David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 1363 Attempt (2025-09-13)

Notes (S1362)

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Notes (S1363)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (1),  Minor Issues (4),  Small Defects (2),  Continuous Improvement (0)
	- Figures (0)
	No Images from Session  >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2025-09-13)

Main aims

1. Targets.  Acquire images of a selection of variable stars, nearby stars, comets & deep sky targets as allowed by sky conditions and the relatively short night.

 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 3.77.13 / 3.77.14 / 3.77.15,  AstroPlan 1.43.14, AstroShCap 1.3.16, AstroGuard 1.11  (any new items or versions in bold)
  AstroMag 1.5.9, AstroVOE 1.15.1,  AstroSN 1.14,  AstroProtect 1.10.6,  AstroMove 1.16.2
  AstroWeather 1.27.9 / 1.27.11, AstroAllSky 3.24.6 / 3.24.7,  AstroObsCam 1.11.7, AstroNorthCam 1.6.1, AstroLaunch 1.13.6

Highlights

• Targets. 2/27 planned targets were recorded as completed with 1 target partially completed. However images were largely rejected due uo cloud.  10 other targets failed due to dome opening issue. Remaining targets failed due to cloud / session suspension.
• CCD Camera.  No issues with CCD Camera during session.
•  Dome. There was a significant issues opening/closing the shutter during the session. Dome closed and parked at end of session ok.

Notes

• Automated session attempt but no useful images collected due to cloud at start of session and then after the cloud cleared, there was a failure in the Dome system, where the shutter didn't fully open.
  

Summary Plots & Logs

Observing Plan

Observing Result

Night Sky Summary Plot Top axis: Sky Brightness at Zenith (in ADU/s) Lefthand axis: Local Time (hh LT). Righthand axis: Sun Altitude (degs) Note:  The NorthCam Star Count line is unreliable and should be ignored (The AstroNorthCam 'Find' Star method is producing many false positives from clouds)

