David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 748 (2020-01-28)

Notes (S747)

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Notes (S749)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (9),  Continuous Improvement (11)
	Guiding Performance
	Images from 2020-01-28  >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2020-01-28)

Main aims

1. Testing: Test new features in AstroMain 3.20.1 including new GuideSumm and  Seeing Charts
2. Targets: Acquire images of a number of deep sky objects
   
   Biurakan (or Byurakan) comes from the Armenian observatory (BAO).
   

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 3.20.2 ,  Astroguard 1.2.11,   AstroPlan 1.14,  AstroShCap 1.2.15, AstroVOE 1.3.5, UPB 1.4.17  (AstroWeather 1.8.3, AstroAllSky 3.5.1)
  

Highlights

• Excellent Seeing.

Lowlights

•   T.d

Summary Plots & Logs

Observing Plan

Observing Result

Dome & Scope Slewing Performance

Slew/Centering 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) Forecast showed potential clear interval between 20:00 and 23:00 with 14-21% cloud cover, but becoming cloudy in second part of night. Winds of 15-17 mph before midnight.  Temperatures of 3degC falling to 0 degC by dawn.   Later forecasts (once session was underway) showed rain and snow (up to 3cm) around 05:00 to 07:00 In the event skies were moderately clear from 17:30 to 23:00, but with cloud intervals 18:45  and 21:15 . The Obs.Manager suspended operations and closed the shutter at 21:16 and 22:47 User Intervention made at 23:05 to shutdown the Observatory for the night in view of the rain/snow forecast in the latter part of the night. In the event there was no snow during the night, but there were spells of heavy rain between 01:00 and 05:30

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 19:48:23 Session Created Live Session Created (2020-01-28 S00748, ImageSaveNum: 748001) 19:48:54   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 19:49:28   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 46s) 19:51:06   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -25°C) 19:52:09       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 19:53:21       Focusing Started Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 19:55:34       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 19:56:10 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 19:56:13 Session Pending Session pending (2020-01-28) 19:56:16 Session Initiating Session initiating (2020-01-28) 19:56:18   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.14) 19:56:45   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (2020-01-28 V1 BEST PLAN, Plan ID: 464) 19:56:48   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -25°C) 19:56:52   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 19:57:04 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 19:57:07   Equilibration Started Dome Equilibration started 19:57:09   Equilibration Skipped Dome Equilibration skipped by user 19:57:11 Session Running Session running 19:57:13   Queue Started Observing Queue started (36 targets selected) 20:02:14     Target Started (1/36) Target started (1/36, Jonckheere 900) 20:04:53       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:07:42       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 20:11:02 Critical Conditions Alert Critical Conditions Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Shutter) 20:11:04   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend is called due to Critical Conditions (other condition) 20:11:06     Target Aborted (1/36) Target aborted (1/36, Jonckheere 900) due to other condition 20:11:08   Queue Paused Queue pausing for HardSuspend 20:11:10 Session Suspended Session suspended 20:13:12 Session Resuming Session resuming 20:13:33   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 20s) 20:13:35 Session Running Session running 20:13:37   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 20:13:39     Target Started (1/36) Target started (1/36, Jonckheere 900) 20:26:48     Target Completed Target partially completed (1/36, Jonckheere 900) 20:26:50     Target Started (2/36) Target started (2/36, GCVS RR Tau) 20:30:08       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:32:55       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 20:38:31     Target Completed Target partially completed (2/36, GCVS RR Tau) 20:38:33     Target Started (3/36) Target started (3/36, GCVS FU Ori) 20:40:59       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:43:55       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 20:46:36     Target Completed Target completed (3/36, GCVS FU Ori) 20:46:38     Target Started (4/36) Target started (4/36, Biur 7). Using SharpCap 20:54:10     Target Completed Target completed (4/36, Biur 7) 20:55:04     Target Started (5/36) Target started (5/36, Biur 9). Using SharpCap 21:06:34     Target Completed Target completed (5/36, Biur 9) 21:06:41   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 21:08:16     Target Started (6/36) Target started (6/36, Biur 12) 21:10:15       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:13:12       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 21:18:39     Target Completed Target completed (6/36, Biur 12) 21:18:41   Queue Paused Queue paused for SoftSuspend 21:18:43 Session Suspended Session suspended 21:19:32   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 49s) 21:39:42     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (7/36, Scholz's Star) due to other condition 21:44:24 Session Resuming Session resuming 21:45:10   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 45s) 21:45:13 Session Running Session running 21:45:15   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 21:45:17     Target Started (8/36) Target started (8/36, Basel 8) 21:48:01       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:50:46       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 21:56:13     Target Completed Target completed (8/36, Basel 8) 21:56:15     Target Started (9/36) Target started (9/36, Minkowski 1-8) 21:58:12       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:58:31   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 21:59:43       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - star lost 22:00:46   SoftSuspend Cancelled Soft Suspend is cancelled due to Improved Conditions 22:16:17   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 22:21:18     Target Completed Target completed (9/36, Minkowski 1-8) 22:21:20   Queue Paused Queue paused for SoftSuspend 22:21:24 Session Suspended Session suspended 22:22:13   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 49s) 22:30:14     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (10/36, GCVS U Gem) due to other condition 22:33:39 Session Resuming Session resuming 22:34:24   Shutter Opened Shutter opened (opening time 46s) 22:34:26 Session Running Session running 22:34:28   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 22:34:30     Target Started (11/36) Target started (11/36, GCVS SY Cnc) 22:38:33       Focusing Failed Foc1 Focusing Failed - unable to find a star (TCF-S) 22:40:19   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 22:43:20     Target Completed Target completed (11/36, GCVS SY Cnc) 22:43:22   Queue Paused Queue paused for SoftSuspend 22:43:25 Session Suspended Session suspended 22:44:15   Shutter Closed Shutter closed (closing time 49s) 22:48:06 User Intervention User request to close and finish session 22:48:09   Queue Aborted Job Queue aborted 22:48:10 Session Closing Session closing 22:48:15   Shutter Closed Shutter already closed (closed at 22:44, closing time 49s) 22:48:46   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 31s) 22:48:59   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 10s) 22:49:29   Scope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Powerbox. 22:50:16   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 22:50:18 Session Housekeeping Housekeeping Started (Cleanup FITS, Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 22:50:30 Session Finished Session Finished

