSky Sessions (2023-03-07)
- AllSky Folder transferred   (2023-03-07)
- AllSky Image Analysis work officially transferred to new computer (TBA)

 

Follow-up (2023-03-12)
- ImageMagicK reinstalled in order to put it in

Issues

Windows 11
- Toolbars. Toolbars . Fixed using  ExplorerPatch ( https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher )
- Explorer Tab. Explorer Window tabs in Windows 11 have tabs that get in the way of functionality to close windows by code.. Fixed using ViVeTool Gui ( https://github.com/PeterStrick/ViVeTool-GUI/releases )  by deactivating 37634385 & 36354489 ( https://www.makeuseof.com/disable-file-explorer-tabs-windows-11/ )

- JPG Pictures ?

Windows 11
- Search Box. Typing into Search is sometimes unaavailable. Seems to be a common problem.  None of  fixes seems to be reliable.  Problem resolves by itself only to appear later.

AstroShCap
- failed to start ,  as C:\Data\ZWO Imaging\AIS_Icon.ico was missing.

AstroMain  
- Sessions.  Exception  (can't find D drive) whilst trying to select session for Analysis.  Fixed in 3.61.10
- Image Linking. Unable to link image (too few stars).  DEFAULT.sxt replaced with copy from Laptop10.  Magnitude Zero Point changed from 10 to 0.
- Services. Dome, Telescope, Zigbee, Powerbox, TCF-S Services not starting up as 'Sim'. Fixed in 3.61.10
- Focuser.Simulator. Failed to connect to ASCOM.Focuser.Simulator. Fixed in 3.61.10 (Port=COM18 removed)
- AllSky/Weather Data. Not accessing Cloud Sensor, Weather Station, Scorecard info (added COMP connections from AstroWeather and AstroAllSky)
- Imaging. Long delay after taking each image in Observatory/AdHoc Observing. Resolved itself.

EMail. 
- Unable to get Windows Live Mail 2012 to work on new computer.  After successfully installing, attempting to start WLM shows the opening banner and the text 'Starting' but after a few seconds the program shuts. Messages in log file doesn't help to solve the problem. Tried usual things 'Restart', 'Repair'. Uninstall/Reinstall', Run as Administrator, Run in Compatability mode etc but didn't solve problem.  Added registry DWords that were recommended online but that didn't work.   Windows Mail is not suitable {and can't import). Eventually downloaded and installed emClient as replacement for Window Live Mail 2012.  Imported email accounts, contacts & storage folders from old computer (WLM) into emClient.

ImageMagicK
- JPG pictures not being created by ConvertFitsToJpg() routine on new development computer.  The problem was due to ImageMagic being installed at the location
"C:\Program Files\ImageMagick-7.0.8-Q16\" instead of "C:\Program Files\ImageMagick\" as expected by AstroMain's code. Problem fixed by uninstalling ImageMagicK, then reinstalled it again but this time explicitly specifiying "C:\Program Files\ImageMagick\" path name instead of accepting the default path.

edge://flags/#edge-internet-explorer-integration

MS Edge Note:
Type the following path in the address bar to open the flags experimental settings in the new feature location:
   edge://flags/#edge-internet-explorer-integration

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/access-group-policy-editor-even-windows-home-settings-try/

 

New Computer vs Old
Compared to prior laptop,  the new one is
- same of similar screensize
- lighter
- smaller dimensions
- runs at a cooler temperature

- Analyse Reduced Folder task is much faster than on old computer
- Image Set Analysis Workflow in AstroMain occurs with the frequent crashes of CCDSoft which occured on old computer