v1.0

[attipaci]

Changelog

[1.0.0] - 2024-03-01

This is the initial release of the SuperNOVAS library.

Fixed

• Fixes the sidereal_time bug, whereby the sidereal_time() function
  had an incorrect unit cast. This is a known issue of NOVAS C 3.1.

• Fixes the ephem_close bug, whereby ephem_close() in
  eph_manager.c did not reset the EPHFILE pointer to NULL. This is a known issue of NOVAS C 3.1.

• Fixes antedating velocities and distances for light travel time in ephemeris(). When getting positions and
  velocities for Solar-system sources, it is important to use the values from the time light originated from the
  observed body rather than at the time that light arrives to the observer. This correction was done properly for
  positions, but not for velocities or distances, resulting in incorrect observed radial velocities or apparent
  distances being reported for spectroscopic observations or for angular-physical size conversions.

• The use of fmod() in NOVAS C 3.1 led to the wrong results when the numerator was negative and the result was not
  turned into a proper remainder. This affected the calculation of the mean anomaly in solsys3.c (line 261) and the
  fundamental arguments calculated in fund_args() and ee_ct() for dates prior to J2000. Less critically, it also
  was the reason cal_date() did not work for negative JD values.

• Fixes bug in equ2ecl_vec() and ecl2equ_vec() whereby a query with coord_sys = 2 (GCRS) has overwritten the
  cached mean obliquity value for coord_sys = 0 (mean equinox of date). As a result, a subsequent call with
  coord_sys = 0 and the same date as before would return the results GCRS coordinates instead of the requested mean
  equinox of date coordinates.

• Fixes bug in ira_equinox() which may return the result for the wrong type of equinox (mean vs. true) if the the
  equinox argument was changing from 1 to 0, and back to 1 again with the date being held the same. This affected
  routines downstream also, such as sidereal_time().

• Fixes accuracy switching bug in cio_basis(), cio_location(), ecl2equ(), equ2ecl_vec(), ecl2equ_vec(),
  geo_posvel(), place(), and sidereal_time(). All these functions returned a cached value for the other
  accuracy if the other input parameters are the same as a prior call, except the accuracy.

• Fixes multiple bugs related to using cached values in cio_basis() with alternating CIO location reference
  systems.

• Fixes aberration() returning NAN vectors if the ve argument is 0. It now returns the unmodified input vector
  appropriately instead.

• Fixes unpopulated az output value in equ2hor() at zenith. While any azimuth is acceptable really, it results in
  irreproducible behavior. Hence, we set az to 0.0 for zenith to be consistent.

• Fixes potential string overflows and eliminates associated compiler warnings.

• Supports calculations in parallel threads by making cached results thread-local.

Added

• New debug mode and error traces. Simply call novas_debug(NOVAS_DEBUG_ON) or novas_debug(NOVAS_DEBUG_EXTRA)
  to enable. When enabled, any error conditions (such as NULL pointer arguments, or invalid input values etc.) will
  be reported to the standard error, complete with call tracing within the SuperNOVAS library, s.t. users can have
  a better idea of what exactly did not go to plan (and where). The debug messages can be disabled by passing
  NOVAS_DEBUF_OFF (0) as the argument to the same call.

• Added Doxygen markup of source code and header.

• Added Makefile for GNU make.

• Added continuous integration on GitHub, including regression testing, static analysis, and doxygen validation.

• Added an number of precompiler constants and enums in novas.h to promote consistent usage and easier to read
  code.

• New runtime configurability:

  • The planet position calculator function used by ephemeris() can be set at runtime via set_planet_provider(),
    and set_planet_provider_hp() (for high precision calculations). Similarly, if planet_ephem_provider() or
    planet_ephem_provider_hp() (defined in solsys-ephem.c) are set as the planet calculator functions, then
    set_ephem_provider() can set the user-specified function to use with these to actually read ephemeris data
    (e.g. from a JPL ephemeris file).

  • If CIO locations vs GSRS are important to the user, the user may call set_cio_locator_file() at runtime to
    specify the location of the binary CIO interpolation table (e.g. cio_ra.bin) to use, even if the library was
    compiled with the different default CIO locator path.

