Laurence
f49e045bb6
- Session ran early (08:48 UTC, before Cen A 749302's 08:50 UTC start), so this round did only the time-sensitive, unblocked work. - Free T33 47 Tuc retry booked and grid-verified as reservation 749314 (night of 21 Jul SSO, 00:05-00:50, runs 14:05 UTC). Third attempt: the two prior free reservations expired unused, so if this one also fails to run the issue is free-scope auto-start, not the booking. - Cen A (749302) verify deferred: had not run yet; runs 08:50-11:50 UTC. - cra-t8 (queue #2) deferred, blocked twice: quota held by Cen A until ~11:50 UTC, AND user hajo holds T8 00:25-02:25 SSO local that night (res 749207), overlapping the planned 01:35-04:35 slot. Documented resolution options; preferred is slipping cra-t8 one night to 2026-07-23T01:35 to dodge the conflict and keep Corona Australis near culmination. - Scheduled job ae3af497 (~12:13 UTC) will verify Cen A and book cra-t8 against a live grid re-check.
9.8 KiB
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) |
Cumulative spend: 381. Balance after (verified GetAccountStatus 2026-07-20): 2,257.
Re-estimation warning (2026-07-20): T59 actual came in at 1.6x the estimate (381 vs ~240). Either billing is on wall-clock session time (Time Used matched start-to-end, not the 180 min of exposure) or the rate card's 80/hr for T59 is stale. Treat ALL queue estimates below as ~1.6x low until re-verified against account/history.aspx after the next paid run. At 1.6x, the remaining queue (~1,700 est) actually covers the full 2,257 balance nicely.
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.) | booked 20 Jul. 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). 46% moon is up ~30 deg away: acceptable for a bright drain target. Reschedule flag AGAIN shows No despite RescheduleCheckbox=on in the POST: the flag does not stick, treat every booking as one-shot. RUNS 08:50-11:50 UTC 21 Jul; verify after that |
| 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 | GRAS008 | 2026-07-22T01:35:00 | 2026-07-22T04:35:00 | 1:35 AM | 4:35 AM | 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 |
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.
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.