Merge pull request 'Correct the saturated-nucleus claim and cancel the booking it justified' (#17) from correct-core-saturation into main

The previous commit asserted that the 21 Jul Centaurus A data came back
with a saturated nucleus, and booked a short-exposure core set on T32 to
fix it. The assertion was wrong.

It came from taking the maximum pixel inside a 300 x 300 px box centred
on the frame. That measures the brightest thing near the middle of the
image, which is not the same as measuring the galaxy. The 65313 ADU
belonged to a foreground star 128 px (69 arcsec) from the nucleus, well
inside the box. Median filtering the inner 800 x 800 px to remove stars
leaves the galaxy peaking at 1944 ADU, roughly a thirtieth of the clip
level, with not one star-free pixel above 30000 ADU anywhere in that box.
The brightest pixel in the whole frame is at the right-hand edge, 2370 px
from centre.

The core looked blown in the processed image because of the stretch, not
the sensor: the white point sat at the 99.995th percentile, a level set
by field stars, so the galaxy's entire range from a 7 ADU sky to a 1944
ADU peak was compressed into the top few percent of the tone curve.
Re-rendering the same frames with a second curve scaled to the galaxy
recovered the core completely, with no new data.

The T32 reservation has been cancelled without running, so it cost
nothing. The other three reservations were verified intact afterwards
and quota is back to 6:05 of 8:00. plans/hdrcore-t32.txt stays in the
repo and on the scope: 47 Tuc and the SMC may genuinely saturate, a
dense cluster core being the fastest thing there is to clip, and the
ladder is ready if they do.

The corrected habit is recorded in CAMPAIGN.md: measure whether a core is
saturated before buying time to fix it, filtering stars out of the
measurement first. The check takes a minute and would have saved this
whole detour.

TODO.md also records a second result that affects future planning: the
faint outer halo of that stack is limited by the sky-plane subtraction,
which absorbed about 17.9 ADU/px of real halo light, rather than by
exposure time. More integration alone would not have gone deeper.

