20230330T1900-2200

Onkar, Shrey, Connor, Gabriel, Matt, Tara, Roy

PHYS 401, 433C, 306A, Dome

Goals

1. Fix Tripod
2. Ceiling Tiles
3. Wipe Mirror Doors
   1. DO NOT TOUCH MIRRORS (Written illegibly)
4. GAM Motor & Encoder Testing
5. Organize Cabinets
6. Inventory

Log

1. 3D printer Tripod solution didn't work, Onkar is reprinting
2. Onkar and Connor worked to install more ceiling tiles in control room
   1. See image below for vague weirdly drawn understanding
   2. Panels installed for 5, 6, 7, & 10
   3. May need more panelling for remaining sections
   4. Roy says: focus on areas where people are walking
   5. Panels are 101 x 122 cm^2
3. Shrey and Roy wiped down mirror doors and DFM scope structure, see before/after images below
4. Roy began to remove the rope lighting, but we couldn't move the DFM scope bc the mirror door motors were loose on top of mirror doors
5. We did not get to GAM motor and encoder testing
6. Connor and Gabriel organized HW and tools in black cabinet in in-between
7. We did not do any more inventorying
8. Onkar and Tara worked to swap monitors and connected them to DC tower for upstream data connections

Notes

ToDo

1. Continue removing rope lights
2. Inventory needs to be done!
3. The rest of the ceiling panels need to be installed
4. The tripod (  -Roy)

Weather

N/A

20230327T1700-2000

Onkar, (Natalie), (Matt), Roy

PHYS 401, 433C, Dome, 306A

Goals

1. Organize tools et al into new cabinet
2. Confirm screw nut dimensions for mirror doors
3. Get security camera backplate
4. Write-up start-up protocol

Log

1. Borrowed dial calipers from 306A and confirmed dimensions of https://www.mcmaster.com/6350K151/
   1. We should buy a bunch of these
2. Rewrote start-up procedure
3. Labelled data and power lines in dome for easy reference to start-up procedure
   1. Need to have this procedure tested by SOMEONE ELSE
4. Got security camera backplate (and left on control room desk)
   1. Do we want to CAD & 3D print it?
   2. OR can we find another online?
   3. OR can we just proceed without it?
   4. Only holding up last security camera installation ...
5. Cleaned up toolboxes in dome
6. Moved all tools to in-between and organized bit and bobs
7. Moved mirror door hardware to tool box/organization bin thingy – all hardware still on cart

ToDo

1. BUY cable management velcro straps
2. BUY AMP 14 pin connector for GAM - primary filter wheel motor and encoder
3. FIND solution for backplate
4. BUY rechargeable AAA batteries
5. BUY or otherwise obtain speakers for control room

Notes

1. Onkar is tired
2. PDF for DFM ENGR Package is missing some pages around mirror doors (~G32-082)

20230324T1200-1900

Onkar & Roy (AZZAN)

Control Room

Goals

1. Rewire back of control room desk
2. Find additional storage solution
3. Clean control room

Log

1. Rewired the back of the control room desk
   1. It's beautiful - RP (see image)
2. Installed door to rear of desk
3. Removed XY Guider Box from control room – only for now – it's likely required for autoguiding with the GAM
4. "Found" a nice black storage cabinet
   1. It is no longer nice
5. Used winches, sheets of metal, sheer will Azzan to get it to the in-between

