David's Astronomy Pages
Notes - Session 1278 (2024-11-29)
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Main aims
Equipment & Software
Highlights
Targets. 2/21 planned targets observations were completed with one
further target partially completed. All
planned targets failed due to cloud
Dome Slewing. There were no hold-ups during dome slewing, the
session was very short (1 hour) and with only 5 slews made it is not yet
confirmed that the issue with dome slew hold-ups has been resolved.
Dome Slewing. Daylight testing of slaved dome operations on
2024-11-30 and 2024-12-01 showing no hold-ups during dome slewing,
which suggest that issue with Dome Slewing Performance has been resolved by
the Drive Motor Tension Adjustment made on xxxx.xx
Dome. There was no issues opening/closing the shutter during
session. Dome closed and parked at end of session Ok Summary Plots & Logs
Observing Plan |
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Observing Result |
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| Dome & Scope Slewing Performance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Slew/Centering Performance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Guiding Performance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sky Conditions (Locate Frames) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Night Sky Summary Plot Top axis: Sky Brightness at Zenith (in ADU/s) Lefthand axis: Local Time (hh LT). Righthand axis: Sun Altitude (degs) |
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| Actual Weather vs Pre-Session Weather Forecast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Session Event Log | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Back to Top
Fixed 2024-12-05 (Observatory, LX200 Telescope Focusing)
Fixed
2024-12-01 (AstroWeather 1.26.2) Closed
2024-12-01 (AstroLaunch 1.11.10) Fixed 2024-11-30
(Observatory Website, VWS, AstroWeather 1.26.2) Fixed
2024-12-01 (AstroMain 3.73.3)
Closed 2024-12-02 (AstroMain 3.73.4)
Closed after review 2024-12-02 (Tapo C325WB Camera, User Awareness)
Fixed 2024-12-02 (AstroColorCam 1.0.11) 
if SunAltBin Mod 6 = 0 then
Fixed 2024-12-04 (AstroColorCam 1.0.13)
Fixed 2024-12-03 (AstroMain 3.73.4) 10:28:10.87 | M110 List ScopePath
Info | Time: 70.3, Slewing: 1, Slew: 222.105, Az: 27.87, Alt: 13.72
10:28:11.64 | M110 List ScopePath
Info | Time: 71.1, Slewing: 1, Slew: 222.140, Az: 27.90, Alt: 13.73
10:28:12.92 | M110 List ScopePath
Info | Time: 72.3, Slewing: 1, Slew: 222.144, Az: 27.91, Alt: 13.73
10:28:15.53 | M110 Set bScopeSlewInProgress Info | Setting
bScopeSlewInProgress = False
10:28:15.53 | M110 Set
Telescope.Asynch Ok | Setting
Telescope.Asynchronous = 0
Believed Fixed 2024-12-03 (AstroMain 3.73.4) UserResponse("",
sText, sCaption, vbYesNo, vbQuestion)
Ans = UserResponse("", sText, sCaption, vbYesNo, vbQuestion)
Fixed 2024-12-03 (AstroMain 3.73.5)
Fixed 2024-12-04 (AstroWeather 1.26.5)
Fixed 2024-12-04 (AstroWeather 1.26.5, User Awareness)
Fixed 2024-12-05 (AstroAllSky 3.21.7) Done 2024-11-30 (AstroLaunch
1.11.10) Done 2024-11-30 (AstroLaunch
1.11.10) Done 2024-11-30 (AstroMain 3.73.2)
Done 2024-11-30 (AstroColorCam
1.0.9) Done
2024-12-01 (AstroMain 3.73.2) Done
2024-12-01 (AstroAllSky 3.21.5, AstroColorCam 1.0.10) Done
2024-12-01 (AstroColorCam 1.0.11) Done
2024-12-03 (AstroColorCam 1.0.12, AstroAllSky 3.21.6) Done
2024-12-03 (AstroWeather 1.26.3) Done
2024-12-03 (AstroMain 3.73.5) Done
2024-12-03 (AstroMain 3.73.5) Done
2024-12-09 (AstroColorCam 1.0.13 & AstrolColorCam 1.1.3) Done
2024-12-03 (AstroMain 3.73.5) Done
2024-12-04 (AstroWeather 1.26.4) Done
2024-12-04 (AstroMove 1.13.4) Done
2024-12-04 (AstroWeather 1.26.4) Done
2024-12-04 (AstroWeather 1.26.4) Done
2024-12-04 (AstroWeather 1.26.4) 
To do
2024-12-31 (Post-Session Analysis, Observatory Website) Fig 1.