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Operational Issues (2020-01-28, S748)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (0)
• Minor Issues (9)
• Continuous Improvement (11)

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Zenith FWHM (seeing) chart showing a Y Axis range of 2 - 8", even though it had been just changed to 1 - 7" in code
  Fixed 2020-02-04 (AstroMain 3.20.4)
   
• SkyCondition Chart still producing a file with name SkyConditions.20200128_0.png.  First file should be called 'SkyConditions.20200128.png'. Only the second and consequent files should have a number suffix like 'SkyConditions.20200128_02.png'
  Fixed 2020-05-06 (AstroMain 3.21.6)
   
• Target 1 showed a "red"  'Worst Frame' RMS score (i.e. RMS 2.01 to 3.50') on GuideSumm Chart which was contradicted other data .  Target 1/36 (Jonckheere 900) took 3 x 60s frames (C) before the target was 'aborted' at 20:11 due to an unknown critical sky conditions and the shutter closed. It was being guided in PHD2 as guide run 1.  The 3 frames had RMS values of 1.52", 1.60" and 1.19" (1.45" overall) as reported in log file, guide summ file and guiding chart (guide run 1). Its baffling to see how the target had a worse frame RMS that was in range  2.01 & 3.50"
  Possibly Fixed 2020-02-04 (AstroMain 3.20.4)
   
• GuidingChart for GuideRun 3 (RR Tau) used 'wrong' Dec Guide Mode.  RR Tau at hour angle of -12.2 deg (just west of Meridian) showed relatively low amount of Dec Drift during assessment period and didn't define a Dec Drift direction until after 196s monitoring started at which point the first frame was being taken.   A Dec Guide Mode of South was set however the data doesn't really support this and suggest that a Dec Guide Mode of north should have been chosen. Other targets west of Meridian normally pick  Dec Guide North.  Examination of log files shows that after the 'settling period' , the Dec Drift stats (which were heading towards picking Dec Guide North) were reset and a rapid apparent rate of Dec drift flipped the GuideMonitor routine into picking Dec Guide South. Resolved by removing call to DecData.Reset() when beginning Target Frames (StartGuidingStatsTarget).
  Fixed 2020-02-04 (AstroMain 3.20.4)
   
