David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1322 (2025-05-08)

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Notes (S1322)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (2),  Small Defects (2),  Continuous Improvement (1)
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Session Aims & Highlights (2025-05-08)

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 3.74.9,  AstroPlan 1.43.5 / 1.43.6,  AstroShCap 1.3.15, AstroGuard 1.10.6   (any new items or versions in bold)
  AstroMag 1.4.2, AstroVOE 1.15.1,  AstroSN 1.14,  AstroProtect 1.10.6,  AstroMove 1.15.12
  AstroWeather 1.27.8, AstroAllSky 3.23.5,  AstroObsCam 1.11.4 (not 1.11.5), AstroColorCam 1.2.13, AstroLaunch 1.13

Highlights

• Targets.13/15 planned target observations were completed with 1 target partially completed.  First planned target failed due to CCD Camera issues.
•   Dome. There was no issues opening/closing the shutter during the session. Dome closed and parked at end of session ok.

Notes

Summary Plots & Logs

Observing Plan

Observing Result

Dome & Scope Slewing Performance

Slew/Centering Performance

Guiding 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)

Actual Weather vs Pre-Session Weather Forecast

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 22:57:04 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 22:57 & 02:27 22:57:04   AutoStart Delayed Session delayed due to too few stars 22:57:09 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (22:57) 22:57:30   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (to set AutoSave No.) 22:57:57   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -20°C) 22:58:00 Session Created Session Created (Live, 2025-05-08 S01322, ImageSaveNum: 1322001) 22:58:05   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 22:59:55   Services Started Observatory Services started 23:00:03 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 23:00:05   AutoStart Delayed Session delayed due to too few stars 23:00:07 Session Pending Session pending (2025-05-08) 23:00:09 Session Initiating Session initiating (2025-05-08) 23:00:16   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -15°C) 23:00:23   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.43.5) 23:01:18   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (Plan ID: 1106) 23:02:00   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 23:02:25 Session Equilibration Session ready to Open Dome 23:03:10   Dome Opened Dome opened (Opening time 46s, Zigbee 40s) 23:03:25 Session Running Session running 23:03:28   Queue Started Observing Queue started (15 targets selected) 23:03:30     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 13, HIP 63666) 23:03:44       Dome Unparked Dome unparked 23:08:13       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:11:10   SBIG Camera Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:11:44   SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:12:14   SBIG Camera Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:12:45   SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:13:15   SBIG Camera Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:13:46   SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:14:15   SBIG Camera Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:14:45   SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:15:16   SBIG Camera Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:15:46   SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:16:16   SBIG Camera Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:16:18       Focusing Failed Foc1 focusing failed - star lost 23:16:20       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 23:23:35       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 23:32:03       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 23:34:02     Target Completed (NrZen) Target completed (Focus Field 13, HIP 63666) 23:34:12     Target Started (1/15) Target started (1/15, NGC 2744 w/SN2025oq) 23:36:00   SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:36:45   SBIG Camera Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:36:49   CCDSoft Issue CCDSoft has encountered an image save issue [0000] 23:36:51   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (attempt to fix unsaved file issue) 23:36:58   SBIG Camera Reset SBIG Camera being power-cycled 23:37:52   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -15°C) 23:38:00   SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:38:05   CcdCamera Frozen CcdCamera appears to be frozen at around 23:38 in section 'GetCameraProperties / Status' 23:38:41   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (attempt to fix frozen CcdCamera) 23:38:48   SBIG Camera Reset SBIG Camera being power-cycled 23:39:41   