ToDo

1. Not that again

Notes

1. Need to put more stuff in new cabinet to clean up control room and dome

Date

20230323T1215-

People

obs/astropol: Roy, Meyer, Onkar, David, Nathan

newspeople: 2

Spaces

433C, Dome

Goals

1. test gam
2. issue motor commands

Log

1. Start Up
   1. opened hatch 
   2. ran new gam cable from telescope gam cable to control room where gam is
   3. opened dfm tcs
   4. turned on drives, mtr drive chasis, unhalted motors
   5. no joy in success issuing commands from dfm tcs
2. restart
   1. closed dfm tcs
   2. flipped switches off on mtr driver chasis
   3. turned off and then back on gam switch
   4. reopened dfm tcs
   5. flipped on switches on mtr driver chasis
   6. dfmtcs→telescope→gam→communication
   7. gam communication status: "Success" and south filter wheel updated after manually moving it from position 3 to position 4
3. Testing encoders over 37-pin cable
   1. Encoders going over 37-pin cable:
      1. South filter wheel position
         1. Manually changed south filter wheel position via wheel
         2. Sent "Update GAM Status" command via GAM panel
         3. It updated to the correct position
         4. Took a few more seconds (5s) to report "Success" in GAM Communication Window
      2. Rotating Mirror Position
         1. Rotating Mirror claims position 5
            1. DFM Manual (pg 21) says this means LOL We don't know. It only supports readouts 0-3 
         2. after rotating in several positions, still reports position 5
         3. cannot get the encoder for this to respond
      3. Translating Stage
         1. when stowed, reports 1
         2. when in center of mirror, reports 2
         3. this is CORRECT according to DFM manual and were checked via the GAM status information section on dfmtcs
4. Testing via multimeter
   1. Translating Stage
      1. PH265L-01B VEXTA Motor
         1. yellow and white are ground/common
         2. other wires are different phases
         3. tested if the motor generates power, it does 5-7 Volts AC
         4. with that being said, might be voltage dropoff at some point in this long a** cable
   2. gam cable - the long one
      1. uninstalled and brought down to control room to test for continuity via multimeter
      2. good continuity in the cables we could test
      3. resistance at 0.7 ohms - basically nothing
5. Next steps
   1. bring GAM into the dome and directly connect to the gam cable (not use gam extension cable) and see if we still get "5" for the rotating mirror positon
   2. also want to test and see if we can issue any motor commands and see something happen
   3. order 14 pin connector for primary filter wheel motor to test

Todo

1. Need to buy AMP 14-pin connector for 2" filter wheel motor
2. Need to buy new belt for 2" filter wheel 
3. Need to buy 25 pin serial connector (DB 25S serial connector)

Note

1. Remote ability to hit reset switch would be nice -meyer
2. referencing chapter 3.9.2.5 in the Telescope Operations Manual
3. referencing GAM WIRING DWG No 349-209 in the DFM Eng Manual

Date

20230322T????-????

20230322T1600-

People

Meyer, Erik, Onkar

Spaces

433C, Dome

Goals

1. remove instrument rotator from gamlite
2. take apart mirror door motor/piston assemblies
3. Fix them or determine next steps toward solution

Log

Meyer/Erik:

1. took inst rotator off

2. erik has part, I have other

3. making an attachment plate

4. back next week

Onkar:

1. shutters opened manually
2. Motors engaged on DFM TCS
3. Scope not precisely at zenith
4. north assembly removal
   1. motor was a bit loose to begin w
   2. took assembly off, left motor on top of the mirror doors
   3. disassembled piston assembly
      1. kerk part thing completely sheared
         
      2. no spacer found
5. east assembly removal
   1. motor was fine
   2. took assembly off, left motor on top of the mirror doors
   3. disassembled piston assembly
      1. cracks on the kerk part but other than that it was fine
         
      2. no spacer found
6. south assembly removal
   1. motor was extremely hot to the touch, and this was after the motor had been unplugged for a bit, not sure why this is
   2. took assembly off, left motor on top of the mirror doors
   3. disassembled piston assembly
      1. kerk part thing completely sheared
      2. tape from probably gabriels handiwork 
         
      3. there was a spacer! identical to west's
7. Shutdown
   1. flipped switches off
   2. visually confirmed dome shutter closure
   3. put out-of-order sign on tcs
   4. motor parts are on the cart

Todo

1. Email Erik
2. Find part numbers, or equip Erik with everything he needs to find dimensions
3. Remove other three screw nuts
4. Fix telescope zenith-finding

Notes

Screw nut is labeled as item #18

Item #18 is KERK BF6008N

engr pck page

On ruler:
broken screw nut (top two pieces)
spacer (below screw nut pieces)

Middle and right:

Three screws for connecting screw nut to top of piston (right)

