Blog from June, 2023

Time:

202306301300-1515

People:

Erik and Nathan

Spaces:

PHYS 401, Dome

Goals:

1. Inspect the GAM controller serial cable.
2. Reset COM2 port in Device Manager.

Log:

1. Inspecting Serial Port on Control Computer End
   1. The serial port on the back of the computer was found to be a DB9 connecter instead of the DB25 described in the schematics.
   2. The cable seems to be in good condition and the solder connections to the DB9 connector are good.
2. Resetting COM2 Port in Device Manager
   1. To reset, we disabled the COM2 driver in Device Manager.
   2. We opened up DFMTCS and confirmed that COM2 is used to communicate with the GAM Controller.
   3. We then reenabled the COM2 driver and found no change in getting the GAM to do what we want like last time.
3. Inspecting Serial Port on the GAM Controller
   1. According the schematics, there are two serial ports (RJ11) on the back of the GAM controller labelled 'J4' and 'J5'.
      1. Only J4 was connected. This could be the reason why there's a DB9 connector instead of the expected DB25 connector on the back of the Control Computer.
      2. Why is J5 not connected?
      3. Is J5 responsible for controlling the translating stage?
      4. We also found that there's was a plastic blank-off plate near the COM2 port on the back of the Control Computer and another port that wasn't connected to anything.
   2. From this link: https://instrumentic.info/en/rj11-rs232.html#gsc.tab=0, we found that a serial cable that uses a DB25 connector on one end has two RJ11 connectors on the other end.
      1. This could mean that J5 was connected at one point before the Control Computer was upgraded in 2011.
      2. The next step to take is to look into the upgrade logs of the Control Computer to see what changes were made to the GAM Controller connection and to see why J5 is not connected.

Note: Unplugged ST4 box to get easier access to back panel of MDC/TCS

Log:

1. GAM Translating Stage is reporting "3" in GAM Status Info window
   1. That doesn't means anything per manual
      1. Only 1 or 2 are supported per manual
   2. We can't get the 3 to change with any cherry switch actuation
2. Continuity tests of cherry switches for translating stage encoders
   1. All tests passed for cherry switches
   2. Continuity tests on actual switches.
   3. Continuity tests to outside of GAM box
   4. Continuity of GAM extension cables passes as well
3. This indicates that the cherry switches and cables relaying singals out of GAM are all good. 
   1. Issue is therefore somewhere between GAM controller and computer.
4. The current suspected culprit is the COM2 wire out the back of the MDC/TCS
   1. To test, we want to reset COM2 port via SW
   2. We also noticed that the COM2 DB25-P cable wasn't seated correctly in the back of the MDC/TCS
   3. Cable is bent/squished between back of computer and 'gold' plate
5. Translating stage motor still not working
6. However all of the signals for the working SOUTH filter wheel and rotating mirror are also going through the DB25-P cable
   1. So we don't know what could be wrong

Time

20230618T1830-2345

People

Onkar and Roy

Spaces

PHYS 401, 433C, Dome

Goals

1. Calibration Frame for pretty objects

Log 

1. Opened Dome
2. Opened Mirror Doors
3. Bundled GAM cables
4. Connected on axis camera (ZWO ASI294MM Pro)
5. Took sky flats in on-axis and spotter scope
6. Moved to Arcturus for pointing and seeing frame
   1. 8.4 +- 0.4 pix FWHM via SharpCap for OA
   2. 7.415 +- 0.1 pix FWHM via SharpCap for Spotter
7. Moved to NGC 6633 in south eastern sky
   1. Used PHD2 for collecting stacking frames and some long exposures (45s)
   2. Saw that PHD2 was still causing short frames to jump around in on axis FoV
8. Moved to M 81 in north western sky
9. Frames all seem sky-dominated
10. PHD2 is also jumping around more than we saw last time
11. SEEEEEE?
12. Tried to see what NINA(Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy)
    1. Is kinda cool
    2. Some bumps wrt shared mounts/COM ports
    3. Onkar will figure out after the GAM is fixed
    4. AFTER
13. Closed up
    1. Scope at Zenith
    2. Mirror doors closed
    3. Dome closed
    4. ASI 294MM stowed in 433C cabinet

Notes

ToDo

1. Investigate finderscope : main scope angular resolution ratios for the purposes of autoguiding
   1. Could this be the issue with PHD2 jumping?