CAMPAIGN.md

@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+# 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) | DID NOT RUN | reservation 749228 expired unused: no images, no logs on T33 (checked 20 Jul); grid shows reschedule=No despite the flag being set at booking |
+| 2026-07-19 | T59 | NGC 6744 | ngc6744-t59.txt | 180 min | ~240 (0% moon disc. until 21 Jul) | **381** | SUCCESS (txn 851148): ran 00:05:22-03:29:56 SSO, Time Used 3h24m32s, 0% moon disc. Full dataset on scope server: L 15x300s BIN1, RGB 7x300s each BIN2; previews checked, round stars, galaxy clean: no refund case. Effective rate ~112 pts/hr of WALL time (not the 80/hr imaging-time estimate: see NOTES rate correction) |
+| 2026-07-20 | T33 | NGC 6752 | ngc6752.txt | 17 min | 0 (free) | DID NOT RUN | reservation 749229 expired unused: no images, no logs (checked 20 Jul 20:30 UTC, after window) |
+| 2026-07-21 | T32 | Centaurus A | cena-t32.txt | 120 min | ~350 (x1.6 model) | **160** | SUCCESS (txn 851344): ran 18:50:24-21:16:19 SSO local (08:50-11:16 UTC), Time Used 2h25m55s, 25% moon discount. Images present: /images/qisback/T32/NGC5128 on t32.itelescope.net:8032. Came in at 0.46x the x1.6 model, i.e. LESS than the original estimate: see the rate correction below |
+
+Cumulative spend: 541. Balance after (verified GetAccountStatus 2026-07-21
+11:40 UTC): **2,097**.
+
+**Rate correction (2026-07-21, supersedes the 2026-07-20 x1.6 warning).** Two
+paid runs now bracket the question, and both bill EXACTLY the plan's imaging
+minutes, not wall-clock:
+
+| Scope | Plan imaging | Wall (Time Used) | Billed | Points per imaging hour |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| T59 | 180 min (36x300s) | 3h24m32s | 381 | **127** (0% moon) |
+| T32 | 120 min (24x300s) | 2h25m55s | 160 | **80** (25% moon) |
+
+381 = 3.00 h x 127 and 160 = 2.00 h x 80, both to the point. So billing is on
+imaging time as originally documented, and the wall-clock theory is dead. What
+is wrong is the rate card in NOTES.md: it lists T59 at 80/hr (actual 127) and
+T32 at 146/hr (actual 80 even after the 25% moon discount, so a base near
+107/hr). The two look transposed, but two samples cannot prove that. **Do not
+apply a blanket multiplier.** Derive each scope's effective rate from its first
+actual bill, and treat any not-yet-observed scope's card rate as +/-60%.
+
+## 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.
+
+## Booked reservations (all with plan attached + reschedule flag)
+
+| ID | Scope | Night of (SSO/obs local) | Slot | Plan | Est. pts | Status (2026-07-20) |
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| 749227 | T59 | 19 Jul | 00:05-03:45 | ngc6744-t59.txt | ~240 | COMPLETED, billed 381 |
+| 749228 | T33 | 19 Jul | 00:05-00:50 | ngc104-test.txt | 0 | EXPIRED unused (no run, no auto-reschedule) |
+| 749229 | T33 | 20 Jul | 00:05-00:50 | ngc6752.txt | 0 | EXPIRED unused (no run, no auto-reschedule) |
+| 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 | **CANCELLED 2026-07-21 ~15:00 UTC, never ran, 0 points spent.** Booked to fix a saturated Cen A nucleus; the nucleus is not saturated (see the correction below). Deleted from MySummary with the other three reservations verified intact afterwards; quota back to 6:05/8:00 |
+| 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
+reservations expired unused. If this one also fails to run, the problem is not the
+booking but the auto-start on free scopes: escalate to walk-in (POST plan.asp per
+plans/README.md) or drop the free-imaging objective.
+
+## Booking queue (blocked by the rolling 8-hour reservation allowance)
+
+Book in order as quota frees (a session completing releases its hours). Exact
+New.aspx parameters; all plans already uploaded and verified on their scopes.
+Verify every booking via Edit.aspx?id= probing (sequential ids), NOT the grid.
+
+| # | Scope id | start | end | start sel | end sel | Plan | Est. pts |
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| 1 | BOOKED as 749302 (see table above); the original 00:35 slot was an error, Cen A is an EVENING target (35 deg floor on T32) | | | | | cena-t32.txt | ~350 |
+| 2 | BOOKED 2026-07-21 for the night of 22 Jul, 21:45-00:45 (see table above); the 01:35 slot was blocked by hajo and low anyway | | | | | cra-t8.txt | ~250 |
+| 3 | GRAS059 | 2026-07-25T20:35:00 | 2026-07-25T23:55:00 | 8:35 PM | 11:55 PM | ngc6188-haoiii-t59.txt | ~120 (disc.) |
+| 4 | GRAS059 | 2026-07-27T20:35:00 | 2026-07-27T23:05:00 | 8:35 PM | 11:05 PM | ngc6188-sii-t59.txt | ~90 (disc.) |
+| 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 | WITHDRAWN: booked then cancelled 2026-07-21, premise was wrong (see below) | | | | | hdrcore-t32.txt | 0 |
+
+### CORRECTION (2026-07-21): the Cen A nucleus was never saturated
+
+An earlier entry here claimed the 21 Jul Cen A data came back with a saturated
+nucleus, and booked a short-exposure core set on that basis. **The claim was
+wrong and the booking has been cancelled without running, at a cost of zero
+points.**
+
+The 65313 ADU figure came from taking the maximum pixel inside a 300 x 300 px
+box centred on the frame. That measures the brightest thing near the middle of
+the image, which is not the same as measuring the galaxy: it was a foreground
+star 128 px (69 arcsec) from the nucleus, sitting inside the box. Median
+filtering the inner 800 x 800 px to remove stars leaves the galaxy peaking at
+**1944 ADU**, about a thirtieth of the clip level, with **not one star-free
+pixel above 30000 ADU**. The core looked blown in the first processed image