Actual Weather vs Pre-Session Weather Forecast

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 20:36:58 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 20:36 & 04:48 20:37:03   AutoStart Delayed Session delayed due to too few stars 20:45:43 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (20:45) 20:45:56   CCDSoft Restarting CCDSoft being restarted (to set AutoSave No.) 20:46:10 Session Created Session Created (Live, 2025-09-13 S01363, ImageSaveNum: 1363001) 20:46:17   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Switch 20:48:03   Services Started Observatory Services started 20:48:14 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 20:48:16   AutoStart Delayed Session delayed due to too few stars 20:48:19 Session Pending Session pending (2025-09-13) 20:48:21 Session Initiating Session initiating (2025-09-13) 20:48:39   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -15°C) 20:48:42   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.43.14) 20:49:24   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (Plan ID: 1149) 20:50:04   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 20:50:28 Session Equilibration Session ready to Open Dome 20:51:14   Dome Opened Dome opened (Opening time 46s, Zigbee 40s) 20:51:44 Session Running Session running 20:51:47   Queue Started Observing Queue started (27 targets selected) 20:51:49     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 19, HIP 93376) 20:52:03       Dome Unparked Dome unparked 20:55:26       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 20:57:36       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 20:59:37       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 20:59:39       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 21:01:27       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 21:03:03       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2) 21:03:23     Target Completed (NrZen) Target completed (Focus Field 19, HIP 93376) 21:05:10     Target Started (1/27) Target started (1/27, Vega) 21:10:26     Target Completed Target completed (1/27, Vega) 21:12:36     Target Started (2/27) Target started (2/27, AT2022yek (CV)) 21:16:32       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 21:18:53       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 21:24:52     Target Completed Target completed (2/27, AT2022yek (CV)) 21:24:56     Target Started (3/27) Target started (3/27, AT2025wfk) 21:28:12       SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 21:29:53       SoftSuspend Cancelled Soft Suspend is cancelled due to improved conditions 21:30:20       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - unable to find a star (TCF-LSI) 21:30:48   Critical Cloud Alert Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Dome) 21:30:50   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend called due to Critical Conditions (cloud) 21:30:51     Target Aborted (3/27) Target aborted (3/27, AT2025wfk) due to cloud 21:30:53   Queue Paused Queue paused for Session Suspension 21:30:55 Session Suspending Session suspending 21:31:43   Dome Closed Dome closed (Closing time 50s, Zigbee 43s) 21:31:45 Session Suspended Session suspended 21:43:52     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (3/27, AT2025wfk) due to cloud 22:06:12     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (4/27, AT2025xea) due to cloud 22:19:38     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (5/27, T CrB) due to cloud 22:39:08     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (6/27, MCG -1-53-4 w/SN2023wdi) due to cloud 22:52:34     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (7/27, T CrB) due to cloud 23:06:36     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (8/27, C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos)) due to cloud 23:26:36     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (9/27, AT2023fhs) due to cloud 23:37:57 User Intervention User Intervention to abort job queue & switch back to Manual Mode 23:37:59   Queue Aborted Job Queue aborted 23:38:01 Observatory (Manual) Observatory placed in Manual Mode 23:38:23   Services Stopped Observatory Services stopped 23:38:45 Session Closed Session closed by User 23:38:48 Program Closed Program closed by User 23:39:40 Program Opened Program Opened (AstroMain 3.77.15) 23:39:42 Session Resumed Session Resumed (Live, 2025-09-13 S01363, ImageSaveNum: 1363027) 23:39:46   Obs.Overseer Started Obs.Overseer started 23:41:34   Obs.Manager Started Obs.Manager started 23:41:41   Services Started Observatory Services started 23:42:21   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -15°C) 23:43:13 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 23:43 & 04:48 23:43:15 Observatory (AutoStart) Observatory placed in Auto-Start Mode 23:43:17   AutoStart Delayed Session delayed due to cloud 00:37:15 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (00:37) 00:37:27   Services Started Observatory Services started 00:37:37 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 00:37:40 Session Pending Session pending (2025-09-13) 00:37:42 Session Initiating Session initiating (2025-09-13) 00:37:52   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera connected (Set point -15°C) 00:37:59   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (Plan ID: 1149) 00:38:40   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 00:39:05 Session Equilibration Session ready to Open Dome 03:07:55   Critical Cloud Alert Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Dome) 03:08:00   Wait On Weather Waiting for acceptable conditions 03:08:02 Session Suspending Session suspending 03:09:00   Dome Closing Dome closure hasn't finished after 60s (ShutterState=Closing) 03:10:15 Session Suspended Session suspended 03:10:45   Pulsar Dome Recovering Dome 03:10:58   Pulsar Dome Restarting Dome Controller 03:11:33   Pulsar Dome Dome Controller has been restarted 03:11:45   Pulsar Dome Dome Service has been restarted 03:12:22   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 03:15:17   Queue Started Observing Queue started (15 targets selected) 03:15:19     Target Missed (13/27) Target's time slot was missed (13/27, AT2022wxa) 03:15:22     Target Missed (14/27) Target's time slot was missed (14/27, AT2024uum (CV)) 03:15:24     Target Missed (15/27) Target's time slot was missed (15/27, AT2024uuj (CV)) 03:15:26     Target Missed (16/27) Target's time slot was missed (16/27, LEDA 1104425 w/SN2025nou) 03:15:28     Target Missed (17/27) Target's time slot was missed (17/27, CGCG 427-027 w/SN2023pbe) 03:15:30     Target Missed (18/27) Target's time slot was missed (18/27, GCVS CY AQR) 03:15:32     Target Missed (19/27) Target's time slot was missed (19/27, AT2025ran) 03:15:34     Target Missed (20/27) Target's time slot was missed (20/27, M31 w/Nova M31 AT2025wwe) 03:21:52     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (21/27, GCVS U And) due to cloud 03:32:40     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (22/27, GCVS BL Lac) due to hardware 03:53:00     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (23/27, NGC 1300 w/SN2022acko) due to hardware 04:09:32     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (24/27, C/2022 N2 (PANSTARRS)) due to hardware 04:32:52     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (25/27, C/2025 A6 (Lemmon)) due to hardware 04:45:12     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (26/27, AT2022obq (CV)) due to hardware 05:05:38     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (27/27, GCVS GK Per) due to hardware 05:05:42   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 05:05:45 Session Closing Session closing 05:07:56   Pulsar Dome Recovering Dome 05:08:36   Pulsar Dome Restarting Dome Controller 05:09:11   Pulsar Dome Dome Controller has been restarted 05:09:23   Pulsar Dome Dome Service has been restarted 05:10:00   Telescope Connected Telescope connected (TheSky6) 05:13:44   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 45s), Az: 90.0 deg 05:14:26   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 38s total) 05:14:50   Telescope State Handbox reads 'Scope parked Turn scope off.' 05:15:46   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 05:17:13   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 05:17:16 Session Finishing Session Finishing started (Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 05:17:21   Dome Charging Dome is parked and re-charging Ok (20mA) 05:17:23 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts & Alarms

