PIER-14 March submissions

I will ask Pete to remove or rather remind as I asked already lol

Ray I was there last night with baited breath but it simply stayed high cloud all night  taunting me with mushy stars. I was not impressed

Steve

Hi Steve, 

Thanks for the reply. One of those nights when there are just aren't any large enough gaps in the clouds to get anything done. All too familiar. Fingers crossed that now the moon is waning you'll be able to start catching up for everyone. 

Hope all is well, 

Ray 


 

Yes, the forecast this week is much better and the lightbulb is having a break now as well

It amazing how back orders build up when we have a run of bad weather like this

Steve

Hi,

Just submitted this target (ngc7822) and added some notes. Incidentally, there does not appear to be a way to select a Constellation when entering the coordinates and/or name. Have added Cassiopeia in the notes.

This will start to rise high enough around the middle of next month, so fingers crossed in the meantime, there will be enough clear nights to complete all the setting targets in the queue.  I notice there's been great progress this past week.

Cheers,

Ray

Hi Ray

not sure if Phil is adding the constellation feature to piers 13/14 as you are already  using crrent/delayed as well as notes sections to phil in and as subscribers you tend to check more than most people who book by the hour by the nature that you have to plan so the scope actually has stuff to image throughout many weeks so you have to plan the sky ??

although I may smile nicely at phil and ask as its useful info for me none the less, as I can keep a better eye on any gaps in imaging time

steve

Hi Steve,

I agree there is no need to add the Constellation feature as you have quite correctly pointed out.

After your useful post on the subject we now know what we ought to be doing to keep the pier active, thus not requiring you to keep a constant eye on each booking as you may need to on all those other piers.

I notice that there are now just over 200 members.   Perhaps in a few months when the dark nights disappear in the UK and foreign travel is still banned, there will be a bigger uptake. 

Cheers,

Ray 

Hi Steve,

I agree there is no need to add the Constellation feature as you have quite correctly pointed out.

After your useful post on the subject we now know what we ought to be doing to keep the pier active, thus not requiring you to keep a constant eye on each booking as you may need to on all those other piers.

I notice that there are now just over 200 members.   Perhaps in a few months when the dark nights disappear in the UK and foreign travel is still banned, there will be a bigger uptake. 

Cheers,

Ray 

Fingers crossed on new members the more the merrier!

I thought you had got to grips with running the imaging time which was why to the most part I just leave you to it tbh

However, this week it will switch over to available narrowband objects as its clear all week
and Luna is starting to smile wide again. So it may be worth a check on
if any narrowband's can be added if you have not already done so.

Before I forget to say, our Moon avoidance parameters are set quite strongly so from just
past 90% it does not image a lot as crap data is just crap data!

Steve

ps. Fingers crossed we maintain this current clear spell until well after full moon so we can finally take advantage of waning and new moon for a change

Hi Steve,

Thanks for pointing that out. This evening I'll look at the narrowband jobs, their statuses in relation to rising or setting, and see if there are any gaps that need filling. I don't think so, but definitely worth a recheck. 

Cheers, 

Ray 

Narrowband targets and keeping the pier busy. 

I believe that there will be a short period of maybe half an hour between the end of setting and the start of rising suitable targets right now. What does somewhat concern me though will be next month, when I think the gap between those setting and rising will be quite long caused by the changes in sunset and sunrise times. This however is not something new and must occur every year during the middle of spring in more southerly parts of the world . Those of us in the UK have many circumpolar narrowband objects to image, so not something we'd have ever been concerned with. Can anyone confirm my thoughts. 

Cheers,

Ray 

You are correct Ray although allowing for 20º horizon limits its extended somewhat. March is always the worst month and it can only get better as we roll in to April.