+because of the display stretch, whose white point was set by field stars, and
+re-rendering the same data with a second tone curve scaled to the galaxy
+recovered it fully.
+
+**The habit that IS worth keeping, in corrected form:** before booking extra
+time to fix a saturated core, *measure whether it is saturated* - median-filter
+the inner region to remove stars first, and check where the frame's bright
+pixels actually are. The check costs a minute. 47 Tuc and the SMC (queue #5)
+may still genuinely saturate, a dense cluster core being the fastest thing there
+is to clip, so run the same measurement on their data before assuming either
+way. plans/hdrcore-t32.txt stays in the repo (and on T32) as a ready-made
+ladder if one of them turns out to need it.
+
+### Session 2026-07-21 ~08:55 UTC (booking round run early, before Cen A ran)
+
+Done this session: free T33 47 Tuc retry booked as 749314 (grid-verified). NOT
+done, both correctly deferred:
+- **Cen A verify**: 749302 had not run yet (starts 08:50 UTC, this session ran at
+  08:48). Verify after 11:50 UTC.
+- **cra-t8 (#2)**: blocked twice over. (1) Quota: Cen A holds 3h until it
+  completes ~11:50 UTC; with Cat's Paw (2h20m) + Cen A (3h) + T33 (45m) held,
+  under ~1h55m is free, not enough for a 3h slot. (2) Conflict: user hajo holds
+  T8 00:25-02:25 SSO local (res 749207), overlapping our planned 01:35-04:35.
+
+**cra-t8 resolution options** (pick with a live grid re-check when quota frees):
+- (a) Shift to 02:25-05:25 after hajo. Downside: Corona Australis culminates
+  ~22:30 SSO local, so by 02:25-05:25 it is 4-6.5h past meridian and low; poor.
+- (b) PREFERRED: move cra-t8 to the NEXT night, 2026-07-23T01:35-04:35 (night of
+  22 Jul SSO), same clock time, avoids hajo, keeps decent altitude. Re-check that
+  night's T8 grid first. One night's slip is fine inside the drain window.
+- (c) Earlier slot 21:25-00:25 (before hajo) is astronomically best but starts
+  11:25 UTC, before Cen A releases quota at 11:50; not bookable in time.
+
+The scheduled 12:13 UTC job (ae3af497) fires after Cen A completes: it should
+verify Cen A + bill, then book cra-t8 by option (b) unless the grid has changed
+(hajo may cancel, opening option (a)/original). At corrected (x1.6) rates the
+full remaining queue runs ~2,530 vs 2,257 balance (~270 over): once actual bills
+for Cen A and CrA land, trim Phase 3 (shorten Tarantula #6 or the SMC slot)
+to land the balance near zero.
+
+### Session 2026-07-21 ~11:40 UTC (Cen A verify + cra-t8 booked)
+
+Ran ahead of the 12:13 UTC scheduled job, after Cen A had finished at 11:16 UTC.
+
+- **Cen A verified**: completed, billed 160, NGC5128 images on the scope server.
+  Ledger and rate model updated (the x1.6 model is withdrawn: see the rate
+  correction above).
+- **cra-t8 booked**, but on a better slot than the deferred option (b). Probing
+  New.aspx for the original 01:35-04:35 returned "Conflicting reservation. Start
+  time must be later than 2:25 AM" (hajo, as predicted), confirming that option
+  (a) was all that remained on the night of 21 Jul, and it puts Corona Australis
+  3.5-6.5 h past the meridian. Instead the run went to the EVENING of the next
+  night: **2026-07-22T21:45 - 2026-07-23T00:45 SSO local**, which brackets the
+  ~22:30 culmination, so the whole 115 min of imaging happens near the zenith.
+  This is option (c)'s geometry on option (b)'s night; the reason (c) was
+  unbookable earlier (quota held by Cen A) had expired by the time Cen A
+  completed. Grid probing showed no conflict on either side of the slot.
+  Verified in Reservation/MySummary.aspx; quota now 6:50 / 8:00.
+- Moon on the night of 22 Jul is ~57% illuminated, the last usable night before
+  the bright-week narrowband phase. LRGB on a dust complex under a half moon is
+  a compromise, but the alternative is slipping a Phase 1 broadband target into
+  the bright week, which is worse.
+- Reservation id NOT captured: the confirm response carries only
+  `ModalStatic.result("OK")` and MySummary does not print ids. Nothing depends
+  on the id unless the booking must be edited or deleted, in which case find it
+  by probing Edit.aspx?id= around the current sequence (749314 was issued
+  ~08:55 UTC on 21 Jul).
+- Budget: 2,097 left, 19 nights to 10 Aug. Remaining queue at card rates is
+  roughly 1,300, which UNDER-spends by ~800. With the x1.6 model withdrawn, the
+  next planning session should add work rather than trim it: candidates are a
+  second narrowband night on T59 (observed 127/hr, the only scope with a
+  trustworthy rate), or extending the Phase 3 SMC and Tarantula runs, both of
+  which have the sky time to absorb longer plans.
+
+Substitution rules: if T71 returns to service, move #2 and #7 to T71 (faster
+f/2.8 optics, cheaper 106 pts/hr; re-cut the plans for 1.55"/px). If T70's
+server returns, book #7 as-is. Check the go.itelescope.net status line before
+each booking round. After #6, allocate the remaining balance (~450 pts) to a
+final deep session on the best-performing scope, sized to land under 50 pts.
+
+**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
+
+- Sessions are now RESERVED, not walk-in: upload the plan to the scope, then book
+  it at reservations.itelescope.net with the plan attached (procedure in
+  plans/README.md); iTelescope auto-starts the plan at reservation start and the
+  reschedule flag retries weather losses. Claude sessions monitor rather than
+  drive. T59 moon discount correction: 0% until 21 Jul, 25% from 22 Jul.
+- 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/README.md