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -15°C) 23:42:23     Target Failed (1/15) Target failed due to other condition - ExceededTimeSlot (1/15, NGC 2744 w/SN2025oq) 23:42:27     Target Started (2/15) Target started (2/15, 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann) 23:46:30       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:50:34       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 23:52:55       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 00:05:00     Target Completed Target partially completed (2/15, 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann) 00:05:05     Target Started (3/15) Target started (3/15, LEDA 2155454 w/SN2025erh) 00:24:28     Target Completed Target completed (3/15, LEDA 2155454 w/SN2025erh) 00:24:32     Target Started (4/15) Target started (4/15, UGC 12131 w/AT2025jyl) 00:28:35       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-S) 00:44:38     Target Completed Target completed (4/15, UGC 12131 w/AT2025jyl) 00:45:05     Target Started (5/15) Target started (5/15, T CrB) 00:49:39       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:52:12       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 00:57:05     Target Completed Target completed (5/15, T CrB) 00:57:09     Target Started (6/15) Target started (6/15, AT2024abod) 01:01:02       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:03:35       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 01:19:54     Target Completed Target completed (6/15, AT2024abod) 01:19:58     Target Started (7/15) Target started (7/15, AT2024uuk (CV)) 01:24:04       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:26:50       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 01:33:25     Target Completed Target completed (7/15, AT2024uuk (CV)) 01:33:29     Target Started (8/15) Target started (8/15, GCVS BL Lac) 01:36:42       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:39:07       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 01:43:07     Target Completed Target completed (8/15, GCVS BL Lac) 01:43:11     Target Started (9/15) Target started (9/15, AT2022cus (CV)) 01:54:37     Target Completed Target completed (9/15, AT2022cus (CV)) 01:54:41     Target Started (10/15) Target started (10/15, GCVS R CrB) 01:58:12       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:00:25       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 02:04:26     Target Completed Target completed (10/15, GCVS R CrB) 02:04:30     Target Started (11/15) Target started (11/15, AT2024wqx) 02:07:49       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:10:42       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 02:26:44     Target Completed Target completed (11/15, AT2024wqx) 02:26:48     Target Started (12/15) Target started (12/15, KIC 8462852) 02:29:59       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:32:28       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 02:36:34       Dome Unparked Dome unparked 02:36:45     Target Completed Target completed (12/15, KIC 8462852) 02:36:49     Target Started (13/15) Target started (13/15, AT2022vlm) 02:40:01       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:42:29       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 10) 02:58:46     Target Completed Target completed (13/15, AT2022vlm) 02:58:50     Target Started (14/15) Target started (14/15, (2) Pallas) 03:02:14       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:04:54       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 11) 03:07:35     Target Completed Target completed (14/15, (2) Pallas) 03:07:39     Target Started (15/15) Target started (15/15, GCVS CY Lyr) 03:10:44       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 03:13:05       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 12) 03:17:09     Target Completed Target completed (15/15, GCVS CY Lyr) 03:17:11   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 03:17:15 Session Closing Session closing 03:18:10   Dome Closed Dome closed (Closing time 50s, Zigbee 43s) 03:18:43   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 26s), Az: 90.0 deg 03:19:24   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 38s total) 03:19:48   Telescope State Handbox reads 'Scope parked Turn scope off.' 03:20:10   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 03:21:37   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 03:21:40 Session Finishing Session Finishing started (Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 03:22:02     Dome (Find Park) Find Park started (Search Az 88.0 to 92.0°, Step 0.2°, Narrow) 03:22:45     Dome Find Park found (Best Park Az 90.0°) 03:23:05   Dome Charging Dome is parked and re-charging Ok (12mA) 03:23:07 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts & Alarms

