David's Astronomy - Notes 2013-12-28 (S00559)

Discrepancies have been noticed in the Guide Calibration calibration results reported by CCDSoft for the Main Imaging Chip and Guiding Chip of ST-10XME camera.
The results are not in line with a 7.4/6.8 ratio as expected (guide pixel size [TC-237] / main chip pixel size [KAF-3200]). This is of concern since I normally calibration using the Main Chip and plan to autoguide using the Guide chip. This is on the basis that results are automatically corrected by CCDSoft for different chips and not problem have been noted in the past. It's not absolutely clear that the current discrepancy will produce any unexpected guiding results - it could just be a reporting issue/bug relating to selecting "SBIG with AO (ST-7/8/9/10/2K/4K, STL)" camera. However to eliminate any property issue with the Guide Chip itself a series of measurement were made in the vicinity of the star HIP 22449.

Main Chip
- Pixel Size (Main Chip) : 6.8 micrometers (from KAF- 3200E spec)
- Image Scale (Main Chip) : 1.328 arc sec/pixel at 3x3 binning - equivalent to 0.4427 arc sec/pixel at 1x1 binning

Guide Chip
- Pixel Size (Guide Chip) : 7.4 micrometers (from TC-237 spec)
- Image scale on Guide chip: 0.962 arc sec/pixel at 2x2 binning - equivalent to 0.481 arc sec/pixel at 1x1 binning
- Calculated Pixel Size (Guide Chip) : 7.39 micrometers (from 0.481/0.4427 * 6.8)
Although a star-field was select which would show several stars on the Guide Chip, it was not possible to get a plate solution for the Guide Image, and therefore the image scale was manually determined)

Guide Chip Placement
- Centre-to-Centre Chip Distance 9.19mm (ST-10XME Specification)
- Apparent Centre-to-Centre Distance : 9.98 arc mins based 9.19mm distance and 0.4427 arc sec/pixel image scaling.

- Measured Centre to Centre Distance : 10.8 arc mins
- Inferred Actual Centre-To-Centre Distance: 9.95 mm

Measured Centre-To-Centre Distance is greater than that expected from the specification and expected by the "standard" Field Of View reference for "SBIG ST-10E + ST-237" in TheSky. To get the correct placement of the Guide Chip the Field of View Reference was updated to widen the offset between Guide and Main Chip. A slight lateral correction 0.25 arc min was also required to get the best corrected FOV representation of Guide Chip relative to Main Chip.

Collimation Check

3 frames covering a rich starfield (150-200 stars) area of M37 where analysed to assess collimation of the LX200 scope. The collimation was determined to be fairly good - between 9.4 and 15.0". Whilst it might seem a slight improvement could be made, probable flexure in the optical train is likely to limit the overall success of any attempted tweak. Indeed a tweak is as likely to make things worse as much as better.

Polar Alignment Drift Checks

Tracking Rate Checks

2013-12-29 to 2013-12-30

Oculus All-Sky Camera - First Light Tests

An Oculus All Sky Camera was my gift from Santa Claus this year. The camera has a 180 deg fisheye lens.

Oculus All-Sky Camera - Installation

The Oculus All Sky Camera was installed in permanent position adjacent to my observatory, where it can have access to computer control, internet and power. The height of the camera dome was chosen to be at a level which was just above the highest point on the observatory roof. The observatory already has good near 360/180 degree view of the sky and generally out of direct lighting so it was going to be a good site for the Sky Camera.

A wooden post hung of the side of the shed observatory was most practical method of installation and was knocked together from existing material and put in place in under 2 hours. The USB cable for sky camera and a 12V lead for dew heater is passed through a small hole in the observatory wall and was ready for "First Light" that same evening. The next day it was found that rainwater had ran down the cables onto the observatory fall during overnight rain. The cables where tied and looped in a way that any rainwater will drain off first and the hole fully plugged.

Oculus All-Sky Camera - First Light , Permanent Position

Oculus All Sky Camera was installed in permanent position adjacent to observatory, where it can have access to computer control, internet and power. Eventually an old laptop will be used to continually monitor the sky in nighttime hours, but for time being the Oculus camera is run form my main laptop when sky is reasonably clear(ish) is and I'm not using the laptop for imaging through my LX200 telescope or other use.

