David's Astronomy - Current/Latest Session

Chart below shows a near live graphical view of the Observatory and its current status (refresh)

Pictures below show current view of screens from the Observatory Manager program (refresh)

Notes:
- buttons shown on above pictures are static and not operative

Notes:
- The following charts & data will normally describe the current status of the observatory and the current (or most recent) observing session.
- The charts & data rely on a number of computers, programs and servers all working, so always check the dates & times shown
- Time/Dates are local time BST or GMT depending on daylight saving time, unless specified otherwise)
- Data shown on this page doesn't automatically refresh. To pick up latest data, use (refresh) links to reload the page

Current / Latest Session

Session Alerts

Session Events (Latest)

Observatory Camera

Image below shows an in-session (ObsCam) view of the observatory interior looking due south towards the telescope.

Notes:
-- picture is updated to website after each significant telescope movement during the session.

Other ObsCam Pictures
-- More ObsCam pictures from the session can be found below in the Observatory Camera section.

More Recent Picture
-- A more recent (post-session) ObsCam picture can normally be found on the Observatory Status page.

All Sky Image

Image below shows the latest 180° view of the sky above the Observatory

Notes:
- image from Oculus 180° AllSky Camera, only updated between sunset and sunrise
- image may either be one from the current night or the final image from the previous night, depending on the current time
- live plots may be up to 15 mins old depending on the time of the last automatic upload to website
- images provides a visual indication of presence of stars, cloud cover, sky brightness, approaching cloud, current & recent rain or snow.
- bright stars are automatically counted and their numbers displayed on the Night Summary plot below.
- star counts will be depressed when there is near full moon.
- a virtual 'moon mask' is applied to suppress the glare coming from the moon.

North Sky View (with potential for Aurora)

South Sky View

Most Recent Targets

Charts below shows information about current & previous targets during the current or latest session (refresh)

Most Recent Target Image

Image below shows a main image frame from the most-recently acquired target during the current or latest session.

Notes:
- CCD images (monochrome, non-spectral or spectra) are taken with ST-10XME camera using CCDSoft
They are single raw light frame (i.e. no dark frame or flat frame applied) reoriented to being North-Up.

- CMOS Images (colour) are taken with ZWO ASI 178MC camera using SharpCap and processed by Siril/AstroMain.
They are typically stacked image (stacked from multiple individual frames) orientated North-Up

- Image is re-sized to 500x337 pixels to reduce loading time

- See Images from All Targets

Most Recent Frames

Image collection below shows the most recent frames (including support frames) acquired during the current or latest session (refresh)

Notes:
- Images are in reverse chronological order (i.e. the most recent frame is shown first). Up to 10 frames may appears.
- Images are re-sized to 382x256 pixels to reduce loading times

- CCD images (monochrome) are taken with ST-10XME camera using CCDSoft
They are single raw light frame (i.e. no dark frame or flat frame applied) reoriented to being North-Up.
Images with exposure shorter than 10s exposure may not be shown (first frame will always be shown however).

- CMOS Guide Images (b/w) are taken with ZWO ASI 178MC camera using PHD2
(The field of view of CCD Images is shown by a yellow rectangle for information)

- CMOS Images (colour) are taken with ZWO ASI 178MC camera using SharpCap
They are a live stacked image (stacked from multiple individual frames)

- Coloured Crosses on Locate Frames show the planned FOV centre including any framing offsets from the target.
The colour of the cross indicates how far the telescope is away from the Planned FOV Centre
       Red :   > 10' , Orange:   3 - 10',   Yellow:   1 - 3',    Green < 1'   ( pointing error in arc mins)
       (Note the cross may not be visible on image if the telescope pointing error is too large)

Observing Plan and Result

Observing Plan

Charts below shows the observing plan for the current or latest session (refresh)

Notes:
- the chart shows the status of the planned observations (scheduled, completed, partly completed, failed etc).
- actual observations may be taken up to 5 minutes earlier than shown in the plan
- any Targets Of Opportunity inserted into the Schedule during the session are shown in next page session.

Notes:
- the chart above shows the altitude tracks of targets over the course of a night's observing plan and the expected altitude of each target during planned observing.

Notes:
- the chart above shows the convergence build plot for the Observing Plan.

Targets Of Opportunity

Table below shows list of targets of opportunity that are being added/have been added to the job queue during the current or latest session

Observing Results

Notes:
- The picture shows the targets that have been partly or fully acquired. This will include Targets Of Opportunity (if any).

Operations

Slewing

Chart below shows the Az/Alt positions of planned targets from the current or latest session
Following that there are Charts and a Table shows actual slewing information from the current or latest session (refresh)

Notes:
- Chart displays arcs lines representing the slews made by the dome to move from one target to the next
- Starting positions are show with small circles, whilst ending positions are shown by larger circles
- Slewing speed is indicated by distance of arc from centre. Points close to centre have a fast slew speed (Green)
- Points close to the outer circumference of the chart have a slow slew speed (Red) and might indicate that dome drive is slipped
- In general slew speed reflects that of the Dome (which is slower to rotate in azimuth than the telescope)
however, for certain smaller azimuthal slews the slew speed may actually reflect that of the Telescope.
Slews of less than 10deg are not shown for this reason.