Time     Type       Name Detail 23:11:10 Red Alert SBIG Camera Alert Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:11:44 Green Clear SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:12:14 Red Alert SBIG Camera Alert Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:12:45 Green Clear SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:13:15 Red Alert SBIG Camera Alert Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:13:46 Green Clear SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:14:15 Red Alert SBIG Camera Alert Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:14:45 Green Clear SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:15:16 Red Alert SBIG Camera Alert Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:15:46 Green Clear SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:16:16 Red Alert SBIG Camera Alert Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:36:01 Green Clear SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:36:45 Red Alert SBIG Camera Alert Take Image failed (Command timed-out) 23:36:49 Red Alert CCDSoft Image file [0000] hasn't been saved to disk, possible CCDSoft issue 23:38:00 Green Clear SBIG Camera Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset) 23:38:39 Red Alert CcdCamera CcdCamera appears to be frozen (last cycle at 23:38:05) in section 'GetCameraProperties / Status' 23:40:11 Green Clear CCDSoft Image file has been saved to disk following CCDSoft Restart 03:23:05 Green Clear Dome Charging Dome is parked and re-charging Ok (12mA)

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Operational Issues (2025-05-08, S1322)

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

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Near Zenith Foc1 Focusing failed due to Camera Issue (23:10).  Whilst acquiring a focus profile for Near Zenith Focus Field, Focus Frame 17/23 to 22/23 failed due image failures between 23:10:38 and 23:16:16, and the focusing task failed with the message "Star has been lost. Aborting Profile", and the focuser was set to restore to its previous position.  'SBIG Camera' red alerts were raised for 6 failed FocusFrame attempts between 23:11:10 & 23:16:16 with the message "Take Image failed (Command timed-out)".   The log file shows that CCDCamera was pending for periods up to 9s, and caused ObsMonitor to lock-up until the CCDCamera resumed.  In each case Image was deemed to have TimedOut.  CCDCamera continued have pending/resumed cycles during each Focus Frame taken during Foc2 focusing profile, but the Foc2 profile was nevertheless successful, and continued on during the start of Target 1/15 (NGC 2744).  Following a failed attempt to Take Locate Frame at 23:38:00 the RestartCCDSoft() routine was called at 23:38:41 which successfully resolved the Camera issue leading to LocateFrame2 being successfully acqured at 23:40:11.  The ObsOverseer/JobExecutor should have acted earlier to resolved the issue by calling RestartCCDSoft during the Focus Profile.itself, rather than finally attempt to resolve with a RestartCCDSoft operation some 28 minutes later.  The 7 green all-clear alertts with message "Take Image command accepted (bSbigDriverException flag is reset)" between 23:11:44 and 23:38:00 are misleading as they suggest that an issue has been fixed when that was demonstrably not the case.
   To fix 2025-05-09 (Session, CCD Camera, AstroMain 3.74.10+)
   
• CCD Temperature and Cooling Power stopped being available within parts of AstroMain (23:39).  From around 23:30 null (-99.0) Temperature & Cooling Power values began to be shown in AstroMain's StatusPanel at the bottom of the main console form, and  Null (empty) CCD Temperature &  Cooling Power fields began to be written to the Session's Monitor file.   From 23:39 onwards ObsPics show Cam1 CCD' with a red flag and without CCD Temperature/Cooling.  From 23:43 onwards the job executor began to report 'Checking CCD Temp'  tasks with the message "Warning   (CCD Temperature Check is skipped)".    Despite these issues fresh CCD Temperature & Cooling Power values were shown in CCDSoft's Camera dialog and were successfully written to FIT file headers throughout by AstroMain's TakeImage routines.  The Status Bar is written to by RunTempMonitor() routine which writes local variables CCDTemp and CoolerPower.  These variables are assigned null values if gCameraConnected = False or bRestartingCCDSoft = True or bCcdCameraCycleIsPending = True which could happen when RestartCCDSoft () was executing at 23:38:41and 23:39:39.  Having set these variables to null at this time, fresh values would only be assigned to them if Camera1_IsAccessible() = True.  The function returns False if the following conditions are met
    (bCamera1TakingImage And Now() > Camera1ExpectedStartDownloadTime) _
  Or bRestartingCCDSoft Or bRunningConnectCamera Or gCameraConnected = False _
  Or bCcdCameraCycleIsPending Or bCcdCameraReportedAsFrozen
  The null CCD Temperature & Cooling Power values written to MonitorFile at 23:17, 23:23 and from 23:31 to 23:39 are likely associated with
  bCcdCameraCycleIsPending = True condition. Once the frozen or intermittedly frozen CCDCamera issue was resolved at 23:39  normal operation of the RunTempMonitor() routine should have resumed, but it didn't. It is hypothesized that this occurred because one of the flags wasn't reset. 
  CcdCamera has been reported to have been released at 23:38:44, which indicates that bCcdCameraReportedAsFrozen was in a raised state at this time. Code in OverseerLoop() shows that bCcdCameraReportedAsFrozen is reset to False when the conditions bRestartingCCDSoft = False And bCamera1Connected is met.  This should at the same time  give log, report and green all-clear alerts with the message "CcdCamera is operating again" however no such messages or all-clear alerts were produced.   An initial attempt to RestartCCDSoft at 23:36 failed as a second attempt was made at 23:38.  ObsViewer (ObsPic) shows 'Cam1 CCD' with a red flag when iCameraOk is neither 2 or 1.  iCameraOk is assigned value 0 in RunFoc1FieldsUpdater() routine in two situations i) when gCameraConnected = False or bRestartingCCDSoft = True,   ii) when Camera1_IsAccessible() = True and an exception occurs getting CCDCamera.Temperature or getting CCDCamera.FilterIndexZeroBased .  As there were no ConnectCamera exceptions and Connect Camera appeared successful at 23:39 then gCameraConnected must have been assigned the value True.  Normally bRestartingCCDSoft would be assigned False when RestartCCDSoft is finished, but there is a possibly a loophole where the RestartCCDSoft routine is exited without resetting bRestartingCCDSoft when 'Instance > 1 And bRestartCCDSoftIsPostKill = True'.   The occurance of two back-to-back RestartCCDSoft operations might had led to this situation. The ExecuteQueue () routine tests bRestartingCCDSoft and holds the queue if its value is True. Since the queue proceeded normally to end of session it must have had a False value.  The flag bCamera1TakingImage is either not raised or is reset  to false by the TakeImageASync routine. The ConnectCamera () routine resets bRunningConnectCamera to False when the routine finishes. It is unclear why the issue has occured and persisted to the end of session. Tracing has been added to AstroMain 3.74.10 to log the values of bRestartingCCDSoft and gCameraConnected after leaving the RestartCCDSoft() routine.  Tracing also added to TakeImageAsync to log status of various utilised flags after an Image has been successfull obtained and  iCameraOk = 0.
   To monitor 2025-05-09 (Session, CCD Camera, AstroMain 3.74.10+)