Oculus All-Sky Camera - Calibration

Oculus All Sky Camera use a wide angle fisheye lens. A range of calibration will be need in order optimise information from the camera. The first one being worked in calibration of the fish eye optics to allow astrometric measurement to be made., and stars/objects to be identified..

2014-01-01 to 2014-01-10

All-Sky Imaging - Software

Whilst the Oculus All Sky Camera comes with software (Oculus_USB) that enable it to connect to the camera, take a series of all-sky images and combine them (or at least up to 1000 images) into an AVI file, and do a range of imaging processing tasks on a single image, it didn't do a number of crucial operations that I wanted, nor did it provide opportunity to access camera/image objects from an outside script/shell program which I'm accustomed to. This was not a particular issue as there a driver plug-in for CCDSoft called "Starlight Xpress SXV Plug In.dll" available at Starlight XPress Downloads section : http://www.sxccd.com/downloads/ccdsoft.zip, and had CCDApp2 VB.Net 2010 program which I could extend to operate the Oculus camera and the ability/fortitude to write additional software to do the tasks that I wanted.

The software tasks that I have so far written, or have still have scheduled to write are listed below :

No	Task	Intended Benefit	Description	Comments
1	Prove operation of Oculus Camera operation from CCDSoft	Operating Oculus from CCDSoft enables Camera & Image objects to be exposed and thus controllable by external script/program.	a) Starlight Xpress SXV Plug In.dll" downloaded from Starlight XPress Downloads section, and saved in "C:\Program Files\Software Bisque\CCDSoft Version 5\Camera Plug Ins" folder. b) CCDSoft opened and "Starlight XPress SXV Series" selected as Camera pulldown list on Camera Control/Setup tab c) Oculus camera connected to from CCDSoft and Images taken of different exposure length either single frames or part of a series of multiple frames. Camera disconnected.	Done. 2013-Dec-27
2	Add All-Sky Imaging section to my CCDApp2 program	Provide a frontend for development of routines to operate the All-Sky Camera	a) Additional Button added to CCDApp2 Main Window to access "All-Sky Camera" b) Tab added on ObsConsole Window with buttons to Connect to Camera, Take Image, Take Image Series etc	Done. 2013-Dec-27
3	Develop Automated All-Sky Imaging Routine	Provide routine to take series of images from dusk to dawn each night	a) TheSky software is accessed to find Sunset, Sunrise time (plus other things such as Sun position and Moon position and phase) b) the routine reads the exposure time from an input field (30s default) and takes sequence of images between sunset and sunrise, transferring each image to a custom image viewer c) the routine pauses at sunrise, and waits until Sunrise this next evening to resume imaging again After the first pass routine was written and tested enhancements were then quickly added to permit automatic adjustment of exposure time as light conditions change (e.g. after sunset, before sunrise), automatic adjustment of contrast/range, automated annotation of the image, automated operations on the image (e.g subtracting the last image to creating a difference image), automated star identification and labelling. The routine suffers from a significant memory leakage issue whereby the physical memory used by CCDSoft increases with each image taken. A solution to this hasn't yet been found but for the time being a workaround is employed which automatically kicks in when CCDsoft memory reaches 500,000 KB which kills CCDSoft process, then restarts CCDSoft, reconnects to All-Sky Camera and then continues the imaging.	Done 2013-Dec-28
4	Automated Exposure Adjustment	Different exposures are necessary to capture appropriate detail under different light conditions (long at night, shorter during evening and morning twillight).	a) Exposure times at sunset automatically start with 0.08 s images and lengthen to the user specified exposure as the sky darkens. b) In the morning exposures automatically shorten as the sky lightens, eventually reaching 0.08s (from trying different exposure lengths 0.08s is the minimum exposure time under bright conditions, less than this (actually less than 0.079s) the image quality significantly deteriorates. Routine does this by looking at the Sky ADU value in an area around zenith and then adjusts exposure factor so that ADU is less than a specified amount. To preserve the overall imaging frequency (at say 1 frame every 30s or so) the routine is paused by the length of time the exposure is shortened by. SO with 30s standard exposure, morning/early evening exposures of 0.08s are followed by a pause of 29.92s duration. Tests show that sky does brighten informally when there is moving cloud near the horizon where sun is rising or at zenith, which produced undesirable brighter and darker frames. The routine was adjusted so that exposures once shortened were lengthened again.	Done 2014-Jan-02
5	Asynchronous Camera Operation	Asynchronous camera operation allow a image to be analysed, displayed, annotated and further manipulated whilst the next image is being taken.	a) imaging routine adjusted to place Camera.Asynchronous = 1 command before images with exposures of >= 15s b) after processing/display is completed on the previous image the routine then waits for the camera to finish taking the next image before proceeding. Routine generally worked ok during initial tests, but would intermittently fail to process certain frames or mix up the file renaming section. Eventually this was tracked down to a particular condition where camera has finished taking the next image, before processing/display of the previous image had finished. The routine was updated to recognize this condition and act appropriately. Whilst this improved the situation failures still occasionally occur which continue to be investigated.	Done but with some continuing issues 2014-Jan-09
