David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 659 (2019-02-06)

Notes (S658)

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Notes (S660)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (1),  Minor Issues (2),  Continuous Improvement (1)
	Images from 2019-02-06  >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2019-02-06)

Main aims

1. Targets. Undertake Deep Sky, Variable Star and Nearby Star imaging
   (plan was to take advantage of clear evening skies before forecast clouds rolled at 22:00 -23:00 hrs)
2. Dome. Monitor Observatory for incidences of unexpected closures of the dome's shutter
   (this has been a problem in recent sessions and particularly during session S647 two nights ago)
3. Software. Test updated /new routines in AstroMain 3.8.8, if time allowed
   (this includes new focus logging and Sky Survey focusing)

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
   
  
•  AstroMain 3.8.7,  AstroPlan 1.6.2

Highlights

• Images.  x targets were successfully imaged before the expected cloud rolled in at 22:00
  
• Shutter.  There were no unexpected closures of the Shutter during this 3.6 hour session. This compares against 6 occurances during the 4.1 hour session on 2019-02-04.  Changing AutoClosure Delay in Dome Controller Settings from 0s to 30s might have been this significant difference.
  
• Image Reduction.  A new faster workflow was used for create a Session Workbook incorporating the session Fits Summary.dat file with its details of the session image files. A new button/routine in AstroMain / Reduction called 'CreateSessionWorkbook'  calls an Excel Workbook called 'Fits_Summary_Loader.xlsm' that auto-runs a macro called 'ImportFitsSummay' to create a Session Workbook based on the specification given in the intermediary file called NewSessionDetails.dat.  

Lowlights

• -20degC Master Dark Frames. Reduced images showed relatively high amounts of hot pixels due to use of out-of-date master dark frames (dating from 2009 & 2010)

Summary Plots & Logs

Observing Plan (2019-02-06, S659)

Observing Result (2019-02-06, S659)

Night Sky Summary Plot - 2019-02-06, S659 Top axis: Sky Brightness at Zenith (in ADU/s) Lefthand axis: Local Time (hh LT). Righthand axis: Sun Altitude (degs)

Session Event Log (2019-02-06, S659)

Time     Event Detail 18:35:31 Session Created Live Session Created (2019-02-06 S00659, ImageSaveNum: 659001) 18:36:18   Obs.Manager Started Obs.Manager started 18:36:25   Services Started Observatory Services started 18:36:50 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 18:36:51 Session Pending Session pending (2019-02-06) 18:36:52   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan () 18:41:47   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2019-02-06 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 271) 18:42:03   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 18:42:06   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 18:42:57   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 45s) 18:42:58   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 18:46:56   Equilibration Ended Dome Equilibration ended (4.0 mins total) 18:46:57   Queue Started Observing Queue started (37 targets selected) 18:46:58     Target Started (1/37) Target started (1/37, GCVS HH And) 18:51:20     Target Completed Target completed (1/37, GCVS HH And) 18:51:21     Target Started (2/37) Target started (2/37, GCVS U And) 19:04:10     Target Completed Target completed (2/37, GCVS U And) 19:04:11     Target Started (3/37) Target started (3/37, GCVS GK Per) 19:10:32     Target Completed Target completed (3/37, GCVS GK Per) 19:16:45     Target Completed Target completed (4/37, GCVS SS Cyg) 19:23:05     Target Started (5/37) Target started (5/37, UGC 118) 19:26:59       Focusing Started (Foc1) Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 19:32:57       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 19:49:45     Target Completed Target completed (5/37, UGC 118) 19:49:46     Target Started (6/37) Target started (6/37, GSC 1224:29) 19:57:23     Target Completed Target completed (6/37, GSC 1224:29) 20:05:05     Target Completed Target completed (7/37, GCVS FO Ori) 20:13:44     Target Completed Target completed (8/37, GCVS NV Ori) 20:22:05     Target Completed Target completed (9/37, 38P/Stephan-Oterma) 20:31:09     Target Completed Target completed (10/37, GCVS Z And) 20:36:36     Target Completed Target completed (11/37, GCVS RX And) 20:43:31     Target Completed Target completed (12/37, NGC 2251) 20:46:22     Target Started (13/37) Target started (13/37, GCVS U Gem) 20:52:53     Target Completed Target completed (13/37, GCVS U Gem) 20:55:25     Target Started (14/37) Target started (14/37, GCVS RR Tau) 21:06:19     Target Completed Target completed (14/37, GCVS RR Tau) 21:11:20     Target Completed Target completed (15/37, GCVS FU Ori) 21:13:29     Target Started (16/37) Target started (16/37, GCVS SU Tau) 21:22:18     Target Completed Target completed (16/37, GCVS SU Tau) 21:22:35     Target Started (17/37) Target started (17/37, GCVS CN Ori) 21:28:47     Target Completed Target completed (17/37, GCVS CN Ori) 21:30:56     Target Started (18/37) Target started (18/37, GCVS U Mon) 21:41:55     Target Completed Target completed (18/37, GCVS U Mon) 21:49:16     Target Completed Target completed (19/37, GCVS DX Cnc) 21:51:01     Target Started (20/37) Target started (20/37, WDS GRB 34) 21:57:44     Target Completed Target completed (20/37, WDS GRB 34) 21:58:26     Target Started (21/37) Target started (21/37, NGC 2628) 22:16:49     Target Completed Target completed (21/37, NGC 2628) 22:20:18     Target Started (22/37) Target started (22/37, NGC 2742) 22:28:05 Observatory (Manual) Observatory placed in Manual Mode 22:28:33     Target Completed Target partially completed (22/37, NGC 2742) 22:28:40 User Interventation User Interventation in order to close session 22:29:00 Session Closing Session Closing (Manual) 22:30:37   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 48s) 22:32:12   Camera1 Disconnected SBIG Camera closed down & disconnected 22:33:27   Services Stopped Observatory Services stopped 22:34:00 Session Finished Session Finished (Manual)

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Operational Issues (2019-02-06, S659)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (1)
• Minor issues (2)
• Continuous Improvement (1)

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Critical Issues

• None
  

Major Issues

• Reduced Images showing hot pixels (master dark frames significantly out of date).  Files taken at CCD Temp of -20degC were reduced using out-of-date master dark frames that were acquired 2009-07-02 (S374) or 2010-10-06 (S428-430) depending on exposure.
  Resolved 2019-02-08 (new -20degC Master Dark Frames were created and used to go back to re-do the reduction of  the raw images from Session 2019-02-06 S659

Minor issues

• Session should be suspended when cloud cover increases significantly.  With Cloud Cover at 90%, AllSkyStars Count of only 4 and locate images failing to link, the Session should have suspended even though Clarity was still around 32. Largely fixed through use of 'Suspend When Few Stars' option.
  Resolved . 2019/2020  (AstroMain)
   
• Target Start events are still not all getting uploaded to the Session Events table. This problem persist despite a couple of attempts to fix it
  Resolved 2019-02-10 (AstroMain 3.9.1)

Continuous Improvement

• Starting Session earlier.  There was opportunity to collect some 20-30 mins of extra data as the start of the session if it had been begun earlier.  Whilst this is still a potential issue, it is down to the user to look more closely at the weather forecast, and initiate the session earlier .  Autostart option is now available to set up the observatory to automatically handle the entire process of starting a session (as soon as conditions allow) with explicitily committing to opening a new session ID.
  Closed 2020 (AstroMain/AutoStart)

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