Blog from April, 2023

Observing Session - Delrin and Autoguiding
Onkar Rekhi posted on Apr 25, 2023

Time/Date

20230425T1845-20230426T0130

People

OBS/AstroPol: Onkar, Tara, Shrey briefly

Viewers: Azzan, "lrtole", Craig Younkings

Guests: 2 cool guys

Spaces Occupied

401, 433C, dome

Goals

  1. Install mirror door piston thing
  2. Observe/Autoguiding study of:
    1. Venus
    2. Denebola
    3. 3C273
    4. M104

Log

  1. Startup
    1. Opened dome approx. 6:45PM
    2. Turned on fan/vent
    3. connected cameras via sharpcap on data computer (dc)
    4. opened phd2 and connected mount
    5. opened dfmtcs, ascom, ts6 on control computer (cc)
    6. flipped on drives, autodome, track, MTR DRIVER CHASIS and unlatched halt motors
  2. Mirror door piston thingy
    1. installed delrin part onto the mirror door piston
      1. very tight fit, holes not completely lined up but made do
    2. attempted installation onto motor assembly
      1. way way wayyyyyyyyyyy too tight, got it on most of the way but had to brute force it on
      2. could not get it on the last bit, possible error in the threads/tap of inner lead screw bit
    3. brought the piston/delrin assembly down to control room for further inspection by eric
  3. slewed to moon
    1. did this approx 8:00PM
    2. pointing way off, eyeballed it onto view and set object position
    3. still too bright to set focus yet
  4. Venus
    1. very bright
    2. hard to get in focus
    3. took 10 frames 2 min apart each in visible and ultraviolet filters using the ASI294MM
  5. Denebola
    1. easier to get in focus
    2. set object position
    3. took 10 frames 2 min apart each in visible and ultraviolet filters using the ASI294MM
  6. Mars
    1. blurry but pretty
    2. took 10 frames 2 min apart each in visible and ultraviolet filters using the ASI294MM
  7. Quasar Hunting
    1. 8C 0958+561
      1. Transits at 20:53
      2. cant find it
    2. NGC2079
      1. nice tiny smudge on finder
      2. took capture
    3. M104
      1. took a capture in V, R and B for 60s exposures each
      2. looks great in V
      3. had autoguiding going at 30s exposures on the finder for this one
      4. taking 5 min exposures in v, b and r
    4. 3c273
      1. success
      3. 5 frames taken 1 min apart in V filter at 1 min exposures
      4. phd2 autoguiding to something
      5. taking a 5 min exposure in U and UV
      7. also doubles as proof autoguiding is working due to lack of smearing
  8. Disaster
    1. WE SAVED ALL OF OUR ON AXIS IMAGES UP TO THIS POINT AS PNGS NOOOOOOO
    2. sad.jif
    3. switched over to fits and confirmed settings for everything else
    4. retook r, v, and b images for M104, 5 min exposure per frame
    5. retook r, v, b, and uv images for 3C273, 5 min exposure per frame
    6. all non-png files are labeled as example_FITS for easier navigation
    7. that freaking sucks, here's a sombrero
  9. Closing up
    1. slewed to zenith
    2. turned off all MDC switches
    3. closed dome shutters and visually confirmed closure
    4. uninstalled on-axis camera
    5. turned off exhaust fan
    6. turned off remote network power switch
    7. turned off all programs on dc and cc
    8. cried about bad images

ToDo

  1. fix delrin parts or thread them slightly bigger
  2. take a shot for every png image taken

Notes

  • galaxies are cool 
  • DISASTER, most of our images were in PNGS, pls refer to the ones labeled "fits" to find the actual fits images
    • IM SORRY

Weather

Wunderground is reporting ~10% cloud coverage and weather.gov is reporting slightly higher (~20%). Transparency and seeing are average/below average. Again, not ideal conditions, but we live in Maryland so I'm keeping my standards low.