Small Defects

• Monitor File didn't contain CCD Temperature/Cooling values for the whole session (23:30).   CCD Temperature & Cooling Power values stopped being written to Session's Monitor file at 23:17, 23:23 and from 23:31 onwards. Issue was previously seen in Session Sxxxx (2025-xx-xx). Issue is associated with a wider issue that CCD Temperature & Cooling Power was not available with AstroMain program from 23:30 onwards.  Being investigated as part of Minor Issue above.
   To monitor  2025-05-09 (Session, CCD Camera, AstroMain 3.74.10+)
   
• szTargetName stopped being shown in AstroMain's logfile for a short period (23:39:42). During Target 1/15 (NGC 2744) there was a short period (23:39:41.99 to 23:39:42.12)  during LocateFrame1  section when 5 log lines showed a blank S1 field that normally would show the current szTargetName or proxy (NGC 2744 in this case).  This began after there was a failure in Camera.TakeImage so no LocateFrame1 was produced and after an ' The RPC server is unavailable'  exception in ValidateStarCount(). The blank szTargetNames log lines continued through ConvertFitsToJpg operations and during the recording of an exception in CentreTarget().  Code shows that the WriteLogFileRecord call that wrote "Exception in CentreTarget()" target had definitively used the szTargetName variable, which implies that the variable must have become set to an empty string at around 23:39:41.99.  The suspicion is that an exception occurred in LinkActiveImage() routine in the following code section which would have led to szTargetName being set to an empty string.
    Try
    szTargetName = TrimAndUnFix(Image.FitsKeyword("OBJECT"))
  Catch e As Exception
    szTargetName = ""
  End Try
  Fix attempted in AstroMain 3.74.10 by removing the code line that resets szTargetName in the event of an exception getting object name. These may produce an unwanted consequence so need to monitor for & be aware of this. Although there was an attempt to Link the non-existant image it is not certain that the LinkActiveImage() was in fact called, as it was reported as having 'Too few stars' which would normally stop the linking before the call to LinkActiveImage() , but this may not show the actual process path in this not-normal situation.
   Fix attempted 2025-05-09 (Session, AstroMain 3.74.10, User Awareness)

Continuous Improvement

• Extend AstroMain's 'Report Program Versions' routine to report the AstroMag and its curent version. AstroMain's 'Report Program Versions routine lists the observatory related software used on the Observatory and AllSky/Weather Computers.  The routine should be updated to include the recently introduced AstroMag program.
   Done 2025-05-09 (AstroMain 3.74.10)

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