Full assembly with piston enclosure and gear box to right

Weather

N/A

Data

N/A

Time/Date

20230316T2100-2300

People

Onkar, Natalie, Matt

Spaces Occupied

433C, dome

Goals

1. Systems check - identify whats wrong
2. West mirror door displaced, did not nest properly
3. pointing is off, dfmtcs zenith and ts6 zenith disagree

Log

• onkar had a gut feeling things were wrong, went to check
  • was right, west mirror door didn't stow correctly
  • pointing was also off but whatever can fix that at next observing session
• west mirror door
  • onkar attempted to open mirror door via dfmtcs software
    • hears click, nothing happened
  • goes up to dome to check whats happening
  • mirror doors not moving
  • touched motors
    • very hot
  • ran down to control room and clicked "close mirrors"
    • another click
    • motors no longer hot to the touch
  • onkar conducted hammer time on west
    • hammered out bottom pin of the west piston to free the mirror door
    • taped the door to hold it open
    • unplugged west motor
  • opened mirror doors
  • undid tape on west door, lowered it closed, repinned piston to motor, motor plugged back in
  • closed mirror doors
    • north and south doors edges got caught on edge of east trying to close
    • solved this by smacking east really hard with percussive maintenance 
    • all mirror doors nest properly
  • opened mirror doors
    • everything opened all the way except west which was at 45 degrees
    • felt west motor, was vibrating
    • physically pulled on door to open it all the way
    • this probably means there's something wrong with the motor, piston, or both
  • closed mirror doors
    • west did not nest correctly, back to square one
    • UGH
    • unplugged west motor
    • tools readily available to conduct hammer time again
    • left it at this
• conclusion
  • DONT CLOSE THE MIRROR DOORS WHILE WERE NOT AT ZENITH
  • it was also observed that the motor will keep running until the limit switch is activated, but limit switch will not activate if doors are not nested properly, therefore the west motor was most likely running this entire time since last obs session until I checked it today - onkar

ToDo

1. ( nonessential) fix pointing next observing session
2. thoroughly check west motor to see if its burnt out
3. thoroughly check west piston assembly for stripped gears and broken parts
4. retest west motor piston assembly after step 2 and 3 are done

Notes

• scope is not at this time able to observe until the action items in "ToDo"
• it should be clear who is responsible in shutdown/closing procedures, IMO should only be an observatory expert/staff

Weather

- cleardarksky: 20-40% coverage, poor seeing
- NOAA: 50-80% coverage
- wunderground: 35-80% coverage
confidence in reporting: 4/5

Data

Normal place, synced to Google Drive

Time/Date

20230315T1930-2330

People

Onkar, Roy, Natalie, Matt, Shrey

Spaces Occupied

401, 433C, dome

Goals

1. Systems check, make sure nothing brokt after power outage
2. Collect blazar data
3. Tracking study
   1. Collect more data
   2. Analyze current data
4. Various inventory keeping
5. Test Autoguiding(No one from P2 is here, so we're going to punt and focus on 1-4)

Log

• Opened the dome at 1930
• Setup
  • asi294mm-efw assembly on axis
  • efw plugged into asi294 via usb2 cable
  • asi294mm plugged into icron extender box
• Systems check - Onkar and Shrey
  • telescope off center when slewed to zenith
    • slewed to capella, had to eyeball it and use hand paddle to get it in picture
      • onkar is amazing at this
    • set next object position
    • solved probably
  • data computer having usb disconnect/reconnect alerts randomly
    • ran "sfc /checknow" in cmd as admin, restarted dc after it finished
• Tracking study - Roy, Matt and Nat
• slewed to ngc 2324
  • took 6-second exposure with ASI294MM Pro on-axis
  • roy did his coding thang
    • calculated FWHM of eight sources in the frame
      • approx 3.1-3.4" seeing disk diameter
    • fits file header reports pixel dimensions different than the camera specs
    • supporting figures are in 2023-03-15/ngc2324_v/
• slewed to 3C 273
  • prob looking at idk lol
  • we should learn how to use each camera properly and what each setting mean
    
    • ASI294MM - panning, binning, pixel scale being weird between sharpcap and calculations
• slewed to denebola
  • set object position
• slewed back to 3C273
  

  • For filters, it would be amazing if you could get an exposure in each band. Aim for an exposure time that keeps the target in the 'sweet spot' of ~ 50% of full well depth in the brightest pixels.