• Target 6/36 continued to completion despite a SoftSuspend being called whilst target was in an initial wait loop.  Target 6/36 (Biur 12) commenced at 21:06 and immediately entered a 1.7 min wait loop whilst execution waited until the targets earliest start time). Soft Suspend was called at 21:06:41 due to deterioration in Sky conditions  (Clarity 35.4, Stars 9) , but at 21:08:16 the wait loop ended and target execution continued until completion.  There was no message indicating that conditions had improved before target proceeded. Although the target was successfully imaged the target should really have cancelled, or waited in case conditions improved.
  Fixed 2020-06-06 (AstroMain 3.25.1)
   
• First manually initiated autofocus run of Secondary Scope using SharpCap/Single Star failed.  Failed at 19:52 with message 'Unable to find SharpCap Image', whilst a second autofocus run initiation at 19:53 proceeded normally.   Investigation shows that although the appropriate SharpCap CaptureFolder was created and set in SharpCap at  around 19:52:08, AstroShCap didn't appear to run the routine to Capture a Locate Frame (used for selecting the focus star). Checking the ShCap log file seems to show that ShCap recieved 3 method requests in a single collection at 19:52:10 of which only the first request 'get_appstate' was handled. The other two requests 'connect_camera' and  "TakeLocateFrame" went unhandled
  (19:52:10 | Received "{"id": 4, "method": "get_appstate", "jsonrpc": "2.0"}{"id": 5, "method": "connect_camera", "index": 0, "jsonrpc": "2.0"}{"id": 6, "method": "TakeLocateFrame", "params": {"objectname": "Pointing", "binning": 1, "exposure": 2, "gain": 200}, "jsonrpc": "2.0"}"
  It would seem that the AstroMain client needs to add some short delays between sending requests to allow methods to be read by the ShCap server
  Resolved Aug 2020 (AstroMain/AstroShCap)
   
• Initial Automated Foc1/Foc2 Focus Runs on a near-Zenith Focus Field were not executed.  Unclear if this was because a Foc2 Focus Profile had been taken beforehand  'manually' or because 'Skip Equilibration' option was active and the flag that would have been set to take Foc1/Foc2 was passed over in the Equilibration code. Deemed to have been resolved.
  Resolved Aug 2020 (AstroMain/AstroShCap)
   
• Query: Target 1 (Jonckheeer) was automatically 're-run' after session resumed at 20:13 after a very brief shutter closure.  Should the message be 'Target 1/1 Started' or 'Target 1/1 Continued' ?  .  It seemed to be a 'clean' restart 5 x 60s frames (C) taken rather than the two needed ?  Dec Mode set as 'South' in first attempt could have been kept as South for second attempt?
  To investigate (AstroMain)
   
• GuidingChart however produced an emptyTarget data Graph for Frame 9 when it shouldn't have.  Target 1 repeat (Jonckheere 900)  was aborted after 8 frames due to prevent it overrunning its planned time slot.   It's associated GuidingChart (guide run 2) contained 9 frame data graphs rather than just the 8 expected.
  To investigate & fix (AstroMain)
   
  
• Some SharpCap LiveStack runs failing to stack frames due to 'Unable to align' errors. Buir 7 target completed 30 frames of which 27 frames stacked (3 dropped), whilst the following Biur 9 target completed 30 frame but stacked on 1 frames (29 dropped).  Problem didn't appear to be due to <10 stars in the candidate frames (in first run only 6 frames had more than 10 stars reported by LiveStack transform,  only 1 frame in second run ), but the may be due to <10 stars in the crucial 1st (reference) frame.   Although not captured in the ShCap report file, the second frame of first target had 11 stars (1st frame may have had similar number), whereas the second frame of the second target had only 5 stars (1st frame may have had a similar number).
  
