David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1307 Attempt (2025-03-30)

Notes (S1306)

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Notes (S1307)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (2),  Small Defects (0),  Continuous Improvement (0)
	No Images from Session >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2025-03-30)

Main aims

1. 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
• TheSky6, CCDSoft5, DeviceHub 7.0.3 RC3.4694, MeadeGeneric 1.3.12.522 , UPB 1.5,  Pulsar Dome Firmware 1.51 & Driver 6.3.10
• Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S 6.0.6
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.13, Siril 1.0.6, deCONZ 1.18.2, ASCOM 7.0.3 RC3
• [ DomeLink 1.0 / 1.1 - not used ]
   
• AstroMain 3.73.14,  AstroPlan 1.43,  AstroShCap 1.3.15, AstroGuard 1.10.6   (any new items or versions in bold)
  AstroVOE 1.15.1,  AstroSN 1.14,  AstroProtect 1.10.6,  AstroMove 1.15.2 
  AstroWeather 1.27.5, AstroAllSky 3.23.1,  AstroObsCam 1.11.4 (not 1.11.5), AstroColorCam 1.2.2, AstroLaunch 1.11.14

Highlights

• Targets. 18/24 planned targets observations were completed, with 3 other targets partially completed. Other targets (3) failed due to cloud/shower & session suspension.
•   Dome. There was no issues opening/closing the shutter during the session. Dome closed and parked at end of session Ok.

Notes

• Attempted session, but progress delayed by TheSky6 becoming non-responsive, and then cancelled by the user due to cloud and poor weather forecast.
  
  

Summary Plots & Logs

Observing Plan None Generated

Observing Result

Not Available

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

Not available

Session Alerts & Alarms

Not available

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Operational Issues (2025-03-30, S1307 Attempt)

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

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• TheSky6 encountered a critical error with some message about "C++ Library..." (21:00). After creation of new Live Session, and whilst Night Services were starting and were waiting 60s for Telescope to finished initialisation  the Obs.Overseer produced a warning with the message "ScopeMonitor is frozen (21:00)". It was noted that TheSky6 was showing an error dialog with some message about "C++ Library..". It's not clear what the precise problem was that caused TheSky to crash.  The error appeared to be terminal.  An attempt at this point to use backdoor option to 'Restart TheSky'  failed as it immediately led to AstroMain crashing due to an unhandled excpetion (see separate ticket). After stopping and restarting Observatory Software, AstroMain was restarted and the session continued, however due to issue with the SharpCap server /service not being available, SharpCap/AstroShCap had to be restarted.
  Eventually resolved by user 2025-03-30  Session, TheSky6) 
   
• AstroMain crashed whilst running the 'Restart TheSky' backdoor facility.  After an issue with TheSky6 and it becoming non-responsive, the user initiated the 'Restart TheSky6' facility at 22:49 in an attempt to resolve the problem.  However it led to AstroMain crashing due to an unhandled SystemNullrReference Exception "Object Reference not set to an instance of an object"  Running Just-InTime Debugger in VisualStudio revelaed that exception was caused by the codeline 'Telescope.Connect() in  'ConnectTelescopeQuiet()' routine in globals.vb . Routine should be modified to include a Try..Catch..End Try block.   It is unclear why ConnectTelescopeQuiet() routine was being called when RestartTheSky operation was in progress.   Examining code shows that the 'ConnectTelescopeQuiet()' routine is called by AutoStartSession() routine and the logs would suggest that
  ConnectTelescopeQuiet() was called by AutoStartSession at around 21:00:50 - 21:01:00, but execution was then frozen, as the call to Telescope.Connect() was held up by the non-responsive TheSky6 process, and was only released when TheSky6 process was killed by 'RestartTheSky6' operation at 22:49:05 . It is seen that ConnectTelescopeQuiet() routine was called some 109 minutes before RestartTheSky operation was called,  so a checking the status of bRestartingTheSky6 flag would have been of no direct help.  Fix implemented in AstroMain 3.74.1.
  Fixed 2025-04-02  (AstroMain 3.74.1) 

Small Defects

• None

Continuous Improvement

• None

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