Data

Normal place, synced to Google Drive

Observing Session - Autoguiding Session
Onkar Rekhi posted on Apr 20, 2023

Time/Date

20230420T1900-2359

People

OBS/AstroPol: Onkar, Tara, Connor, Shrey

Viewers: meyer, roy, "Draconis", Tara

Spaces Occupied

401, 433C, dome

Goals

  1. autoguiding study of:
    1. Venus
    2. 3C 273
    3. GB6 J0601+5315
    4. B2 1811+31

Log

  1. Setup
    1. onkar installed filter wheel and ASI294MM Pro assembly on axis
    2. opened sharpcap utlizing ASI294MM Pro
    3. opened dome, turned on exhaust fan, turned off lights
    4. opened dfmtcs, ascom dome control and TS6 on control computer
  2. Venus
    1. slewed to venus
    2. onkar taught connor the sacred art of "eye-balling" to get venus in picutre
    3. set object position
    4. bright mf
    5. set up PHD2 at a 0.01s exposure using the finder scope to lock on and guide
    6. set up sharpcap with filter wheel connnected and dreamguide NOT connected
      1. v filter, 5 frames 2 min apart at 100ms exposure and 10 gain, about 16 score for FWHM
      2. u filter, 5 frames 2 min apart at 10s exposure and 10 gain
    8. turned on spotify, crank dat
  3. Menkalinan
    1. slewed to it
    2. set object position when found in on-axis cam
    3. closed sharpcap of finder scope
    4. opened phd2, re-enabled and guided to star
    5. set up sharpcap with filter wheel connnected and dreamguide NOT connected to sharpcap
      1. v filter, 5 frames 2 min apart at 100ms exposure and 10 gain, about 18 score for FWHM
        1. phd2 crashed randomly while i was doing this
      2. u filter, 5 frames 2 min apart at 10s exposure and 10 gain
  4. B2 1811+31 (Gaia DR2 4591124261934686848)
    1. had to slew using ra and dec
    2. couldnt really find it
  5. Vega
    1. slewed to it
    2. set object position when found in on-axis cam
    3. closed sharpcap of finder scope
    4. opened phd2, re-enabled and guided to star, 0.5s exposure
    5. set up sharpcap with filter wheel connnected and dreamguide NOT connected to sharpcap
      1. v filter, 5 frames 2 min apart at 100ms exposure and 10 gain, about 18 score for FWHM
        1. phd2 crashed four times randomly while i was doing this
        2. also must be noted that autoguiding had been lost after the third frame, visually cloudy/hazy in spotter scope
  6. Dubhe
    1. slewed, set object position
    2. opened phd2, re-enabled and guided to star
    3. set up sharpcap with filter wheel connnected and dreamguide NOT connected to sharpcap
      1. v filter, 5 frames 2 min apart at 500ms exposure and 0 gain, about 14 score for FWHM
      2. u filter, 5 frames 2 min apart at 10s exposure and 10 gain
  7. Closing up
    1. turned off exhaust fan
    2. uninstall on-axis camera and filter wheel
    3. slewed to zenith
    4. closed dome

ToDo

  1. continue autoguiding study on a clearer night
  2. look into why phd2 crashes so often
  3. await mirror door parts to be made and then install them

Notes

  • seeing is hazy close to the horizon in all directions but especially bad in the north to east direction
  • hazy/cloudy everywhere
  • phd2 crashed multiple times during observing

Weather

ClearDarkSky, NOAA, and Astrospheric are all reporting clear skies with average transparency, leaning towards average (good for us) seeing for the entire night. Safe to do observations.