Condensation is visible in images from the Observatory's new C325WB Colour
Camera
Following rain, some condensation is visible in images from the
C325WB Colour Camera.
The persistance of this condensation was monitored
and found to dissipate quite quickly.
Fig 2.
Keogram Line Overlay - New AstroColorCam program feature.
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ASCOM Platform 7 on Observatory Computer was updated to 7.0.2 version today
(2024-11-29 ).
This includes a number of fixes and changes since the
original platform 7.0.0 & 7.0.1 was released.
Earlier notes on Platform 7
are recorded at ASCOM - Upgrade to
Platform 7 (2024-10-16) &
ASCOM - Platform 7 Update 1 (2024-10-22)
The following installations were made:
- AscomPlatform702.4675.exe
The 7.0.2 Updates includes the following fixes:
Installation Notes:
Checks:
Update 2024-12-03 (7.0.3 RC1)
Observatory Computer was updated to Platform 7 Update 3 RC1 in order to pick up DeviceHub 7.0.3-rc1.4685 which includes a fix for the incorrect PollScopeTask behaviour during early part of a telescope slew where it was getting Slewing value from DH's cache, rather than getting it directly from the telescope driver. This was successfully tested and appears to have resolved the earlier anomalous slaved dome behaviour issue,
Update 2024-12-04 (7.0.3 RC2)
Observatory Computer was updated to Platform 7 Update 3 RC2 in order to
pick up DeviceHub 7.0.3-rc1.4692 which includes additonal logging to support
confirmation of the fix for the incorrect PollScopeTask behaviour during
early part of a telescope slew. This was successfully tested and it
was confirmed that the change made is successful (see Notes -
DeviceHub 7.0.3-RC2 (2024-12-04)
7.0.3. RC2 will be used in future live sessions, pending an official
release of 7.0.3 update.
DeviceHub is now being run with the default activity log file size (125000) , rather than a ten-fold size (1250000) that was used with DH 6.6, as it appears to resolve a problem whereby the DeviceHub Interface would freeze up at some point when the Activity Log window was being used.
(although telescope/dome slewing could still be accomplished whilst the DH interface was frozen, it prevented clients changing the Dome Slaving flag and would cause clients to freeze when they attempted to disconnect, which then required stopping/killing DeviceHub and other observatory software in order to regain control of the Telescope/Dome in order to finish parking operations).
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A series of test versions of the MeadeGeneric driver (1.3.11.509 to
1.3.11.512)
was installed on the observatory computer and tested between 2024-11-19 &
2024-12-01, that aimed to resolve an issue whereby the driver wasn't return
Slewing=True immediately after a call to SlewToCoordinatesAsync, which would
then occasionally cause DeviceHub's PollScopeTask to cancel the telescope's
'Slewing in Progress' state, leading to anomalous slaved dome slewing.
Previously the driver would return Slewing=False until the telescope
itself began slewing, but this is not the expectation or required behaviour
of an ASCOM driver.
A number of test versions were necessary to iron
out bugs and issues involved with the change before they were finnally
resolved and the change in final test version 1.3.1.11.512 was accepted.
The change to the driver, although necessary, didn't by itself fully resolve
the anomalous slave dome slewing that was seen on some telescope slews. The
issue was only finally resolved by a new test version of DeviceHub
(7.0.3-RC1. 4685 ) on 2024-12-03.