March and galaxy season is simply a case of doing the best we can while sometimes choosing objects that are not always ideal fit for Pier-14 FOV

Steve

Hi,

Just noticed what is an issue being revealed in the job queue. Job 0019, which is the second pane of the Markarian's Chain mosaic, is showing a total integration time of 15.33 hours! The first pane, job 0020, which has completed was for 6.33 hours.That is correct.

The exposures on the submission for 0019 add up to a total a time of  6.33 hours, identical to 0020. It shows 85 subs at 4 minutes each and 20 at 2 minutes. I believe that something has gone wrong with the submission entry to the job queue. Can this be verified and if found to be the case, please can the job be halted and the data captured be downloaded. Most likely a case of finger trouble, something I'm doing a lot of the time.

To be fair given how much you guys are having to deal with given all those other piers, I'll keep a check in future against the job queue and submissions, just in case.


Cheers,  

Ray

Just an update to clarify the situation.

Both submissions 0019 and 0020 were each for 105 subs totalling just under 14 hours between them. Not having checked the, now completed 0020 at the time, I didn't notice that this one was also incorrect. When in the job queue, for which I had taken a screenshot, it was showing 10 hours of imaging time and 180 subs. What we received turns out to be 159 subs. What is being collected for 0019 right now is over double the number of subs requested. In summary 14 hours has turned into 25 hours of imaging time.

Hello Ray, 
I've just been looking into this. This was at the time there were several internet outages on site. When I submitted the orders they were not showing on the system and so were imputed several times. It seems that they must have been cashed and uploaded when the connection re-established. 
Sorry for the oversite I failed to notice it.

Hi Peter,

Absolutely no need at all to apologise. What I do have experience of are sequences of short Internet drop outs! Infuriating when trying to pay or order something. Rather depends on how resilient the site is as to what you need to do after reconnecting. So what affect it may have when entering orders on the job queue is anyone's guess. 

If it wasn't for my poor memory I would have realised that I had come to the wrong conclusion. You had already made me aware of that Internet situation a short while back. At the same time this  problem with the Internet happened it also affected my 2 bookings of the Rho region. Because they were mine I noticed something was wrong. You rectified my bookings straight away, these others slipped under the radar unfortunately. 

Handling the orders for all the piers must be a challenge at busy times. As I mentioned, unlikely though that this will occur again, I'll make a point in future of double checking the job queue on this pier. This is very easy to do with the current Submissions list Phil has made available to us. 

You're all doing a great job there and cannot be expected to pick up the odd anomaly caused by connectivity issues.

Thanks for the swift response,

Kind regards,

Ray 

Hello Ray, 
I've just been looking into this. This was at the time there were several internet outages on site. When I submitted the orders they were not showing on the system and so were imputed several times. It seems that they must have been cashed and uploaded when the connection re-established. 
Sorry for the oversite I failed to notice it.

I think I had something the same with double the number of expected Ha subs on one pane of the H&S mosaic. I think it is up to us to check jobs now we can review exactly what was submitted with the submissions table.

Hi,

Having just looked at the skies forecast for the next week it is not looking good for any targets in the current job queue that are setting. Looking at the job queue with that in mind I've found 5 such submissions of which 2 need to be removed.

P14 coor 347 - this is the Tadpoles nebula and I'd be grateful if the 1 hours worth of data so far collected be downloaded, then the job removed. This was replaced by submission 995 on March 25.

P14 coor 985 - this is part of the Heart & Soul mosaic and was replaced by submission 999 on March 28.

This leaves 3 setting targets in the job queue, 

878 p14 ic443 009 - Jellyfish nebula - 3 hours remaining  [maximum  2.5 hours]

961 P14 ngc2264 0998 - Cone nebula - 3 hours remaining [maximum 2.5 hours]

P14 coor 830 - Rosette nebula - 5 hours remaining [maximum 2 hours]

The 'maximum hours' cited within the brackets [ ] are the approximate hours available, from this evening, that each target can be imaged between the start of astronomical dark and  transition below the imaging limit of 25 degrees. Each passing day this will reduce. Remember each of those 3 will compete against each other for any available time. 