@@ -63,3 +63,38 @@ stop well before dawn.
 
 Abort path if something looks wrong: the web UI exposes an abort on the console
 page; locate it live before starting exposures (not yet mapped).
+
+## Reservations (verified working 2026-07-18)
+
+Reservations live at http://reservations.itelescope.net ("Reservations Pilot"),
+reached from each scope's /ac/MenuItems/reservation-edit.asp iframe as
+`?t=<scope-id>&u=<username>` (scope ids look like GRAS059 for T59, GRAS033 for
+T33; full list in the resources JSON on go.itelescope.net/Reservation/Overview.aspx,
+whose embedded DayPilot events also show everyone's bookings, roof/sun times, and
+the moon discount per night). No separate login: it trusts the u= parameter once a
+session cookie exists.
+
+Creating one is a three-step WebForms dance against
+`New.aspx?start=<ISO local>&end=<ISO local>&r=<scope-id>` (times are OBSERVATORY
+LOCAL): (1) GET the form, (2) POST tokens + DropDownStartTime/DropDownEndTime
+(e.g. "12:05 AM"/"3:45 AM") + PlanToRunListBox=<plan file> + RescheduleCheckbox
++ ButtonRefreshPlans=Refresh Plans, which re-renders with Confirm enabled,
+(3) re-POST the fresh tokens with the same fields + ReservationOKButton=Confirm
+Reservation. Success = response script `ModalStatic.result("OK")` AND the booking
+appearing in the grid: the modal also says "OK" on silent failure, so ALWAYS
+re-fetch the grid and look for the reservation id + username.
+
+Availability probing (2026-07-21): a plain GET of
+`New.aspx?start=...&end=...&r=...` is a cheap, side-effect-free conflict check.
+The form comes back with the two time dropdowns populated for +/-60 min around
+the requested times, and if the slot collides with someone else's booking it
+also renders "Conflicting reservation. Start time must be later than H:MM AM".
+No message plus a full pair of dropdowns means the window is clear. This beats
+reading the DayPilot grid, whose event divs do not survive a plain
+Invoke-WebRequest fetch (they are rendered client-side).
+
+Rules learned: maximum reservation length 4:00; recommended duration 1.5x total
+imaging time; the attached plan is auto-started by iTelescope at reservation
+start (no walk-in POST needed); RescheduleCheckbox auto-rebooks the identical
+timeslot on the first available night of the next 30 if the run does not happen.
+Delete/edit via Edit.aspx?id=<reservation id> from the grid.