The change in 1.3.11.512 will be
incorporated in an official 1.3.11 update in due course.
The link
https://bitbucket.org/cjdskunkworks/meadeautostar497/wiki/Release%20History
will be monitored to show when the official update is released.
Update 2024-12-14
Whilst the combination of
MeadeGeneric driver 1.3.11.512 and DeviceHub 7.0.3-rc2.4692 have
significantly reduce the issue of anomalous slave dome behaviour, 1 of 26
slews conducted during session S1283 (2024-12-13) contained an anomlous slew
at 05:35 in which DH cancelled the 'Slewing in Progress' state shortly after
requesting telescope slew. A timeline based on AstroMain,
DeviceHub and MeadeGeneric logs showed that MeadeGeneric, after initially
returning Slewing=True (at 05:35:11.711), then momentarily returns
Slewing=False (at 05:35:11.810), before continuing to again return
Slewing=True (at 05:35:11.820) and for the remainder of slew. The problem is
that DeviceHub PollScopeTask sees Slewing=False at 05:35:11.811 and cancels
the telescope's 'Slew in progress' state, leading to anomalous Slave Dome
Behaviour.
Log file from the case were forwarded to Colin Dawson
via Discord, however it was immediately clear what's going on to cause
driver to unexpectedly return Slewing=False.
Update 2024-12-20
A new test version of MeadeGeneric
driver (1.3.11.514) was installed on the observatory computer today
(2024-12-16) which puts out more information to the log file. It will used
during the next couple of live sessions in the hope that it captures a
further case where driver momentarily returns Slewing=False during early
part of the slew operation, that can be used to identify the source of the
problem.
The new version of the driver was used in the next two live sessions (S1284-S1285) and results reviewed on 2024-12-20. This show that in 1 out 54 slews made the MeadeGeneric Driver unexpectedly returned Slewing=False in response's to DeviceHub Initial PollScopeTask causing DH to quickly cancel its 'Slewing In Progress' state session. Details have been posted on Discord.
Back to Top
Observatory Computer was updated to ASCOM Platform 7 Update 3 RC2 today
2024-12-04 in order to pick up DeviceHub 7.0.3-rc2.4692 which includes additonal
logging to support confirmation of the fix for the incorrect PollScopeTask
behaviour during early part of a telescope slew.
This followed the
earlier update to Platform 7 Update 3 RC1 on 2024-12-03 in order to pick up
DeviceHub 7.0.3-rc1.4685 which includes a fix for the incorrect PollScopeTask
behaviour during early part of a telescope slew where it was getting Slewing
value from DH's cache (still False), rather than getting it directly from the
telescope driver (now True).
The two versions were both
successfully tested and it was confirmed that the change made in 7.0.3 RC1/RC2
is successful.
Earlier notes on Platform 7 are recorded at ASCOM - Upgrade to
Platform 7 (2024-10-16) &
ASCOM - Platform 7 Update 1 (2024-10-22)
Checks:
Notes: DeviceHub is now being run with the default activity log
file size (125000) , rather than a ten-fold size (1250000) that walue as
used with DH 6.6, as it appears to resolve a problem whereby the DeviceHub
Interface would freeze up at some point when the Activity Log window was
being used.
(although telescope/dome slewing could still be
accomplished whilst the DH interface was frozen, it prevented clients
changing the Dome Slaving flag and would cause clients to freeze when they
attempted to disconnect, which then required stopping/killing DeviceHub and
other observatory software in order to regain control of the Telescope/Dome
in order to finish parking operations).
Update 2024-12-14
Whilst the combination of
MeadeGeneric driver 1.3.11.512 and DeviceHub 7.0.3-rc2.4692 have
significantly reduce the issue of anomalous slave dome behaviour, 1 of 26
slews conducted during session S1283 (2024-12-13) contained an anomlous
slaved dome behaviour at 05:35 in which DH cancelled the 'Slewing in
Progress' state shortly after requesting telescope slew. Whilst
not caused by DeviceHub, the case exposed an issue with DeviceHub's Dome
Position Recalculation.