Data

Normal place, synced to Google Drive

Observing Session - Velcro Maneuver
Onkar Rekhi posted on Apr 18, 2023

Time/Date

20230418T1900-2330

People

OBS: Onkar, Tara

Viewers: "tieria", meyer

Spaces Occupied

401, 433C, dome

Goals

  1. Test GuideDream thingy
  2. Take color pictures of venus and/or other pretti stellar objects
  3. get r and b filter photos of venus using mono camera and filter wheel for meyer
  4. insert more here

Log

  1. opening/setup
    1. opened dome at 7pm
    2. commenced velcro maneuver
      1. i velcro'd the mirror doors open, will have to undo when closing up
    3. uinstalled uv filter from filter wheel and stored in safe place
    4. installed filter wheel and color camera on-axis, connected both to icron extender
  2. slewed to mars
    1. donut???
    3. not sure what thats ab but whatever
    4. set object position
    5. set tracking rates to 15.042
    6. installed guideDreamST4
      1. recognized on sharpcap, can move up down and left but not right
      2. when slewing right: 
      4. probably forgot to install a driver or something, ill do it later
    7. messing with color camera settings and focus to get less donut and more mars
      1. donut death at focus value 2170
      2. changed color space from rgb24 to raw16
    8. not convinced this is mars, going to slew somewhere brighter to set object position better
  3. slewed to venus
    1. set object position
    2. wow.gg shes so blurry
    3. took 25 fits, pngs and sers
  4. back to mars
    2. yeah not great
    4. focus at 2160
  5. dinner
    1. we have two options (probably more but im listing two)
      1. option a: fix focus by looking at bright boi star
      2. option b: install drivers for DreamGuideST4 and attempt autoguiding via PHD2
    2. prob going to go with both as im bored and have time (currently 9:14PM)
    3. brb getting food at subby way B)))))))))
  6. autoguiding (AG) using DreamGuideST4 (DG)
    1. plugged in USB side of DG to free USB port on data computer
    2. plugged in st4-to-ag cable to ag port of MDC and st4 end to DG
    3. installed winRAR to install drivers for DreamGuideST4
      1. success, lights lit up on DG
    4. attempted AG on various stars but they all had issues such as being too bright, low mass or mass changing
    5. tara and I found hd112887, attempted autoguiding using spotter scope
      1. SUCCESS, followed this tutorial
      3. what we did
        1. restarted PHD2 like 7 billion times
        2. set ZWO ASI2600MM as camera
        3. set GuideDreamST4 as mount
        4. clicked on pixel of star
        5. set exposure to 3 seconds
        6. began looping, let it calibrate
        7. visually looked at DreamGuide to see where it was slewing the scope with its respective LEDS and with on-axis camera feed
  7. closing up
    1. onkar undid velcro tie downs to bring mirror doors to a close
    2. confirmed dome shutter closure
    3. tara uninstalled filter wheel and color camera from on axis
    4. brought down all camera, filters and velcro box
    5. reinstalled UV filter in filter wheel
    6. turned off all programs and remote power strip
    7. switched off all MDC switches

ToDo

  1. recreate successful AG attempt on other stars
  2. install mirror door parts whenever they arrive
  3. work w meyer and roy to see if data collected from ag is any good or not

Notes

  1. not great seeing
  2. color camera is not good for ag, do not use in the future
  3. need to look into proper set up of ascom st4 interfacing in sharpcap for the DG
  4. need to setup phd2 server to talk to sharpcap

Weather

All sites are reporting no cloud coverage with high transparency; however, we are getting bad seeing according to ClearDarkSky and poor seeing as per Astrospheric.

Data

Normal place, synced to Google Drive

Control Computer Exploration
Onkar Rekhi posted on Apr 06, 2023

20230404T1600-20230406T2000

Onkar, Tara, Roy

PHYS 401, 433C

Goals

  1. create 1:1 copy of tcs c: drive (Local Disk)
  2. boot tcs using copy drive and not original drive
  3. install lightweight win10 OS on tcs copy drive