  • Maybe take 5 or 10 at each band at that exposure (we will want matching darks)

  • 
  • this was with a 300s exposure and we are getting approx 5000 counts, we estimated we needed 300s to achieve 10,000 counts, so then to get to the sweet spot of 25-30,000 we would need to expose for 10-15 min with perfect autoguiding and thats for one frame -onkar and roy and shrey

• slewed to NGC 2324

  • taking hecka pictures
• closing up
  • took down asi294/efw assembly
  • confirmed shutter closure
  • slewed to zenith, after ts6 was closed, now ts6 and dfmtcs disagree on scope position
  • need to make a concrete closing up procedure aka keeping all programs on cc open until everything is slewed/stowed correctly
  • noticed when cc is powered off and then powered on, sometimes the mirror doors decide to open as the cc is booting on

ToDo

1. onkar will fix the telescope pointing (again)
2. add targets to the target list
3. learn more ab how to use each individual camera specifically (read manuals)
4. come up with a target plan BEFORE observing session starts
5. update wiki with FOV of finder and on-axis scope

Notes

1. tracking sucks, neeeed autoguiding

Weather

- cleardarksky: clear skies, bad seeing
- NOAA: 0% cloud coverage
- wunderground: 0% coverage
confidence in reporting: 5/5

Data

Normal place, synced to Google Drive

Time/Date

1100-1310/11-03-2023

People

Gabriel

Spaces Occupied

433C, dome

Goals

1. Crimp the st4 cable pins to the AMP 9pin connector.
2. Test it

Log

• Crimped all the pins on the st4 cable (except the blue one) to the amp connector pins (just used some pliers)
• Inserted the pins into the holes of the AMP 9 pin connector according to this blog and this engineering drawing (used discord link not sure how this works in other devices)
• Connected the amp 9pin connector to the autoguiding port
• Opened DFMTCS, flipped MDC and Drives switches on, halt motors button off
• Checked guide rate in "Telescope" → "Rates" → "Handpaddle Rates". Set guide rate to 20 arcsec/sec
• Started tracking at sidereal rate.
• Connected RJ-12 end of the st4 cable to the ASI178MM. Connected the ASI178MM to the DC via zwo USB3.0 cable.
• Opened PHD2 on DC 
  • Connected "ASI ST4 Telescope Driver (ASCOM)" in "Guide" → "Connect Equipment"
  • "Tools" → "Manual Guide"
    • Set Guide Pulse Duration to 1000ms. 
    • Tested sending NSEW commands, they all work properly.
• Done. (Cable is in data cable drawer)

ToDo

Test this in phd2 when seeing is not trash (or find better guide star?)

Notes

Remote power switch had all of its outlets on. ASI2600 mounted on finder-scope had its fan left on because of that.

There is one extra connector, leaving the remaining pins with it. 

Weather

Seems cloudy idk

Data

None

Time/Date

20230309T2230-20230310T0030 Data timestamped after midnight suggests otherwise

People

Onkar, Natalie, Matt, Tara

Spaces Occupied

433C, dome

Goals

1. test to see how well asi294 efw assembly works on-axis
2. take some pretty pictures
3. see how bad tracking is

Log

• onkar opens dome at approx 2230
  • roy if you see this, im not changing it to military time heck you I can't do simple math well
• onkar installs asi294 (medium cooled camera) efw (filter wheel) assembly on-axis
  • efw is plugged into the asi295's usb 2.0 port
  • asi294 is plugged into icron usb extender
• slewed to moon
  • adjusted focus to 2150
• slewed to capella
  • got in focus mostly around 2155.1
  • took 3 captures five minutes apart 
• slewed to betelgeuse
  • think i found it 
  • took 3 captures five minutes apart 
  • set object position
• slewed to NGC 2244
  • SO MANY STARS
  • took 3 captures five minutes apart
  • tara's list was gr8
• slewed to mars
  • possibly found deimos too
  • exposure at 30.6 seconds 
  • gain at 102
• closing time 