6	Annotated Image Display	Appropriate annotation of the AllSky image enhances its value as a record of the sky and any accompanying atmospheric or astronomical event.	a) Image displayed in ImageViewer at a default scaling of 75% (this presents the original 1x1 binned image of 1392 x 1040 pixels in a more convenient sized image that is 1044x780 pixels) b) The Sky View (180 deg) is surrounded by a white outer circle representing the horizon, beyond which a thick 200 pixel wide Black Circular line is used to cover up unwanted glare from approaching daylight or bright lights. c) cardinal compass points marked & labelled. Black margin added at top and base of image to facilitate posting of E and We compass direction. d) Location, time/date of image (LT, UT and LST) added to side of image along with details such as image number, exposure length, binning, zenith brightness e) brightest stars in image (not covered by clouds) are labeled Enhancements were subsequently added to show key weather station data (wind, temperature) and star positions/names and optionally constellation lines.	Done 2014-Jan-02
7	Image Calibration (incl fisheye lens projection)	Inage calibration allow specific X/Y position in the image to be converted to Az/Alt position and vice versa.	a) First pass involved orientating the long axis of the camera's chip in an approximately N-S direction and assuming idealized equidistant projection (where there is a linear relationship between Radius and Zenith Angle), b) calculating expected Az/Alt position of a list of bright stars based on image time/date (LST) and site location using TheSky, camera orientation c) matching the expected Az/Alt position to the nearest star-like object in a number of cloudless images (with different LST the image and exporting results to a table. d) using the mismatch between simply calculated star positions and actual star positions to define the precise orientation of the camera, precise zenith position in the image and a polynomial equation (3 terms) to more accurately convert between radial distance and zenith angle (90-Altitude)	Done 2014-Jan-02
8	Record Annotated and Analysed Image Files as JPEG's	JPEGs provide a convenient and ready access for viewing allsky image the next day, for analysis at a later date or for building a AVI video file	4 jpeg images are saved for each FITS image taken - Normal Image at 75% scale with star labels - Normal Image at 75% scale without star labels - Normal Image at 50% scale without star labels - Difference from Last Image at 75% scale	Done 2014-Jan-06
9	FTP Upload of images to Website	Upload of all-sky images allow remote viewing of weather conditions at my observatory site and/or viewing by others with interest in All-Sky imaging.	a) routine developed to upload the current annotated image in view to the my astronomy website b) not yet complete - automate the upload of allsky image at regular time intervals c) not yet complete - create a web page to display latest and recent images of the sky, including an animated dislay of recent images	In progress 2014-Jan-17
10	Weather Station Data	Understanding of sky/cloud changes might be enhanced by a corresponding understanding of changing weather station data (and vice versa)	a) Image acquisition and display routine updated to access Weather Station data using method already established in CCDApp2 program for regular CCD imaging. Involves reading Port 4001 for weather data records written by a Weather Station repeater program residing on a different computer b) weather station data written to FITS files as keywords and posted on JPEG All-Sky images as annotation c) wind direction	Done 2014-Jan-06
11	Wind Direction Arrow	Understanding of wind patterns improved by tying cloud movements with ground level wind direction.	Wind direction marked as arrow on the circumference of the AllSky view. Initial tests show that the wind direction from weather station's wind vane is often very irregular and jumps around a lot. To reduce this the display is based on a 5 minute moving average wind direction.	Done 2014-Jan-17
12	Constellation Lines Display	Communication of star positions may be aided by showing an drawing dotted constellation lines over the top of the image	a) routine added to read in Thomas Bisque's file of constellation lines for Astronomy Mazine (a sequence of LINE TO and MOVE To star positions) i b) routine added to convert Ra/Dec positions of each line end point to Az/Alt values (using TheSky utilities) and then XY plot position and plot each line on the ImageViewer picture c) check box added to flag constellation lines for plotting or not plotting. The process of determing az/alt positions from Ra/Dec positions is relatively slow and to speed the routine the file of constellation lines was edited to remove constellations not visible from my site in Scotland . Despite this process is still fairly slow and the plottimg of constellations is not enabled during realtime image acquisition.	Done 2014-Jan-17
13	Cursor Position	Display Az/Alt, Ra/Dec at the current cursor position	Using calibration, XY is converted to Az/Alt Ra/Dec is then calculated from Az/Alt using TheSky's Utils.ConvertAzAltToRADec routine	Done 2014-Jan-22
13	Az/Alt and Ra/Dec Lines Display	Display of az/alt, Ra/dec lines and elliptical lines	Not yet implemented	Still Pending 2014-Jan-17
14	Meteor Mode	Meteor observation requires a faster acquisition and display mode than general All-Sky imaging	Not yet implemented. Ideas are: - faster image rate - reduced sky area (faster download ?) - display of 100% scale images (instead of 75%) - display with higher contrast - side by side display of normal image and difference image	Still Pending 2014-Jan-17