plans/catspaw-t8.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+;
+; Cat Paw NGC 6334 in Ha on T8 - phase 2 narrowband
+; Ha 9x600s Bin1. 90 min imaging. Bright moon OK.
+;
+#largepreviews
+#tiff
+#count 9
+#interval 600
+#binning 1
+#filter Ha
+NGC6334	17.340000	-36.116667
+#shutdown

plans/cena-t32.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+;
+; Centaurus A (NGC 5128) on T32 for qisback - drain campaign phase 1
+; L 12x300s, RGB 4x300s each. 120 min imaging.
+;
+#largepreviews
+#tiff
+#count 12,4,4,4
+#interval 300,300,300,300
+#binning 2,2,2,2
+#filter Luminance,Red,Green,Blue
+NGC5128	13.424333	-43.019139
+#shutdown

plans/cra-t8.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+;
+; Corona Australis dust complex on T8 for qisback - drain campaign phase 1
+; L 8x300s Bin1, RGB 5x300s each Bin2. 115 min imaging.
+;
+#largepreviews
+#tiff
+#count 8,5,5,5
+#interval 300,300,300,300
+#binning 1,2,2,2
+#filter Luminance,Red,Green,Blue
+CrA-complex	19.030000	-36.955000
+#shutdown

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

plans/ngc6188-haoiii-t59.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+;
+; NGC 6188 Fighting Dragons on T59, session A: Ha + OIII - phase 2 narrowband
+; Ha 6x600s, OIII 6x600s. 120 min imaging. Bright moon OK.
+;
+#largepreviews
+#tiff
+#count 6,6
+#interval 600,600
+#binning 1,1
+#filter Ha,OIII
+NGC6188	16.669167	-48.796667
+#shutdown

plans/ngc6188-sii-t59.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+;
+; NGC 6188 on T59, session B: SII + extra Ha - phase 2 narrowband
+; SII 6x600s, Ha 3x600s. 90 min imaging. Bright moon OK.
+;
+#largepreviews
+#tiff
+#count 6,3
+#interval 600,600
+#binning 1,1
+#filter SII,Ha
+NGC6188	16.669167	-48.796667
+#shutdown

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

plans/ngc6752.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+;
+; NGC 6752 (Pavo globular) free-session plan for qisback
+; L 4x120s, RGB 2x90s each, Bin2. ~17 min exposure, ~24 min with overhead.
+;
+#largepreviews
+#tiff
+#count 4,2,2,2
+#interval 120,90,90,90
+#binning 2,2,2,2
+#filter Luminance,Red,Green,Blue
+NGC6752	19.181111	-59.984444
+#shutdown

plans/scorpius-t70.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+;
+; Scorpius tail super-wide (Prawn/Cat Paw region) on T70 for qisback - phase 1
+; L 10x300s, RGB 4x300s each. 110 min imaging.
+;
+#largepreviews
+#tiff
+#count 10,4,4,4
+#interval 300,300,300,300
+#binning 1,1,1,1
+#filter Luminance,Red,Green,Blue
+Scorpius-tail	16.916667	-40.000000
+#shutdown

plans/smc47tuc-t8.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+;
+; SMC + 47 Tucanae in one T8 frame - phase 3 signature shot
+; L 8x300s Bin1, RGB 6x300s each Bin2. 130 min imaging. Dark of moon.
+;
+#largepreviews
+#tiff
+#count 8,6,6,6
+#interval 300,300,300,300
+#binning 1,2,2,2
+#filter Luminance,Red,Green,Blue
+SMC-47Tuc	0.650000	-72.500000
+#shutdown