ToDo

look into focus, not 100% confident its dialed in as well as it could be (what does this mean?) this means it was a bit fuzzy but that could be due to haze

Notes

seeing honestly didnt look too bad albeit not the best we have ever had, minimal clouds This seems to contradict the above hey man it was hard to describe

Weather

Astrospheric and ClearDarkSky are reporting good cloud coverage, but both NOAA and Wunderground are reporting ~15-20% coverage at the beginning of the night and then rapidly jumping up to 40% by midnight. Because of this, I am calling Thursday a NO GO. Stay in and watch a movie (or if you happen to be in the Physics Building, come to Astro Club at 9pm ).

I went anyway lol -onakr

Data

Normal place, synced to Google Drive

Time/Date

20230309T1900-2100

People

Onkar, Roy kinda

Spaces Occupied

433C

Goals

1. Figure out why filter wheel isnt working on datacomputer
2. fix ascom drivers

Log

• onkar tested filter wheel on personal laptop
  • used ASI294MM Pro (medium boi cooled camera), EFW Mini (filter wheel)
  • plugged in EFW into 294 via usb 2.0 out port on 294
  • plugged in power into 294
  • installed ASIStuido_V1.8.1_x86_Setup onto personal machine
    • good install
  • connected 294 to personal machine via usb 3.0 cable
    • good connect, windows recognized 294 and efw
  • installed ZWO_ASI_Cameras_driver_Setup_V3.21
    • splendid
  • installed ZWO_ASCOM_SETUP_V6.5.6
    • checked off all "select components" when prompted
    • success
  • opened sharpcapp to verify camera and efw behave
    • they behaved
  • copied exact same drivers to flashdrive to attempt to install onto DataComputer
• onkar attempts to install same three drivers to DC
  • everything success until ascom drivers
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • pain.png
  • onkar attempts to uninstall ascom from the face of the earth
    • unsuccessful, same errors as before when attempting to reinstall ascom
  • onkar finds sketchy RemoveAscom.exe off the interwebs
    • https://github.com/ASCOMInitiative/ASCOMPlatform/releases
    • frickitweball.gg.roysaiditsokay
    • 
    • onkar presses ze button
    • onkar restarts dc
  • installs  AscomPlatform661.3673.exe
    • no errors
  • attempts installation of ZWO_ASCOM_SETUP_V6.5.6
    • NO ERRORS YAY
  • opens sharpcapp
    • 
      • FUCKCKCKASBFJSAJKFSGBDAGVFSAGFKSAFKSSAFD,FSAASFVJFAS,B,A
    • 
      • pain.gg.ihatesoftware.gif
    • file → sharpcap settings → hardware → filterwheel properties
      • 
      • dangit.gg
    • selected ZWO EFW, manually set filter values in degrees, five filters in 360 degrees
      • filter 1 → 0 deg
      • filter 2 → 72 deg
      • filter 3 → 144 deg
      • filter 4 → 216 deg
      • filter 5 → 288 deg
      • this is a temp solution as theres no way we can recalibrate the filter wheel if it gets offset at all
    • labeled each filter in roy naming convention
      • ex: (V) Visible
• onkar and connor install power supply for on axis cooled camera
  • stuck bulk of it in the crab cage
  • plugged in outlet end into outlet 2 on the network power strip

ToDo

• cry

Notes

• i hate ascom

Weather

• clouds

Data

Normal place, synced to Google Drive

Time/Date

20230308T1830-2359

People

Onkar(left at 1900 and came back at 2100), Connor(left at 2300), Shrey, Gabriel(left at 2300), Natalie, Tara, Matt

Spaces Occupied

401, 433C, Dome

Goals

• Attach ICRON box to the telescope
• Attempt autoguiding using finder scope camera
• Attempt taking images of some blazars