	2013-12-28
	Guide Chip Image Scale, Pixel Size and Placement
	Collimation Check
	Polar Alignment Drift Check
	Tracking Rate Checks

	2013-12-29 to 2013-12-30
	Oculus All-Sky Camera - First Light Tests
	Oculus All-Sky Camera - Installation
	Oculus All-Sky Camera - First Light, Permanent Position
	Oculus All-Sky Camera - Calibration

	2014-01-01 to 2014-01-10
	All-Sky Imaging - Software

	Images from 2013-12-28 >>

Image on Main Chip (3x3 binning, 75% size) Image Scale 1.328 arc sec/pixel (from Plate Solution)		Image on Guide Chip (2x2 binning, 100% size) Image Scale 0.962 arc sec/pixel (from Manual Measurements)

Main Chip CCD Image (75% size, North Down) 10s exp, 3x3 binning, C Filter 2013-12-28 21:59hUT (#559003) 12" LX200R (at f/10.4) + ST-10XME		Guide Chip CCD Image (75% size, North Down) 5s exp, 2x2 binning, C Filter 2013-12-28 21:59hUT (445) 12" LX200R (at f/10.4) + ST-10XME

Separation distances between pairs of stars were determined using TheSky software (in arc secs) and compared to the XY separation distances (in pixels) measured on the image. This gave average image scale of 0.962 +/- 0.004 arc sec/pixel.

FOV original		FOV after correcting Guide Chip Offset


Guide Chip Offset - Original		Guide Chip Offset - Post Adjustment

First Light Test (Indoors) - 2013-12-27		First Light Test (Outdoors on Tripod) - 2013-12-28

0.1s exposure, 2x2 binning, 55% scale (#06)		20s exposure, 1x1 binning, 27% scale (#00000001)

First Light Test (Outdoors on Tripod) - 2013-12-28 Aeroplane trail		First Light Test (Handheld ) - 2013-12-28 Handheld close to planned permanent position

20s exposure, 1x1 binning, 27% scale (#00000053)		20s exposure, 1x1 binning, 27% scale (#00000070)

Software written to collect series of images from Oculus Camera via CCDSoft and create JPEG image an automatically add annotation

20s exposure, 1x1 binning, 75% scale (#00000070) Oculus All-Sky Camera, 180° lens / Handheld

This Web Page:	Notes - Session 559 (2013-12-28)
Last Updated :	2015-05-15
Site Owner :	David Richards
Home Page :	David's Astronomy Web Site

Pictures of Installed All Sky Camera (2013-12-29)

David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 559 (2013-12-28)

2013-12-28

Guide Chip Image Scale, Pixel Size and Placement