Time     Type       Name Detail 23:38:15 Red Alert Unexpected Scope Movement Scope appears to be tracking even though Tracking=False 00:40:06 Red Alarm Dome Opening Dome failed to finish opening after 60s (ShutterState=Opening) 00:59:43 Red Alert Dome Alert Shutter Data isn't being refreshed 00:59:57 Yellow Alert Dome Shutter Pulsar Shutter appears to be asleep (last fresh data was at 00:39:38) 03:09:00 Red Alarm Dome Closing Dome closure hasn't finished after 60s (ShutterState=Closing) 03:09:02 Red Alarm Dome Closing Dome closure hasn't finished after 60s (ShutterState=Closing) 03:10:45 Red Alert Dome Alert Dome hasn't reached 'Closed' state after 120s during SoftSuspend 03:11:40 Green Clear Dome Shutter Pulsar Shutter has woken up (fresh data at 03:11:39, outage 152.0 min) 03:11:45 Green Clear Dome Alert Shutter Data has resumed updating 03:13:50 Red Alarm Dome Closing Dome closure hasn't finished after 60s (ShutterState=vcNull) 03:14:55 Red Alert Dome Alert Dome hasn't reached 'Closed' state after 120s during SoftSuspend 05:06:56 Red Alarm Dome Closing Dome closure hasn't finished after 60s (ShutterState=vcNull) 05:07:56 Red Alert Dome Discrepency Hub reports Dome is vcNull, but Dome reports it is closed 05:11:56 Red Alarm Dome Closing Dome closure hasn't finished after 60s (ShutterState=vcNull) 05:12:51 Red Alert Dome Discrepency Hub reports Dome is vcNull, but Dome reports it is closed 05:17:21 Green Clear Dome Charging Dome is parked and re-charging Ok (20mA)

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Operational Issues (2025-09-13 S1363A)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (1)
• Minor Issues (4)
• Small Defects (2)
• Continuous Improvement (0)
• Figures (0)
  

Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• Shutter failed to open when session attempted to restart/resume (00:39). After installing new AstroMain version the the Session was set to AutoStart.  At 00:39 conditions (Stars 34, Clarity 35.3) became suitable for starting the session and the Open Dome routine commenced, after commanding objDome.OpenShutter, the Zigbee sensor recorded that the Shutter began to open at 00:39:06 , however the routine reported a warning "dome opening hasn't finished after 60s" which monitoring of the Zigbee Top Sensor confirmed with message "shutter hasn't finished opening within 60s ". Warning were given with message "Shutter Data hasn't updated in the last 20 mins" and "Pulsar Shutter appears to be asleep".  Session couldn't resume.  At 03:08 conditions deteriorated (Stars 0, Clarity 29) and Shutter was commanded to Close. The Zigbee Bot Sensor confirmed that the Shutter had closed with message "Shutter has closed(03:08:29, closing time 35s)", the timings imply that the shutter had been around 75-80% open.since 00:39. The Close Dome routine reported that dome closure hasn't finished after 60s based on data from the DeviceHub/Pulsar Dome.  A 'Recover Dome' operation was automatically conducted at 03:10, involving Disconnecting Scope/Dome/AstroGuard, restarting the Dome Controller including power reset, and restarting DeviceHub, Dome & Scope and AstroGuard. After the restart the Dome Shutter state was Unknown. During Closing Session stage a Dome Discrepency alert was reported with the message "Hub reports Dome is vcNull, but Dome reports it is closed", but the additional message "Dome believed to be closed, despite different status in Hub" , possibly takes note of the Zigbee Bottom Sensor ?.   A 'Recover Dome' operation was carried out, and the Dome was parked ok. The Shutter still had some issue afterwards with "Dome is vcNull" on ObsPics. afterwards (and indeed  ObsPics were still showing vcNull status at 10:45 the following morning, even though DeviceHub wa noted to be showing Shutter Position was "Closed").   AstroMain was restarted and the ObsPic correctly showed "Dome is Closed".  Its unclear why there was a glitch with either Shutter, Shutter Controller or Shutter Driver at 00:39.  The Pulsar log show ShutterState 2 (opening) from 00:39:06 to  03:07:54,  and after CloseShutter command shows ShutterState 3 (closing) from 03:07:55  to 03:10:52, but after Dome was restarted the pulsar log show ShutterState 6 (unknown) from 03:07:55  to 03:11:38, turning briefly to Shutter State 0 (Open) at 03:11:39,  before becoming ShutterState 1 (Closed) at 03:11:40 and continuing to 05:08, before changeing briefly to ShutterStates 6 and 0 after restarting dome at 05:09:12, before becoming ShutterState 1 (Closed) at 05:09:13 and continuing thereafter.  After the Dome Service was restarted at 03:11 there was a message from the Pulsar Dome Monitor indicating that the Pulsar Shutter has woken up after an outage of 152.0 min, which would suggest the Pulsar Shutter communications had fallen silent at around 00:39, which was when the attempt to open the shutter was made.  'Dome is vcNull' indicates that Get Dome.ShutterStatus property has the returned vthe alue vcNull (-99) in response to an  exception from the code line 'Status  = objDome.ShutterStatus'.
  To investigate & review  2025-09-14 (Session, Pulsar Dome, AstroMain )

Minor Issues

• Ten exceptions occured in AstroAllSky CreateAllSkyDiffImage() routine that interrupted imaging (02:35 - 03:06).  AllSky imaging failed at 02:35, 02:42 , 02:49, 02:50, 02:53, 02:56, 02:59, 03:01, 03:05, 03:06 with the exception message "System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array." in CreateAllSkyDiffImage() at globals.vb:line 17834. Exceptions were caught by outermost management loop (master Try block) , but interrupted imaging.  The issue eventually resolved itself at 03:08 when imaging was restarted for 13th time.  The exceptions happened whiltst running new AstroAllSky version 3.27.7 that was installed earlier in the session at 22:25 - 22:40, but this is thought to be coincidence. There were also 13 handled exceptions at 02:43 & 02:49  in DrawNightSummaryPlotLine() which may or may not be related - see separate ticket below.    Fixed in AstroAllSky 3.27.8 by placing a Try.Catch.End.Try block around the relevant code.
  Fixed 2025-09-14 (AstroAllSky 3.27.8)
   
• AstroGuard gave exceptions when session attempted to restart/resume (03:12, 05:08). AstroGuard reported two exception in Main Loop during course of the session.
     a) Property read ASCOM.DeviceHub.Dome ShutterStatus is not implemented in this driver. (03:12)  and
     b) Exception in Main Loop. The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA) (05:08) .
  The AstroGuard report file records AstroGuard stopping and restarting Observatory Services at 03:10 and 03:12 respectively (under the commands from AstroMain, after which Dome ShutterStatus is not implemented error occurred.  This might be a timing edge case ?
  AstroMain reported that "AstroGuard has not responded to request to disconnect services" at 05:07 and "AstroGuard has not responded to request to connect services" at 05:10.  It isn't clear why but it suggests that AstroGuard's listener wasn't active for some reason ?
  To investigate further 2025-09-14+ (Session, AstroGuard )
   