This is a one-off situation caused by a long run of bad weather.

Any questions, suggestions  or disagreements please reply.

Cheers,

Ray

Afternoon Ray

The forecast at present seems to be improving So for a week or so I am inclined to leave as be in case we can get them done, how do you feel about this ?
However I will acquiesce to your wishes  if you decide to stick with your previous suggestion

I hope the forecast stays like this now the Moon is going away as it means we can get some imaging done

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info, however, looking at a more detailed forecast the skies appear more favourable after midnight.
If you wouldn't mind removing those because Richard has re-submitted both  as 2 pane mosaics for when they start rising again. These were both originally part of mosaics from which one of each pane has already been removed, these were left behind. Remember it was a rather confusing state of affairs at one time and I'm not surprised these were missed. 

You can wait for confirmation from Richard before actioning as we have a few days in hand. 

Unless it's a state secret AND you don't mind sharing, when are you off to sunny Spain. Remember, if you do decide to spend a day at the beach, mask wearing is now mandatory. I read this yesterday, so not a joke, however, I was a bit sceptical when someone mentioned the need to wear one whilst swimming? I suppose you could flout that rule by wearing one in place of swimming trunks instead.

Cheers,

Ray 

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info, however, looking at a more detailed forecast the skies appear more favourable after midnight.
If you wouldn't mind removing those because Richard has re-submitted both  as 2 pane mosaics for when they start rising again. These were both originally part of mosaics from which one of each pane has already been removed, these were left behind. Remember it was a rather confusing state of affairs at one time and I'm not surprised these were missed. 

You can wait for confirmation from Richard before actioning as we have a few days in hand. 

Unless it's a state secret AND you don't mind sharing, when are you off to sunny Spain. Remember, if you do decide to spend a day at the beach, mask wearing is now mandatory. I read this yesterday, so not a joke, however, I was a bit sceptical when someone mentioned the need to wear one whilst swimming? I suppose you could flout that rule by wearing one in place of swimming trunks instead.

Cheers,

Ray 

Ray

As you say we have a few days to decide what to remove, I will await confirmation when you are ready

Fingers crossed between the 10-12th of this month, we have a few things we are waiting upon before leaving:

• Pete's first Covid injection[/*]
My 2nd Covid injection[/*]
Testing of 2x Paramounts[/*]
Pete is working on the new 14" F3.3[/*]
Finishing the new ASA 12n with OSC camera[/*]
Arrival of new 174m guiders for piers 1 2 3 12 13[/*]
Delivery confirmation of the Kepler being delivered to Spain (Pier-8)[/*]
lots to pack and get ready[/*]
Phil is building new latest gen i7 PC's with large SSD's for 5 piers because the older i5 PC's are not liking some of the huuuge CMOS zips we are doing plus we are trying to get continuity in what PC's we use in case of a failure
[/*]
• not to mention sorting out ENS stuff so it runs smooth while I am away
  
[/*]

On top of this the Covid situation is very fluid on the continent at present and we are really hoping France stays open long enough to drive down as this is by far the easiest solution, if needed we will get the boat back as I feel France will have shut up shop and the UK will "redzone" it while we are away

Me in trunks on a beach, they outlawed Whaling years ago

Hi,

I wish that I'd waited until today and the latest Job Queue list instead of posting yesterday, because things just became more complicated. In a nutshell '3 birds in the hand are better than 5 in the bush', as it were, has just become '3 birds in the hand are better than 11 in the bush'. Unless that imaging algorithm has some kind of crystal ball and is capable of carrying out a risk assessment, we may well end up with nothing over the next few weeks.

The reason you cannot fathom out what I'm on about is not down to you, just the case that I find it very difficult to explain things in writing.

Cheers,

Ray

There was a small win last night, about 30 minutes captured for the Cone nebula, ngc2264.