After the dome arrived at the Target Azimuth
(59.4°) DH performed a Dome position recalculation at 05:35:27.749 due
to periodic timer expiration, determined that the dome azimuth (59.40°) was
away from the 'target' azimuth 75.70° (where the telescope supposedly was)
and requested a Dome. SlewToAzimuth (75.70°).
However at that time
the telescope was settling at its Target Destination (equivalent to Dome Az
59.4°) and had a Telescope Az: 58.55°, Alt: 21.03°, which should have led
if anything to a minor dome slew 59.4° to c. 58.6° +/- or no slew at all
and not a large slew back to Az 75.70°, after which the dome then slewed
back to 59.5°, delaying forward operations.
It would seem that DH's
Dome Position Recalculation is using cached values for either Telescope
Ra/Dec or Telescope's TargetRa/TargetDec.
The latter issue has been sent
to the ASCOM Team via ASCOM Talk forum (https://ascomtalk.groups.io/g/Help/message/47784).
Update 2024-12-17
A new version of DeviceHub (
7.0.3-rc23.4694) have been provided from Peter Simpson which contains a fix
for the issue identified on 2024-12-14. Some daytime tests today
(2024-12-17) using the new DH version along with MeadeGeneric
1.3.11-514. Around 10 slews were made in total, most of these
were with the dome slaved to the scope, with the telescope arriving at the
target first and some with the dome arriving first. Some tests were also
made with the dome initially not slaved & then either turning slaving on
during the telescope slew, or after the telescope slew. I didn't see
anything bad happen, and I didn't see any anomalous slaved dome behaviour.
Since issues can sometimes only present with certain timing interactions
(dependant on the precise timing of polling, tasks and arrival of data from
a real driver etc, it is too soon to say that the issue is resolved. The
new version will be used in the next two live session in order to get
results from a further 50+ slews.
Update 2024-12-20
The new DH 7.0.3-rc23.4694
version was used in the next two live sessions (S1284-S1285) and results
reviewed on 2024-12-20 demonstrated that the Dome Slaving issue has been
successfully fixed. In the 54 telescope slew made with dome slaving enabled
there 1 slew in which the telescope driver returned an unexpected
Slewing=False value in response to DH’s Initial PollScopeTask GetSlewing
call, leading to DH cancelling the ‘Slewing In Progress State’ (1 in 54 is a
much lower frequency that what it originally was, but still indicates a
residual issue with the telescope driver).
But it was good news
on the DH dome slaving front. The dome arrived at the target first (2-3s
before the telescope did) and DH.Dome performed a dome position
recalculation and determined that the dome’s position was ok and that no
dome slew was needed. (Previously it was commanding the dome to slew off
to an inappropriate position before then slewing back again).
(https://ascomtalk.groups.io/g/Help/message/47806).
Based on this successful result and earlier daytime tests on 2024-12-17
the earlier dome slaving problem is now considered as fixed.
Back to Top
Though combination of fixes/updates to MeadeGeneric Telescope Driver and to
DeviceHub the long standing issue with dome slaving behaviour has finally be
resolved. This was anomalous behaviour in which occasional where the slaved dome
initiallys slew correctly to the target azimuth, but instead of waiting for the
telescope to arrive and finish its slew, the dome slew to 1 or 2 position along
the path that the telescope is slewing before eventually arriving again at the
Target position, delaying the whole slew process.
MeadeGeneric 1.3.11.512 finally resolves
part of the issue whereby the driver wasn't return Slewing=True immediately
after a call to SlewToCoordinatesAsync, which would then occasionally cause
DeviceHub's PollScopeTask to cancel the telescope's 'Slewing in Progress' state,
leading to anomalous slaved dome slewing.