• Rain Sensor data isn't being displayed in AstroWeather charts. A few days ago the Rain Sensor associated with the Observatory's Eurotech Cloud Sensor III developed a fault and instead of outputting values between -1 (dry) and 40 (very wet), is now outputting values from -205 (dry) to -40 (very wet) AstroWeather 1.27.11 was modified to apply a +197 adjustment to the rain values  (see Note S1361).  A provisional fix using an offets of +197 operates on most recent data from the cloud sensor, but not with past data, and means that rain data isn't plotting on graphs. A simple offset doesn't scale the rain data (which appears to be now using a scale that is 4x that prior to the fault developing on 2025-09-11. Fixed in AstroWeather 1.28.  A MasterRainChange variable has been added which is set to 2025-09-11 00:21 UT and used to determine whether to use the rain values from archive files
      .Rain = .RawRain
  or to correct them using a new formula
     .Rain = (.RawRain + MasterRainTrim) * MasterRainScaler
  where default values from data fields produce the equation
       .Rain = (.RawRain + 200) * 0.25
  The same rain correction is used in AstroMain 3.78, AstroAllSky 3.25 & AstroGuard 1.12.
  Fixed 2025-09-16 (AstroWeather 1.28)
   
• Rain levels shown on AstroAllSky NightSummaryPlot and DaySummaryPlot are very high (2025-09-15). A few days ago the Rain Sensor associated with the Observatory's Eurotech Cloud Sensor III developed a fault and instead of outputting values between -1 (dry) and 40 (very wet), is now outputting values from -205 (dry) to -40 (very wet) AstroWeather 1.27.11 was modified to apply a +197 adjustment to the rain values  (see Note S1361).  A provisional fix using an offets of +197 was added to AstroWeather, AstroAllSky, and AstroMain.  However from the very high rain values appearing on the NightSummaryPlot of the night 2025-09-14 / 2025-09-15 it is clear that a simple offset doesn't scale the rain data (which appears to be now using a scale that is 4x that prior to the fault developing on 2025-09-11. Fixed in AstroAllSky by adding a new Master Rain Scaler field with default value of 0.25, by chaning the default value of Master Rain Trim from 197 to 200, and using new rain correction equation
     .Rain = (.RawRain + MasterRainTrim) * MasterRainScaler
  which translates to the following when using default data field values
       .Rain = (.RawRain + 200) * 0.25
  The same rain correction is used in AstroWeather 1.28, AstroMain 3.78 & AstroGuard 1.12.
  Fixed 2025-09-16 (AstroAllSky 3.25)

Small Defects

• Thirteen exceptions occured in AstroAllSky's DrawNightSummaryPlotLine() routine ( 02:43-02:49). There were 13 runtime exceptions  between 02:43 & 02:49, with message  "System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException.   Error in DrawNightSummaryPlotLine : Parameter must be positive and < Height.   in System.Drawing.Bitmap.SetPixel(Int32 x, Int32 y, Color color) at AllSky\ImageViewer.vb:line 4082.    This issue may or may not be directly related to the more significant issue that was occurring over the period 0235 to 03:06. The exception is caught by an outer catch block, which is likely to mean that NightSummaryPlot isn't updated at all during the respective 30s time step.  A Try.Catch.EndTry blocks has been added around the problem code section, so that whilst Image Line won't be drawn in this situtation the plot will neverthess still be updated with other data. Fixed in AstroAllSky 3.27.8.
  Fixed 2025-09-14 (AstroAllSky 3.27.8)
   
• Modify AstroMain (VMA Mode) to make it better at measuring magnitude of faint sources.  AstroMain (VMA Mode) was updated into v3.77.13 to change Detection Threshold  to 2.0 after Image Linking but been performed with the aim of making VMA able to measure faint stars that might not be normally measureable (wth Detection Threshold of 8 or 15 used for Image Linking). Although this was done by calling RedoInventory(2.0), but the the invArrays weren't updated as a consequence and therefore it didn't actually provide any improvement in the ability to measure faint stars.  This was finally noticed and fixed in AstroMain 3.77.16 by adding the following lines to RedoInventory
    IV.bInventory = False ' force a new inventory
  GetInventoryArray() with a preceeding
  Fixed 2025-09-14 (AstroMain 3.77.16)