plans/tarantula-t32.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+;
+; Tarantula Nebula NGC 2070 on T32 - phase 3
+; L 10x300s, RGB 5x300s each. 125 min imaging. Pre-dawn rising target.
+;
+#largepreviews
+#tiff
+#count 10,5,5,5
+#interval 300,300,300,300
+#binning 2,2,2,2
+#filter Luminance,Red,Green,Blue
+NGC2070	5.643333	-69.100000
+#shutdown

state/NOTES.md

@@ -35,3 +35,46 @@ Credentials live OUTSIDE this repo (local claudetemp, never commit them).
 - Weather per site: Weather/Weather.aspx?site=UDRO|SSO|DSC|SRO|AC|EYE.
 - Account: Plan-40 (GBP 32.00 per 28 days), renewal 12 Aug 2026, subscribed
   since Apr 2019, balance 2,638 points at recon time.
+
+## Rate card (2026-07-18, points per imaging hour, billed per minute)
+
+Extracted from MyAccount/UpdatePlan.aspx: each scope row carries
+data-default-rate (dark-of-moon base); effective rate = base x (1 -
+AccessDiscount from DataService GetMyAvailablePlans) x (1 - moon discount,
+server-side table keyed on illumination, not extracted yet). Plan-40 discount
+is 10% on most scopes, 20% on a few, 0% on the newest (T25, T26, T73, T74).
+
+Plan-40 rates before moon discount: T2 50, T5 68, T8 130, T10 146, T11 161,
+T14 97, T17 135, T18 81, T20 89, T21 76, T24 186, T25 322, T26 394, T30 161,
+T32 146, T33 0 (free), T59 80, T68 0 (free), T70 119, T71 106, T72 202,
+T73 224, T74 295, T75 202, T80 119.
+
+Standouts: T59 at 80/hr is the value big scope (20" CDK, square 37 arcmin
+field, 900 s subs); T5 at 68/hr the cheapest paid; T26 at 394/hr the dearest.
+Billing is per minute of imaging (exposure) time, so overhead is not billed.
+
+**RATE CORRECTION (2026-07-20, from the first real bill):** the paragraph above
+underestimates. T59 session 851148: 180 min of exposure, wall clock 00:05:22 to
+03:29:56 (3h24m34s), history "Time Used" 3h24m32s = WALL time, billed 381 points
+at 0% moon discount. That is ~112 pts/hr of wall time or ~127 pts/hr of exposure
+time, vs the 80/hr the card predicted. So either Time Used (wall clock) is what
+gets billed, or the card's data-default-rate is stale. Consequence: estimate
+sessions at rate x reserved-slot-length (slots run ~1.15-1.5x imaging time), i.e.
+multiply old exposure-based estimates by ~1.6 until more bills confirm the model.
+
+**RATE CORRECTION 2 (2026-07-21, second bill; SUPERSEDES the x1.6 rule above).**
+T32 session 851344: 120 min of exposure, Time Used 2h25m55s, 25% moon discount,
+billed 160. 160 = 2.00 h x 80 exactly, and the T59 bill is 381 = 3.00 h x 127
+exactly. Both land on the plan's IMAGING minutes to the point, and neither lands
+on wall time. So the wall-clock theory is dead and the original "billed per
+minute of exposure" documentation was right; what is wrong is the card's
+per-scope numbers. Observed effective rates: **T59 127/hr** (card said 80),
+**T32 80/hr even after a 25% moon discount**, implying a base near 107/hr (card
+said 146). The pair looks transposed, but two samples cannot prove it. Rules:
+do NOT apply any blanket multiplier; derive each scope's rate from its first
+real bill; until then treat a card rate as +/-60%; and compute estimates from
+the plan's exposure total, never from the reserved slot length.
+Paid imaging needs no reservation when a scope is idle: same walk-in ACP flow
+as the free scopes, points just deduct. Reservations (to guarantee a slot) go
+through lookup.itelescope.online, which is Cloudflare-protected: Playwright
+needed.

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

@@ -13,13 +13,68 @@
   from lat 51.5°N), matched to Q62/X07 scopes, seasonal booking calendar, and a
   July-August starter campaign (T33 free, T71 narrowband, T73 galaxy, T8 LMC later).
 