Log

• Turned on ASCOM, TCS, Thesky6, opened dome
• Onkar mounted the ICRON Extender Box using double-sided gorilla tape on the GAM-Lite
• Connected the ICRON to outlet 3 of the remote power strip, relieving the small ladder of its ICRON holding duty.
• Closed the dome and covered baffle/finder scope in order to take dark frames on PHD2
• Collected dark frames for the on-axis camera first (ZWO ASI 178MM), then the for the finder scope (ZWO ASI 2600MM Pro)
  • Select the desired camera, then follow Top Taskbar → Darks → Dark Library → Start to begin taking dark frames
  • Made a new profile for each camera (ASI 178MM and ASI 2600MM Pro) so that multiple dark libraries could be saved
  • Retook dark frames on each respective profile
  • Uncovered main scope and finder scope and opened the dome
• Slewed to Orion
  • Attempted to focus the main scope using SharpCap FWHM focusing tool to the best of our ability and the seeing
  • Connected on-axis camera to PHD2 and attempted to begin guiding, but couldn't get a bright enough source to guide with
  • Switched to finder scope profile and connected finder scope camera to PHD2 and began guiding
  • Calibration failed because PHD2 couldn't register enough relative movement of any source with tracking set to 15.042 arcsec/sec
• Onkar comes back.
• Slewed to Mars and fixed the pointing in the on-axis camera
  • set object position
• slewed to capella
  • set object position
  • fixing the focus, set to 2270.9
• slewed to HD 81567
  • Close to celestial eq and apparent magnitude of 6 (why does this matter?)
    • being close to the celestial eq matters because this would have the most apparent movement with not so great tracking
    • the apparent magnitude being around 5-6 is preferable to phd2, not 100% sure why
  • set object position
  • attempting guiding
  • phd2 having trouble locating the star, very fuzzy (why does this matter?)
    • It would seem that the fuzzier the star, even if the center mass is super bright, phd2 has a hard time keeping a lock on target
  • attempting to increase SNR from 70 to 150 (what does this mean and how do you do it?)
    • this is the signal to noise ratio, the higher the number the higher the contrast (I think)
  • tried forcing phd2 to autoguide anyway, could not accurately tell if it was guiding or just following the star
  • onkar stole speaker, installed onto DC
  • advanced settings in phd2 (brain button)
    • changed to saturation via star-profile under star saturation detection
    • target SNR at 3.5
    • noise reduction from none to 2x2 mean under general properties
    • follows for a bit, then loses star "star lost, HFD"
  • attempting guiding of dimmer star to the bottom right of the picture
    • set minimum star HDS from 1.5 to 1 
    • noticing SNR changing values between exposures (27-32)
    • turns out it was a hot pixel, attempting original star again
  • it was pretty bad, see screenshot below for calibration woes.
    • the screenshot is on the dc, will upload soon -onkar
• slewed to Gaia DR2 810952158347151360
  • reduced gain back to 0 (why does this matter?)
    • wanted to adjust exposure before adjusting gain
  • exposure at 0.5 sec, saturated 
  • finds star, loses star, sad
  • SNR hovering around 20
  • eventually got to guiding
  • "keeps making the maximum corrections for each command" -Gabriel 
  • "phd2 cannot make sufficient corrections in ra and dec" -phd2
  • verifying settings in phd2
    • when connecting mount and camera, phd2 suddenly closes
• abandoning autoguiding at this point
  • took some images of Gaia DR2 810952158347151360
    • took 5 captures at 5 minute intervals 3 times (5 captures at 11:16PM, 5 captures at 11:21PM and 5 captures at 11:26PM)
  • Filter wheel was not showing up on Sharpcap, tried to fix it by updating drivers and restarting DC, but that didn't work
  • Going to attempt again tomorrow
• closing up
  • made sure it closed this time -Onkar
  • visually verified dome was closed - Shrey

ToDo

• fix filter wheel drivers
• look into color camera color formats
• investigate phd2 further
  • try decreasing "Max RA Duration" under File→ advanced settings→ algorithm or "guide rate" under DFMTCS→ telescope→ rates→ handle paddle rates