Centering

Table below shows target centering data from the current or latest session (refresh)

Notes:
- first value after the target name shows the accuracy in target centering on the CCD Camera FOV (in arc mins) for the main slew to the target.
- any further values shows the accuracy in target positioning from any centering refinement ('jogs')
- due to final centering refinement based on the last value, the actual final centering accuracy
(not calculated in the live session) will generally be much better than the last value shown.

Focusing (Main Scope)

Charts below shows the most recent main scope focus profiles for the current or latest session (refresh)

Focusing (Secondary Scope)

Charts below shows the most recent secondary scope focus profiles for the current or latest session (refresh)

Guiding Summary

Charts below shows the guiding results from the current or latest session (refresh)

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

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

Table below shows the most recent guiding results from the current or latest session (refresh)

Guiding Charts

Charts below shows the most recent guiding results from the current or latest session (refresh)

Session Events (All)

Table below shows full list of events from the current or latest session (refresh )

Sky & Conditions

Night Sky Summary Plot

Plot below is the most recent/final night summary plot for the current or latest session (refresh)

Notes:
- plot is only updated between sunset and sunrise
- live plots may be up to 15 mins old depending on the time of the last automatic upload to website

Conditions & Imaging Quality

Charts below indicate the image quality based on Locate Frames from the current or latest session (refresh)

Seeing

Charts below show the Zenith FWHM estimate and Sky Quality indicators for the current or latest session (refresh)

Image below is either the latest image difference chart for the current night

Notes:
- plot shows a distribution of image pixel differences between the most recent AllSky image and the preceeding one (take 30s earlier)
- plot is prototype for articulating the photometric quality of the sky.
- for clear photometric skies the distribution would be expected to be perfectly gaussian.
- plot is filtered on data lying above 30° altitude.
- plots are normally the difference between the most recent AllSky image and an image taken some 3 minutes earlier.
- creation of the plot was inspired by the paper "Artificial Intelligence in Autonomous Telescopes" by William Mahoney & Karun Thanjavur
https://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/~billy/pubs/ASO_tfa_v0.pdf

Cameras

Camera 1

Chart below shows the SBIG Camera's CCD Temperature and amount of cooling Below Ambient Temperature for the current or latest session

Chart below shows the camera angle of the SBIG Camera on the LX200 Scope during the current or latest session

Camera 2

Chart below shows the sensor temperature from the ZWO ASI178MC Camera (non-cooled) for the current or latest session

Chart below shows the camera angle of the ZWO 178MC camera on the TS80 Secondary Scope during the current or latest session

Observatory Camera

Various images below show in-session (ObsCam) views of the observatory interior looking due south towards the telescope.

Notes:
-- pictures are captured at start and end of session, and also if session has been suspended or a visual check on the shutter is made.
-- pictures are taken with the Observatory's Aux. Light On.

Latest ObsCam Image
-- (if Session has finished this might be an image that post-dates the session by some time)

Reports & Logs

AutoStart Files

Table below shows most recent AutoStart messages from the current or latest session (refresh)

Report File

Table below shows most recent Report File messages from the current or latest session (refresh)
(Full Report File : - )

Log File

Table below shows most recent Log File messages from the current or latest session (refresh)
(Full Log File : - )

AstroGuard

Picture below shows most recent AstroGuard screen capture from the current or latest session (refresh)

Table below shows most recent AstroGuard messages from the current or latest session (refresh)

SharpCap Report File

Table below shows most recent AstroShCap Report File messages from the current or latest session (refresh)

Cloud/Rain Sensor Chart

The plot below shows the latest cloud/rain sensor charts for the observatory, covering the last 5 hours & the last 18 hours .

Scorecard/Synopsis (latest)

Table below is the latest scorecard/synopsis for the observatory. (refresh)

Scorecard & Synopsis (>> NightSkySummary Plot, latest | DayTimeSummary Plot, latest | Weather Forecast, latest

Notes:
- summarises the current weather conditions, the immediate weather forecast and the current status of dome shutter telescope
- provides safety assessment for opening/closing the observatory and the quality of the current observing conditions (good to bad)
- table may be up to 15 mins old depending on the time of the last automatic upload to website

Weather Forecast

The plot below shows the latest weather forecast for the observatory, covering the next 24 hours .

This Web Page :	Current or Latest Session
Last Updated :	See image annotation for latest date
Site Owner :	David Richards
Home Page :	David's Astronomy Web Site

	Night Sky Summary Plot Top axis: Sky Brightness at Zenith (in ADU/s) Yellow: Measured Sky Brightness, Orange: Model Sky Brightness Cyan: Rain, Green: Clarity (Cloud Sensor) Blue: Dew Point Depression, Mauve: Wind (Weather Station) Lefthand axis: Local Time (hh LT). Righthand axis: Sun Altitude (degs) Background E-W Keogram

	test below

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