+## Done (recent)
+
+- 2026-07-20: NGC 6744 on T59 SUCCEEDED (reservation 749227, txn 851148): full
+  LRGB dataset on the scope server (L 15x300s BIN1, RGB 7x300s each BIN2),
+  previews verified clean. Billed 381 pts (est was ~240: see the rate
+  correction in NOTES.md). Balance now 2,257. Ledger updated in CAMPAIGN.md.
+
+## Done (recent)
+
+- 2026-07-21 ~08:55 UTC: free T33 47 Tuc retry booked as reservation 749314
+  (grid-verified), third attempt at the first-light test, runs 14:05-14:50 UTC
+  21 Jul, costs 0.
+
+## Done (recent)
+
+- 2026-07-21 11:40 UTC: Cen A on T32 verified COMPLETE (billed 160, NGC5128
+  images on the scope server), and queue #2 (Corona Australis on T8) booked for
+  the night of 22 Jul, 21:45-00:45 SSO local, which brackets the target's
+  culmination instead of chasing it down the western sky. Rate model rebuilt
+  from two actual bills. Details in the CAMPAIGN.md session note.
+
 ## In progress
 
-- T33 first-light test: ngc104-test.txt (47 Tuc, ~24 min LRGB) uploaded to
-  /plans/qisback/ on T33 and verified. Run window: 2026-07-19 roughly 14:00-19:30
-  UTC when 47 Tuc clears the 20 degree limit. Procedure in plans/README.md.
-  Remaining: live-run the plan (confirm the plan.asp POST and any scope-connect
-  step), monitor via console, pull images/logs, record outcome in NOTES.
+- T33 first-light test on its THIRD booking (749314), which had NOT yet run as of
+  11:40 UTC 21 Jul: it starts 14:05 UTC. Verify after 14:50 UTC (images and logs
+  on t33.itelescope.net:8033 were still empty/stale at 11:40, as expected). The
+  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.
+- The T32 HDR core set (plans/hdrcore-t32.txt) was booked and then CANCELLED on
+  2026-07-21 without running: the Cen A nucleus is not saturated, the earlier
+  claim having measured a foreground star. See the correction in CAMPAIGN.md.
+  Zero points spent. The plan file remains available on T32 if a genuinely
+  saturated target turns up.
+- The 21 Jul Cen A data has been fully processed off-repo, in the user's
+  Downloads\NGC5128\20260721\stacked folder: masters, plate solution (0.27
+  arcsec on 237 stars), an LRGB composite, a globular cluster survey (289
+  candidates, 62% catalogue-confirmed, density falling 10.5x outward), surface
+  photometry (Sersic n = 4.27, Re = 400 arcsec, total G = 6.56, which matches
+  the catalogued brightness and so validates the photometric chain), and a
+  transient/moving-object search (both null, with measured limits). METHODS.md
+  there documents the lot. Nothing from that analysis needs to come back into
+  this repo, but two results affect FUTURE sessions and are recorded here:
+  **(a)** measure saturation properly before buying short subs, and **(b)** the
+  faint outer halo in that stack is limited by the sky-plane subtraction
+  (-17.9 ADU/px of real halo light absorbed), not by exposure time, so more
+  integration alone would not have gone deeper.
+- 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
+  fixes T8's effective rate (card says 130/hr; trust nothing until observed).
+- 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). 541 of 2,638 spent; 2,097 remain. The x1.6 estimate multiplier
+  is WITHDRAWN: billing is on plan imaging minutes, and per-scope rates must come
+  from actual bills (T59 127/hr, T32 80/hr observed; the NOTES rate card is
+  unreliable). On current numbers the campaign UNDER-spends by ~800: plan extra
+  or longer runs, do not trim. Reschedule flag never sticks (grid always shows
+  No): treat every reservation as one-shot and verify the morning after.
+  Download the NGC 6744 and NGC 5128 data from data.itelescope.net before the
+  10 Aug cancellation sweep. Update the CAMPAIGN.md ledger after every session
+  from account/history.aspx.
 
 ## Pending