Notes

• When changing the camera being used for guiding in PHD2, change the profile being used before connecting the different camera
  • Top Taskbar in PHD2 → Guide → Connect Equipment → (Disconnect the equipment being used) →  Equipment Profile → (Choose what profile you want to use and select the matching camera)
  • In the bottom right hand corner, there should be a box that says "Dark". If the text is GREEN, then the dark frame library is being used properly. If the text is RED, something probably went wrong and new dark frames may need to be taken.
  • When you click on the "Connect" button on the camera, if it gives a "Camera Change Warning", click NO and make sure the camera matches the profile

Weather

All sources are reporting clear skies (<2% cloud coverage across all boards)! Astropsheric and ClearDarkSky both are reporting average transparency and poor seeing, so any images might be blurry. -natalie

Data

Time/Date

03072023T1800-2345

People

Shrey, Roy(left at 1930), Onkar, Connor(arrived at HHMM)

Spaces Occupied

401, 433C, Dome

Goals

• Test Autoguiding option 2 & 3 mentioned in previous(enter exact date) blog post
• Attempt autoguiding of objects

Log

• Opened the dome at 18:10
• Connected the finder scope camera through the LBD2 cable and switched it on using the network outlet
• Attached the ZWO Color camera with the filter wheel on-axis through the Icron extender box
  • should be noted visible filter was unscrewed from the filter wheel assembly due to the adapter being stuck
• connected dc to asi178mm via USB cable in control room
• connected st4 to asi178mm
• Connected the pins from the ST4 cable to the Autoguider pins on the TCS BackPanel in the following way:
  • Blue = Unused
  • Yellow = GND → Pin 6
  • Green = West  → Pin 4
  • Red = South → Pin 2
  • Black = North → Pin 1
  • White = East → Pin 3
• Connected PHD2 → Guide → Connect Equipment and connected ASI Telescope ST4 Driver (ASCOM) in Mount
• Connected PHD2 → Guide → Connect Equipment and connected ASI482MC in camera
• attempted to view capella
  • finder scope see nothing (completely black), static on on-axis
  • receiving error about USBst4 drivers "an error occurred while trying to connect to your zwo usbst4 mount"
  • unplugged and plugged back in telescope cameras, still nothing
  • unplugged usb from asi178mm to dc, finder scope suddenly works
  • slewed to capella again, no vis on-axis
• slewed to moon
  • took some purdy pictures
  • verified spotter and color cameras are working
• driver woes
  • attempting to download the zwo usbst4 mount drivers
  • reconnected asi178mm in control room, st4 connection still there
  • downloading and installing "ASIStudio Windows X64" and "ZWO ASCOM" onto DC
  • now getting filter wheel errors as well as the same errors from before
  • disconnecting filter wheel from icron extender, going to figure this out later -onkar
• slewed to moon
  • verified cameras working
  • focus slightly off for onaxis but whatever
• slewing to capella
  • nailed it
  • took some pics
  • attempting autoguiding
• autoguiding attempt #2
  • connor takes helm
  • started phd2
  • connected to color camera
  • connected to mount
  • asi178mm connected back to dc, st4 side connected to ag port
  • clicked on circle arrows button to begin looping, taking two second exposures
  • Tara and Nat join (When)
  • disconnected color camera in sharpcap
  • switched to aux track to sim bad tracking
  • undo that
  • changed to 1-second exposure on phd2
  • phd2 auto-detected capella, yay
  • attempted movement, phd2 yelled at us, told us to calibrate at -20 to +20 dec
    • clicked "ok" and attempted anyway
    • went to tcs->telescope->rates-handpaddle rates->guide rate
    • changed from 5 to 100 arcsec/sec
  • attempting again
    • TOO FAST
    • changing guide rate in tcs to 10
  • third attempt
    • too slow
    • changed to 25
  • fourth attempt
    • still too slow
    • changed to 50
  • fifth attempt
    • still too slow
    • going calibrate and stop being dumb
• calibration time
  • slewed to sirius
  • RA/DEC 

    06h 
    46m
    10.2s
    -16°
    45'
    02.3"

  • refocused to 2274.3
  • reconnected camera to phd2, having trouble following star still at 0.01seconds
    
