fix(time): Make Star.names iterable in skyfield_star_from_ra_dec #270
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ljgray
approved these changes
Jul 24, 2024
The skyfield documentation is poor, but I think the intention is that the `Star.names` attribute is meant to be iterable. The skyfield code doesn't reference `Star.names` at all, and there's no documentation on the meaning of the attribute (or any of the parameters of `Star.__init__`), so it's very much unclear. The default value for `Star.names` is an empty tuple. Probably any (non-`str`) iterable would be reasonable. This changes `skyfield_star_from_ra_dec` to convert a `str` passed as `name` into a single-element tuple when assigning it to `Star.names`, and also updates the docstring to indicate that a tuple or list of names is an acceptable value for the `name` parameter.
I'm with you here. Skyfield needs better docs, but my guess is it's meant to handle the fact that stellar bodies all have multiple names. e.g. there's 50-ish alternate names listed for Cas-A in our own source catalog in |
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This comes out of me thinking about this old |
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The skyfield documentation is poor, but I think the intention is that the
Star.namesattribute is meant to be iterable. The skyfield code doesn't referenceStar.namesat all, and there's no documentation on the meaning of the attribute (or any of the parameters ofStar.__init__), so it's very much unclear.The default value for
Star.namesis an empty tuple. Probably any (non-str) iterable would be reasonable.This changes
skyfield_star_from_ra_decto convert astrpassed asnameinto a single-element tuple when assigning it toStar.names, and also updates the docstring to indicate that a tuple or list of names is an acceptable value for thenameparameter.