  Problem might be related to poor sky conditions such that the problem doesn't present itself when sky conditions are good. Perhaps the routine could 'abort' then restart LiveStack hoping for a better 1st frame.  It would help if CCDSoft could guide the Mount using images from the main scope whilst taking Livestack images with the Secondary Scope, allowing Align Frames to be turned off if there has been this problem with  the 1st frame.
  >> To investigate  (AstroShCap)
  

Continuous Improvement

• Reduce the delay between Image Sets when running 'Reduce All' reduction. The process can be speeded up.
  Done 2020-02-04 (AstroMain 3.20.4)
   
• Consider reducing size of HFD points on Foc1 Focus Profiles to better highlight the FWHM data ?
  Fixed 2020-05-12 (AstroMain 3.22)
   
• Consider dropping HFD calculation for Foc1 Focus Profiles to save time? .
  (update : it has been decided to retain the HFD calculation and display of HFD points (but with reduced symbol size) )
  Closed 2020-05-11 (AstroMain)
   
• Query: Why do stars with 80mm secondary scope have higher (less sharp) HFD and FWHM values than main 12" scope ? 
  To be freshly monitored with new TS80 focusing method (Foc2, AstroShCap V3) which calculates FWHM and HFD on identical basis as LX200 scope (Foc1).  Partially identified to be due to a programming bug that can some some result in incorrect imagescale being applied to pixel based measurements from Cam2.
  Fixed 2021-01-30 (AstroMain 3.35.9)
   
• SoftSuspend improvements are highlighted by SY Cnc. After centereing few/no stars) and focusing failures and with SoftSuspend flag raised  SY Cnc should have aborted and not proceeded with imaging, instead useless images of SY Cnc were taken and the session suspended at the end of the target
  Done (AstroMain v?)
   
• Guiding Output should be disabled if stars runs into Lost Stars problems and thereby prevent the jagged star trace issue.  This is a better solution that disabling guiding / guide monitoring altogether.   It can allow guide output to be resumed and allow basic information about seeing / star drift to still be collected.   Change made to GuideMonitor such that Guide Output is disabled if Star Lost event occurs and is not reenabled until there have been 20s without any StarLost events
  Done 2020-02-04 (AstroMain 3.20.4)
   
• Implement a realtime Best Focus Position Chart. Although previously proposed the graph has still be developed, even though other products like Focus/OTA Temperature and Focusing Derived Zenith FWHM charts have been developed in the meantime. A chart design has been created. WHilst there are still some issues/questions on appropriate Y Axis scaling and display, these are best tuned best on actual use.
  Done 2020-04-27 (AstroMain 3.20.8)
   
• Trial guiding with 1.5s exposure instead of 1s. Trial MinPass2 for Dec Guiding  
  Done 2020-02-01 (Observatory, S749)
   
• How can Image display properties be better assessed and changed to give good automated LiveStack pictures ?.   At the moment LiveStacking has to be monitored and picture display settings tweaked if good results are to be obtained. SharpCap Live Stacking is no longer part of the workflow used due to frame registation/stacking & colour balance issues. This ticket can therefore be closed.
  Closed after review, 2024 (SharpCap / AstroShCap)
   
• Query. Can CCDSoft guide in one Dec direction like PHD2 ?  This is part of enabling Guiding with Main Scope whilst taking LiveStack frames with secondary scope.
  >> To investigate (CCDSoft / PHD2)
   
• Adopt some means to quantify seeing for use in PHD2.  Can SNR variability be used as a guide? 
  >> To investigate (AstroMain / PHD2)

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Guiding Performance

Session saw second use of a new chart type that is designed to highlight the varying quality of guiding performance across different parts of the sky.

During the short (0.9 hour) session all 5 guided targets lay in one relatively small patch of sky. Consequently the plot was unable to show the suspected differences between the area west of Meridian (asserted to have worse guiding) and east of Meridian (asserted to have better guiding).  

Best guide run (no.4) has average RMS of 1.2", with 9 other runs wth average RMS in range 1.3 to 1.5"

Target guiding was badly affected by wind / cloud in second half of night, guide runs 11, 14, 16, 17 & 18 were complete failures.
(these were generally in the same sky area as early successful guiding)

Notes:
- points show the quality of individual guide runs relative to their sky position
- left-hand plot shows Average RMS for all frames, right-hand plots show Average RMS for the Worst Frame or FrameSet

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