Sky transparency — night of 15–16 October 2026

Cloud arrived at 23:58 — detected by the all-sky camera, independent of N.I.N.A. Before it the sky ran at index 0 (IQR 0–0); after it 0 (IQR 0–0). 9 of 9 light frames landed before the cloud. 0 of 45 failures are attributed to cloud; 45 remain unexplained and deserve a look. Guiding held at 4.98″ RMS (RA 4.29″, Dec 2.53″) over 1.1 h; the worst minute was 12.35″ at 23:56.

Index before 23:58
0 · IQR 0–0
Index after 23:58
0 · IQR 0–0
Cloud onset (all-sky)
23:58 · independent
Errors after onset
0 of 45 · solve + PHD2
Guide RMS
4.98″ · RA 4.29 · Dec 2.53

Normalised transparency index, by filter

100 = that target and filter's own clear‑sky median (this night's own pre-cloud median). Shaded columns are autofocus runs; the first target is named at the top left; ticks along the base are errors.

▲ Plate solve failed ◆ PHD2 error
05010015020023:0000:00% of clear-sky medianclear-sky baselineNGC 7293

All‑sky background brightness

Mean luminance of the upper sky per all‑sky still — independent of anything N.I.N.A. recorded. The camera auto‑exposes, so this is an instrumental number, not photometry.

Roof shut 23:59–00:23. The all-sky camera is inside the observatory, so those 69 stills measured the roof, not the sky, and are left out of this chart and the cloud detection.

025507510023:0000:00Mean sky luminance (0–255)all-sky

PHD2 guiding

RMS tracking error per minute from the PHD2 guide log, taken about zero rather than about each minute's mean, so slow drift counts as error. 166 guide frames over 1.1 h of guiding in 8 sessions; the gaps are slews, dither settles and autofocus runs, when PHD2 was not guiding. PHD2 discarded 482 further frames — usually a lost star. The worst minute (12.35″ at 23:56) is clamped at the top of the plot.

RA RMS Dec RMS ◆ PHD2 error
0.02.55.07.510.023:0000:00RMS guide error (arcsec)night RMS 4.98″RADec

All‑sky frames at the key moments

Times come from the still filenames, so they line up with the charts exactly.

All-sky at 22:20
22:20 · start of night
All-sky at 23:58
23:58 · cloud onset
All-sky at 00:22
00:22 · end of night

Clear‑sky reference medians

The divisors behind the index — median detected stars per light sub before 23:58.

TargetFilterMedian starsFramesSource
NGC 7293H04tonight, clear frames
NGC 7293O04tonight, clear frames
NGC 7293S01tonight, clear frames

Event timeline

All observatory events with their attributed causes.

AF failedautofocus run started 22:20:27 did not completeunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
PHD2timed-out waiting for guider to settleunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
PHD2timed-out waiting for guider to settleunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
PHD2timed-out waiting for guider to settleunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
PHD2timed-out waiting for guider to settleunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
PHD2timed-out waiting for guider to settleunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
PHD2timed-out waiting for guider to settleunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
PHD2timed-out waiting for guider to settleunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
PHD2timed-out waiting for guider to settleunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
solve failedASTAP plate solve failedunexplained
PHD2timed-out waiting for guider to settleunexplained
All 20 frames
TimeClassTargetFilterExpStarsHFRIndex
22:20:34centeringNGC 7293L5s00.00—
22:20:49centeringNGC 7293L5s41.72—
22:21:04centeringNGC 7293L5s31.87—
22:21:19centeringNGC 7293L5s00.00—
22:21:34centeringNGC 7293L5s00.00—
22:21:54centeringNGC 7293L5s00.00—
22:22:14centeringNGC 7293L5s00.00—
22:22:44centeringNGC 7293L5s10.00—
22:23:00centeringNGC 7293L5s00.00—
22:23:19centeringNGC 7293L5s00.00—
22:23:39centeringNGC 7293L5s00.00—
22:50:49lightNGC 7293H300s00.00—
22:58:16lightNGC 7293H300s00.00—
23:05:42lightNGC 7293H300s00.00—
23:14:45lightNGC 7293H300s00.00—
23:22:26lightNGC 7293O300s00.00—
23:30:27lightNGC 7293O300s00.00—
23:38:32lightNGC 7293O300s00.00—
23:45:57lightNGC 7293O300s00.00—
23:53:12lightNGC 7293S300s00.00—

Star counts come from Hocus Focus detection on each saved sub, tagged with the filter in place at exposure start and the target then being imaged. Frames inside completed autofocus runs are excluded. Still capture times come from the AllSky filenames. All times are local.