Log

  1. onkar was bored so onkar wanted to restart the p3 project (end goal is to have dc control everything)
  2. brain dump:
    1. things stopping us from full integration:
      1. ISA card that sends the motor commands cannot be installed on a modern PC due to the lack of ISA slots on modern motherboards
      2. unclear at this time whether ISA cards work properly on win10 and newer OS's
      3. DFMTCS (TCS software) does not want to open on DC even after all files had been copied over
        1. either an issue with drivers or with not properly running an "install DFMTCS" program on the dc
    2. possible solutions to solve these issues
      1. find PCIE to ISA internal or external conversion thingy
      2. fuck around and find out
      3. find wherever this install dfmtcs program would be or social engineer it out of someone at another DFM observatory
  3. onkar and tara unplugged all telescope cables from control computer and extracted control computer from the desk too access its innards, specifically its harddrive
    1. boot HDD connected to cc mobo via sata data cable
    2. onkar repurposed rolly desk from 401 to act as a bench for control computer
  4. the great copying
    1. onkar plugged in external SSD (borrowed from dr meyer in 306a) to black USB port on control computer
    2. onkar booted up control computer as normal and used AOEMI backupper to clone the cc boot drive to the ssd
    3. had to change ssd from GBR to MBR, believe this has something to do with the win7 OS being a 32bit OS and not 64 bit
    4. onkar waited hours for this to finish bc USB2.0 is just so gosh darn fast
  5. booting from ssd
    1. onkar unplugged sata data cable connecting HDD to motherboard
    2. installed SSD via USB cable to cc motherboard rear usb2.0
    3. turned on PC, windows 7 splash screen, black screen, PC restarts, cycle repeats
    4. tried fixing the win7 install via command prompt in safe mode, no joy
    5. tried recopying the HDD to SSD in case it was a bad copy, no joy
    6. tried setting the SSD as the primary boot option in cc bios, no joy
    7. onkar is very sad and frustrated at this point
    8. roy advises onkar tries to boot from the ssd on a separate device and to use another drive to boot from for the cc
      1. attempts to boot dc via ssd, ssd doesn't even show up in the bios as a bootable option, no joy
      2. need another drive to attempt the second recommendation

Notes

  1. windows is lame
  2. having an internal SSD would be great for further testing and may be repurposed for data storage afterward so its not a one-off purchase
  3. control room kinda messy, also whenever the cc is reinstalled into the desk, the telescope cables must be correctly hooked up and a functions test would be in order
  4. speakers and webcam installed for dc

ToDo

  1. look into drives, what gbr and mbr mean, 32bit vs 64 bit, and anything else that may be relevant for this
  2. resintall cc
  3. return cart rolly thing to 401
Ceiling Tiles & GAM
Roy Prouty posted on Apr 03, 2023


20230403T1640-1900

Onkar, Connor, Roy

PHYS 401, 433C

Goals

  1. Install more ceiling tiles
  2. Determine BERG belt lengths
  3. Attempt to repair c8 tripod

Log

  1. Tripod solution didn't work
    1. Roy wants to buy a new one
  2. Roy ordered another ST4-USB cable – we don't know if it'll work
  3. Connor and Onkar installed more ceiling tiles until they ran out of hardware; "metal bar grating fastener"
  4. Onkar and Roy took apart the GAM and extracted the BERG 31GBF belts (et al)
    1. The BERG belt for the primary filter wheel looks to be between 64 - 67 cm, and will need to be crimped somehow 
    2. The BERG belt for the translating stage is more complicated
      1. Each end is crimped to an eyehole fastener. One end to a small spring and then to the translating stage, the other end directly to the translating stage
      2. In total, the BERG belt for the translating stage is between 55 - 59 cm
    3. To remove the belts, various pieces of the GAM needed to be removed/loosened

Notes

  1. What looks like the encoder for the primary filter wheel has a small metal flange that is disconnected – we don't know why or what it's for. WE SHOULD LOOK INTO IT

ToDo

  1. Buy corkboard, whiteboard, more small storage solutions
  2. Buy minifridge
  3. FIX MIRROR DOORS
  4. DO THE ST4 THING
  5. TEST THE GAM MOTORS AND ENCODERS