Merge pull request 'Book a short-exposure core set for Cen A, and make it a campaign habit' (#16) from hdr-core-booking into main

CAMPAIGN.md

@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ actual bill, and treat any not-yet-observed scope's card rate as +/-60%.
 | 749230 | T8 | 26 Jul | 21:35-23:55 | catspaw-t8.txt | ~146 (25% moon disc.) | still booked |
 | 749302 | T32 | 21 Jul | 18:50-21:50 | cena-t32.txt | ~350 (x1.6 rate, 25% moon disc.) | COMPLETED, billed 160. EVENING slot: T32 has a 35 deg elevation floor and Cen A culminates ~17:10 before dark, sinking to 11 deg by the old 00:35 slot (which could never have run). Ran 18:50-21:16, finishing 34 min early (plan complete, not a fault); images landed under /images/qisback/T32/NGC5128 |
 | (id not captured) | T8 | 22 Jul | 21:45-00:45 | cra-t8.txt | ~250 | booked + MySummary-verified 2026-07-21 11:45 UTC. This is queue #2 finally placed: see the resolution note below. Runs 11:45-14:45 UTC 22 Jul |
+| (id not captured) | T32 | 22 Jul | 18:50-19:50 | hdrcore-t32.txt | ~25 | booked + MySummary-verified 2026-07-21 13:30 UTC. HDR core set for the 21 Jul Cen A data, whose nucleus is saturated: see the note below. Runs 08:50-09:50 UTC 22 Jul, immediately before the T8 run that night |
 | 749314 | T33 | 21 Jul | 00:05-00:50 | ngc104-test.txt | 0 (free) | booked + grid-verified 2026-07-21 08:55 UTC. 47 Tuc first-light retry, third attempt. Runs 14:05-14:50 UTC 21 Jul. Reschedule flag again No (free scopes never rebook) |
 
 The T33 first-light test is now on its THIRD booking (749314); the two prior free
@@ -102,6 +103,24 @@ Verify every booking via Edit.aspx?id= probing (sequential ids), NOT the grid.
 | 5 | GRAS008 | 2026-08-08T02:35:00 | 2026-08-08T06:05:00 | 2:35 AM | 6:05 AM | smc47tuc-t8.txt | ~390 |
 | 6 | GRAS032 | 2026-08-09T03:05:00 | 2026-08-09T06:05:00 | 3:05 AM | 6:05 AM | tarantula-t32.txt | ~365 |
 | 7 | (T70, blocked: server unreachable) | night TBD before 5 Aug | ~2.5h | | | scorpius-t70.txt (in scratch, re-upload needed) | ~238 |
+| 8 | BOOKED 2026-07-21 for 22 Jul 18:50-19:50 (see table above) | | | | | hdrcore-t32.txt | ~25 |
+
+### Short-exposure core sets are now part of the campaign
+
+The 21 Jul Cen A data came back with a saturated nucleus: a single 300 s
+luminance sub reads 65313 ADU in the core, so the deep stack is clipped there
+and no amount of processing recovers it. plans/hdrcore-t32.txt is the fix, an
+exposure ladder (L 8x60s, 8x15s, 8x5s, RGB 5x30s, all BIN2 to match) that
+blends in under the clipped core. It costs about 25 points, roughly a sixth of
+what the deep run cost, and the same trick applies to any bright target.
+
+**Apply this to the rest of the queue.** NGC 6744 (already shot, 19 Jul) has a
+bright nucleus and probably needs the same treatment; 47 Tuc and the SMC
+(queue #5) certainly will, since a globular cluster core saturates fast. Before
+each remaining bright-target run, budget an extra ~25 points and an hour of
+reservation quota for a matching short set, and cut the ladder from the deep
+plan's exposure rather than guessing: shortest sub = deep sub / 60 is what was
+used here.
 
 ### Session 2026-07-21 ~08:55 UTC (booking round run early, before Cen A ran)
 

plans/hdrcore-t32.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+;
+; Centaurus A (NGC 5128) HDR core set on T32 for qisback - drain campaign
+; Companion to cena-t32.txt (2026-07-21, 24x300s LRGB BIN2), whose nucleus is
+; saturated: the core reaches 65313 ADU in a single 300s luminance sub.
+; This is the short-exposure ladder to blend under that core.
+; L 8x60s, 8x15s, 8x5s spans a 60x range below 300s; RGB 5x30s gives the
+; nucleus colour. BIN2 throughout so the frames register to the deep stack
+; without rescaling. 18.2 min imaging total.
+;
+#largepreviews
+#tiff
+#count 8,8,8,5,5,5
+#interval 60,15,5,30,30,30
+#binning 2,2,2,2,2,2
+#filter Luminance,Luminance,Luminance,Red,Green,Blue
+NGC5128	13.424333	-43.019139
+#shutdown

state/TODO.md

@@ -42,6 +42,11 @@
   two prior free reservations (749228, 749229) expired unused with reschedule=No;
   if 749314 also fails to run, stop rebooking and either walk it in (POST
   plan.asp per plans/README.md) or drop the free objective.
+- HDR core set on T32 runs 08:50-09:50 UTC 22 Jul (plans/hdrcore-t32.txt, ~25
+  pts). Verify after 09:50 UTC, then download and blend it under the saturated
+  core of the 21 Jul Cen A stack. The processing pipeline for that stack lives
+  in the user's Downloads\NGC5128\20260721\stacked\scripts folder, not in this
+  repo, with METHODS.md alongside it.
 - CrA on T8 runs 11:45-14:45 UTC 22 Jul. Verify after 14:45 UTC: images under
   /images/qisback/T8/ on t8.itelescope.net:8008, then the actual bill from
   account/history.aspx into the ledger. This is the first T8 bill, so it also