Weather

N/A

Data

N/A

People:

Obs: Roy, Natalie, Onkar

Time:

20230614T1900-

Goals:

1. take seeing frame
2. take calibration frames
3. astrometric field images with and without AG via phd2
   1. maybe change guide-rate in dfmtcs and see if that helps/hurts
4. m101 with no filters : (

Log:

1. opened up approx 20:30PM
2. Connected cameras
3. Opened mirror doors
4. Aimed at Venus for coarse pointing
5. Went to Alkaid in Ursa Major
   1. Used SharpCap FWHM monitor
   2. On-Axis: Got 6.6 pix on average +- 0.2
   3. Spotter: Got 6.5 pix on average
   4. Took images for each, saved in gDrive
6. Moved to Summer Beehive Cluster along CEq
   1. Took 3 frames five minutes apart without AG
   2. Took 3 frames five minutes apart with AG
   3. Issue with PHD2 – see image in notes
      1. PHD2 was moving the field too much.
      2. Onkar thinks we should recalibrate
      3. This seems to have worked!
7. Slewed to M101
   1. Can't find galaxy features
   2. Trying to live stack
   3. WE CAN CONNECT TO PHD2 WITH SHARPCAP - Onks
   4. Live stacking didn't work – likely sky/light pollution dominated frames
   5. cant polar align in sharpcap with on-axis setup, maybe possible on finder?
8. Moved to M82
   1. Tried more live stacking
   2. Moved to color CMOS
   3. More live stacking
9. Closed up
   1. Dome closed
   2. Mirror doors closed
   3. All motors disengaged

ToDo:

Notes:

1. talked about tracking and SNR

Weather:

Thu 20230615 Sunrise: 0554 Sunset: 2020 Moonrise: 0402 (Waning Crescent) Moonset: 1838 Number of Clear Hrs Before Sunrise: 6 Number of Clear Hrs After Sunset: 0

Data:

saved in usual place

Time

People

Onkar, Natalie, Matt, Roy, Eric Perlman

Places

PHYS 401, PHYS 433C, Dome

Goals

1. Point & Collect Seeing Frames
2. Observe Astrometric Fields
3. M101 w/ Calibration Frames

Log

1. Matt connected on-axis camera into Icron Extender Box
2. Matt connected finder scope camera to LBD2
3. Opened Dome and Mirror Doors
4. Pointed at Arcturus, set object position
5. Pointed at Alioth, confirmed good pointing.
   1. Got FWHM of 5.6 +-0.2
   2. Saved seeing frame
6. Went to M5
   1. Moved the core downward in the frame to focus on sparser field
7. PHD2 was reinstalled to latest version 2.6.11
   1. Did NOT take dark library before attempting to guide
8. M5: Took 3x frames 5 minutes apart with autoguiding on
9. M5: Took 3x frames 5 minutes apart with autoguiding off
10. Slewed to M101
    1. CLOUDY
11. Packed up for the night
12. Dome closed
13. Mirror doors closed

Notes

Lul smoke

ToDo

1. Create gifs demonstrating with and without autoguiding
2. calculate RA and DEC differences with and without autoguiding

Data

Saved to google drive

Weather

21C, smoky in west

Time

20230601T1830-0010

People

Connor, Onkar, Roy

Spaces

PHYS 401, 433C, Dome

Goals

1. Aim near horizon for sky flats
2. Point at Arcturus, collect seeing frame
   1. Alkaid, collect seeing frame
   2. Dubhe, collect seeing frame
3. Go to M101
   1. Frames
      1. Light frame: 20000-50000 COUNTS
      2. Darks: for above exposure time
      3. Flats from sky before
      4. Biases
   2. Color
      1. With ZWO filter set
         1. Calibration frames
            1. Flats
      2. Change to color camera
4. Astrometric Fields
   1. M5, M10, M12
   2. For each:
      1. Expose to nominal exposure
      2. Wait 5 mins
      3. Expose again
      4. Wait 5 mins
      5. Expose again
      6. Save with good headers/fileNames
5. Onkar works with NINA?

Log

1. Could not find filter wheel
2. Found some adapters after 20 minutes
3. Slewed to west for some attempts at sky flats
4. Took 10x flat frames in 20230601_skyFlats_
5. Pointed at Venus
6. Adjusted focus to 2100
7. Slewed to Arcturus
   1. Closed hatch
   2. Adjusted focus to 2104
   3. Used sharpcap FWHM monitor to get FWHM to 10.2 +-0.4
8. Arcturus: Magnitude 0.15 (reduced to 0.29)
   1. Alkaid: Magnitude 1.85 (reduced to 1.98)
9. Slewed to Alkaid
   1. ShapCap FWHM monitor showed ~9.9-10.3 +-0.3
10. Slewed to M5
    1. Took 3 60s captures 5 minutes apart on-axis
    2. Took some captures from finderscope
    3. Tried to use PhD2 for autoguiding
       1. PhD2 crashes during star guiding
    4. We got MaxIMDL license on DC and setup guider camera with MaxImDL
       1. The rates seem to be off – it over corrects and jumps the image around the screen
       2. Maybe look into better settings for MaxImDL autoguiding
    5. We also need to figure out why PHD2 is crashing so frequently
       1. Maybe reinstall
       2. Maybe use older version of software/drivers
       3. Update windows
       4. Check USB connections/power/bandwidths
       5. Check NVidia drivers – which affect this somehow ...
    6. Ugh
11. Closed up @ 0010

Notes

Figure out autoguiding

ToDo

Confirm seeing measurements

Measure tracking error

Weather

23 C outside

Data

Saved to drive