Drain campaign: spend the balance by 10 Aug, then close the account

User decision 2026-07-18: use the full 2,638-point balance on southern
imaging, then cancel the membership before the 12 Aug renewal (GBP 32).
CAMPAIGN.md holds the plan: policy facts that force the order (points are
non-refundable and unusable without an active subscription, per support
article 142963), a three-phase allocation shaped by the moon (dark-night
LRGB now and 3-10 Aug, narrowband through the bright 24 Jul - 2 Aug week),
a per-session ledger to reconcile against account/history.aspx, the 10 Aug
data-download-then-cancel endgame, and the rule that the cancellation POST
itself is never submitted without explicit user confirmation on the day.

plans/ngc6744-t59.txt is the first paid run (T59, L 15x300 Bin1 + RGB
7x300 Bin2, ~180 min imaging, ~240 pts), already uploaded to T59 and
verified byte-identical. PROJECT.md and TODO.md updated to make the drain
the active objective for any future session.

CAMPAIGN.md

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# Drain campaign: spend 2,638 points, then close the account
+
+Decision (2026-07-18): use the full points balance on southern imaging, then cancel
+the membership. Constraints and policy facts that shape the plan:
+
+- Balance 2,638 points; Plan-40 renews 12 Aug 2026 (GBP 32). Cancel BEFORE renewal.
+- Points cannot be refunded, and cannot be used without an active subscription
+  (support article 142963). So: drain first, cancel last, in that order.
+- **Cancellation target: 10 Aug 2026**, two days before renewal. Cancellation is
+  submitted via MyAccount/Cancel.aspx and requires explicit user confirmation on the
+  day; Claude must not submit it unprompted.
+- Rates: see the rate card in state/NOTES.md. Billing is per minute of imaging time.
+- Moon: bright nights roughly 24 Jul - 2 Aug (full ~29 Jul); dark again 5-12 Aug.
+  Full-moon week includes free access promotions; paid draining focuses on dark and
+  grey nights, narrowband carries the bright week.
+- Scope availability is volatile (much of Chile offline as of 18 Jul); re-check the
+  status line on go.itelescope.net before every session and substitute freely.
+
+## Session ledger
+
+Update after every run: date, scope, target, imaging minutes, points charged
+(from account/history.aspx), cumulative spend.
+
+| Date | Scope | Target | Plan file | Imaging | Est. pts | Actual pts | Notes |
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| 2026-07-19 | T33 | 47 Tuc | ngc104-test.txt | 17 min | 0 (free) | | first-light test |
+| 2026-07-19 | T59 | NGC 6744 | ngc6744-t59.txt | 180 min | ~240 | | first paid run |
+| 2026-07-20 | T33 | NGC 6752 | ngc6752.txt | 17 min | 0 (free) | | |
+
+## Planned allocation (~2,600 points, adapt as scopes/weather allow)
+
+**Phase 1, dark nights now - 23 Jul (~1,030 pts):**
+- T59 NGC 6744 LRGB, 3 h, ~240 (scheduled 19 Jul)
+- T32 Centaurus A LRGB, 2 h, ~292: early UK-afternoon window while it is high
+- T8 Corona Australis dust complex LRGB, 2 h, ~260
+- T70 (Chile) Scorpius tail / Prawn super-wide LRGB, 2 h, ~238
+
+**Phase 2, bright nights 24 Jul - 2 Aug (~440 pts, narrowband only):**
+- T59 NGC 6188 in Ha/OIII/SII 5nm, 3 h total, ~240
+- T8 Ha on the Cat's Paw / War and Peace field, 1.5 h, ~195
+- Plus any full-moon free promotions for clusters (cost 0, not part of the drain)
+
+**Phase 3, dark nights 3 - 10 Aug (~1,130 pts):**
+- T8 SMC + 47 Tucanae in one frame, 3 h LRGB, ~390: the signature shot, SMC well
+  placed in the second half of the SSO night by August
+- T8 or T59 Large Magellanic Cloud attempt if it clears the elevation limits late
+  in the window; otherwise Tarantula on T32, 2 h, ~292
+- Remainder (~450): best-of list: repeat the strongest target for more depth, or
+  Chile scopes (T71 106/hr, T73 224/hr) if they return from maintenance: Tarantula
+  and NGC 1313 preferred. Aim to land the balance under ~50 points.
+
+**10 Aug: verify balance is near zero, download ALL data from data.itelescope.net,
+then (with explicit user confirmation) cancel via MyAccount/Cancel.aspx.**
+
+## Operational notes
+
+- Every paid session follows plans/README.md (walk-in when idle; same ACP flow as
+  the free scopes). Upload plans the day before where possible.
+- Cron jobs live only in an open Claude session; if a day's session has no live
+  session to fire it, the user prompts "run today's drain session" and any session
+  picks it up from this file plus state/TODO.md.
+- Bad-data protection: iTelescope refunds points for weather-ruined runs on
+  request; check each session's images before marking the ledger final.
+- Final data sweep before cancellation: everything on data.itelescope.net AND the
+  per-scope /images/qisback/ folders.

plans/ngc6744-t59.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+;
+; NGC 6744 paid session on T59 for qisback
+; L 15x300s Bin1, RGB 7x300s each Bin2.
+; 180 min imaging = ~240 pts at Plan-40 rate 80/hr before moon discount.
+;
+#largepreviews
+#tiff
+#count 15,7,7,7
+#interval 300,300,300,300
+#binning 1,2,2,2
+#filter Luminance,Red,Green,Blue
+NGC6744	19.162833	-63.857500
+#shutdown

state/PROJECT.md

@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@
 A reference and review of the iTelescope.net remote telescope network: what each
 telescope is, what it is good at, and which one to book for a given kind of target.
 
+Since 2026-07-18 the active objective is the drain campaign (CAMPAIGN.md): spend
+the account's 2,638 points on southern-sky imaging by 10 Aug 2026, download all
+data, then cancel the membership before the 12 Aug renewal. Cancellation needs
+explicit user confirmation on the day.
+
 ## Scope
 
 - In scope: reviews and spec tables for every telescope on the iTelescope network,

state/TODO.md

@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@
   plans/ngc6752.txt (uploaded to T33, verified) if the 47 Tuc test succeeded,
   otherwise retries ngc104-test.txt. Whichever session runs must record its
   outcome here and in NOTES so the other knows.
+- DRAIN CAMPAIGN ACTIVE (see CAMPAIGN.md): spend the full balance by 10 Aug,
+  then cancel before the 12 Aug renewal (user confirmation required for the
+  cancel itself). First paid run: NGC 6744 on T59 (plans/ngc6744-t59.txt,
+  uploaded and verified), scheduled 2026-07-19 after the free test, ~240 pts.
+  Update the CAMPAIGN.md ledger after every session from account/history.aspx.
 
 ## Pending