DeviceHub 7.0.3-rc1.4692 & DeviceHub 7.0.3-rc2.4685 resolves the other part of the issue whereby during the early part of a telescope slew DeviceHub's PollScopeTask behaviour was getting Slewing value from DH's cache (still False), rather than getting it directly from the telescope driver (now True), causing the cancellation of the telescope's 'Slewing in Progress' state, leading to anomalous slaved dome slewing.
After testing the two updates together during testing session on
2024-12-03, the two updates were again tested together during a live session
S1279 (2024-12-05) and Slaved Dome operations were normal with no anomalous
slaved dome slews.
Update 2024-12-14
Whilst the combination of
MeadeGeneric driver 1.3.11.512 and DeviceHub 7.0.3-rc2.4692 have
significantly reduce the issue of anomalous slave dome behaviour, 1 of 26
slews conducted during session S1283 (2024-12-13) contained an anomlous
slaved dome behaviour at 05:35 in which DH cancelled the 'Slewing in
Progress' state shortly after requesting telescope slew., and the dome after
arriving at the target (59.4°) & whilst the telescope was settling at
the target, made a large slew back to Az 75.70°, after which the dome then
slewed back to 59.5°, delaying forward operations, when it should have made
only a very minor slew or made no slew at all
A timeline
based on AstroMain, DeviceHub and MeadeGeneric logs showed that
MeadeGeneric, after initially returning Slewing=True (at 05:35:11.711), then
momentarily returns Slewing=False (at 05:35:11.810), before continuing to
again return Slewing=True (at 05:35:11.820) and for the remainder of
slew. The problem is that DeviceHub PollScopeTask sees Slewing=False at
05:35:11.811 and cancels the telescope's 'Slew in progress' state, leading
to anomalous Slave Dome Behaviour. Log file from the case were
forwarded to Colin Dawson via Discord, however it was immediately clear
what's going on to cause driver to unexpectedly return Slewing=False (this
will be investigated further using a new MeadeGeneric version (1.3.11.514)
which collects more log information.
Analysis of logs showed that
after the dome arrived at the Target Azimuth (59.4°) DH performed a
Dome position recalculation at 05:35:27.749 due to periodic timer
expiration, determined that the dome azimuth (59.40°) was away from the
'target' azimuth 75.70° (where the telescope supposedly was) and requested
a Dome. SlewToAzimuth (75.70°).
However at that time the telescope
was settling at its Target Destination (equivalent to Dome Az 59.4°) and had
a Telescope Az: 58.55°, Alt: 21.03°, which should have led if anything to a
minor dome slew 59.4° to c. 58.6° +/- or no slew at all. It would
seem that DH's Dome Position Recalculation is using cached values for either
Telescope Ra/Dec or Telescope's TargetRa/TargetDec. The issue has been sent
to the ASCOM Team via ASCOM Talk forum (https://ascomtalk.groups.io/g/Help/message/47784).
Update 2024-12-20
The new DH 7.0.3-rc23.4694
version was used in the two live sessions (S1284-S1285) and results reviewed
on 2024-12-20 demonstrated that the Dome Slaving issue has been successfully
fixed.
In the 54 telescope slew made with dome slaving enabled
there 1 slew in which the telescope driver returned an unexpected
Slewing=False value in response to DH’s Initial PollScopeTask GetSlewing
call, leading to DH cancelling the ‘Slewing In Progress State’ (1 in 54 is a
much lower frequency that what it originally was, but still indicates a
residual issue with the telescope driver). But it was good news on the DH
dome slaving front. The dome arrived at the target first (2-3s before the
telescope did) and DH.Dome performed a dome position recalculation and
determined that the dome’s position was ok and that no dome slew was
needed. (Previously it was commanding the dome to slew off to an
inappropriate position before then slewing back again). Based on this
successful result and earlier daytime tests on 2024-12-17 the earlier dome
slaving problem is now considered as fixed (https://ascomtalk.groups.io/g/Help/message/47806).
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| This Web Page: | Notes - Session 1278 (2024-11-29) |
| Last Updated : | 2024-12-21 |
| Site Owner : | David Richards |
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