  • consulting manual: https://openphdguiding.org/PHD2_User_Guide.pdf
  • reset guide rate to 5, going to let it calibrate properly
  • "it needs to see how fast the scope moves when it sends pulses" -connor
  • attempting calibration
    • changed guide rate to 1 arcsec/sec
    • clicked on the "guiding button" the one that looks like a radar
    • green crosshairs, random flashing red every now and then
    • says "guiding" so WORKING????
• stress testing phd2
  • since it works, want to see how well it works
  • slewed to mars
    • too dim or too fuzzy
  • slewed to Gaia DR2 810952158347151360
    • worked
  • we changed phd2 to use finderscope
    • exposure at 0.5 seconds
    • successfully calibrated event with filled of stars
  • slewed to m42, still using finderscope for phd2
    • successfully tracked center of nebula

ToDo

• next steps for autoguiding
  • acquire usb2st4 adapter
  • acquire amp9 connector
  • make permanent cable
  • test permanent solution
  • figure out sharcapp ascom autoguiding maybe
• look into colour space and whats better for color camera
  • (RGB24, RAW16)
• see what's wrong with the filter wheel drivers

Notes

Overall connections

• ASI482mm → icron USB extender → data computer → USB3.0 cable → ASI178mm → st4 cable → each color to alligator clip → respective alligator clip to autoguide port

Weather

Data

Normal place, synced to Google Drive

Title

Autoguider Port Test

Time/Date

03/03/2023 - 16:30 - 18:30

People

Shrey, Gabriel

Spaces Occupied

401, 433C

Goals

• Test connectivity of Autoguider port and Hand Paddle port on TCS Back Panel 
• Test sidereal track rates for SET and GUIDE rate

Log

• Connected the ZWO ASI482MC camera to the DC
• Connected ST4 cable to the camera
• Connected the pins from the ST4 cable to the Handle Paddle pins on the TCS Front Panel in the following way:
  • Blue = Unused
  • Yellow = GND → Pin 9
  • Green = West  → Pin 4
  • Red = South → Pin 2
  • Black = North → Pin 1
  • White = East → Pin 3
• Changed the SET rate in DFMTCS→ Telescope → Rates→ Handle Paddle Rates to 11.612 arcsec/sec
• For some reason, 11.612 arcsec/sec is close to actual sidereal tracking rate. 
• Connected PHD2 → Guide → Connect Equipment and connected ASI Telescope ST4 Driver (ASCOM) in Mount
• Used Tools→ manual Guide to manually send west command over the ST4 Cable
• Disconnected the Autoguider cable on the TCS back Panel and used alligator clips to connect ST4 pins to Autoguider pins in the following manner:
  • Green = West  → Pin 4
  • Yellow = GND → Pin 6
• Ideally, connect both West and East cables using White cable to Pin 3 on the autoguider port for movement both directions
• Changed the GUIDE rate in DFMTCS→ Telescope → Rates→ Handle Paddle Rates to 11.612 arcsec/sec
• Used Tools→ manual Guide to manually send west command over the ST4 Cable

ToDo

• Test
  • Use autoguiding by using PHD2 all by itself and set GUIDE rate to 1.5*Sidereal Rate (Tested) = 17.418 arcsec/sec
  • Use tracking with autoguiding. GUIDE rate needs to be set to 0.5*sidereal rate(Tested) = 5.806 arcsec/sec while using normal tracking rate of 15.042 arcsec/sec.
• Long Exposures
  • To test tracking, take a really long exposure of maybe 1 hr (as long as it takes)
  • To test test tracking with autoguiding, take a really long exposure of maybe 1 hr (as long as it takes) using the Planetary camera (on axis) and use the feed from the deep-sky camera (Finder Scope) for autoguiding and have the tracking on and tracking rate set to 15.042 arcsec/sec
  • To test test autoguiding without tracking, take a really long exposure of maybe 1 hr (as long as it takes) using the Planetary camera (on axis) and use the feed from the deep-sky camera (Finder Scope) for autoguiding and have the tracking off.

Notes

Weather

Data