  • The default low-precision nutation calculator nu2000k() can be replaced by another suitable IAU 2006 nutation
    approximation via set_nutation_lp_provider(). For example, the user may want to use the iau2000b() model
    instead or some custom algorithm instead.

• New intutitive XYZ coordinate conversion functions:

  • for GCRS - CIRS - ITRS (IAU 2000 standard): gcrs_to_cirs(), cirs_to_itrs(), and itrs_to_cirs(),
    cirs_to_gcrs().
  • for GCRS - J2000 - TOD - ITRS (old methodology): gcrs_to_j2000(), j2000_to_tod(), tod_to_itrs(), and
    itrs_to_tod(), tod_to_j2000(), j2000_to_gcrs().

• New itrs_to_hor() and hor_to_itrs() functions to convert Earth-fixed ITRS coordinates to astrometric azimuth
  and elevation or back. Whereas tod_to_itrs() followed by itrs_to_hor() is effectively a just a more explicit
  version of the existing equ2hor() for converting from TOD to to local horizontal (old methodology), the
  cirs_to_itrs() followed by itrs_to_hor() does the same from CIRS (new IAU standard methodology), and had no
  equivalent in NOVAS C 3.1.

• New ecl2equ() for converting ecliptic coordinates to equatorial, complementing existing equ2ecl().

• New gal2equ() for converting galactic coordinates to ICRS equatorial, complementing existing equ2gal().

• New refract_astro() function that complements the existing refract() but takes an unrefracted (astrometric)
  zenith angle as its argument.

• New convenience functions to wrap place() for simpler specific use: place_star(), place_icrs(),
  place_gcrs(), place_cirs(), and place_tod().

• New radec_star() and radec_planet() methods as the common point for all existing methods such as astro_star()
local_star(), topo_planet() etc.

• New time conversion utilities tt2tdb(), get_utc_to_tt(), and get_ut1_to_tt() make it simpler to convert
  between UTC, UT1, TT, and TDB time scales, and to supply ut1_to_tt arguments to place() or topocentric
  calculations.

• Co-existing solarsystem() variants. It is possible to use the different solarsystem() implementations
  provided by solsys1.c, solsys2.c, solsys3.c and/or solsys-ephem.c side-by-side, as they define their
  functionalities with distinct, non-conflicting names, e.g. earth_sun_calc() vs planet_jplint() vs
  planet_eph_manager vs planet_ephem_provider(). See the section on
  Building and installation further above on including a selection of these in your library
  build.)

• New novas_case_sensitive(int) method to enable (or disable) case-sensitive processing of object names. (By
  default NOVAS object names were converted to upper-case, making them effectively case-insensitive.)

• New make_planet() and make_ephem_object() to make it simpler to configure Solar-system objects.

Changed

• Changed to support for calculations in parallel threads by making cached results thread-local.
  This works using the C11 standard _Thread_local or else the earlier GNU C <= 3.3 standard __thread modifier.
  You can also set the preferred thread-local keyword for your compiler by passing it via -DTHREAD_LOCAL=... in
  config.mk to ensure that your build is thread-safe. And, if your compiler has no support whatsoever for
  thread_local variables, then SuperNOVAS will not be thread-safe, just as NOVAS C isn't.

• SuperNOVAS functions take enums as their option arguments instead of raw integers. These enums are defined in
  novas.h. The same header also defines a number of useful constants. The enums allow for some compiler checking,
  and make for more readable code that is easier to debug. They also make it easy to see what choices are available
  for each function argument, without having to consult the documentation each and every time.

• All SuperNOVAS functions check for the basic validity of the supplied arguments (Such as NULL pointers or illegal
  duplicate arguments) and will return -1 (with errno set, usually to EINVAL) if the arguments supplied are
  invalid (unless the NOVAS C API already defined a different return value for specific cases. If so, the NOVAS C
  error code is returned for compatibility).

• All erroneous returns now set errno so that users can track the source of the error in the standard C way and use
  functions such as perror() and strerror() to print human-readable error messages.

• Many output values supplied via pointers are set to clearly invalid values in case of erroneous returns, such as
  NAN so that even if the caller forgets to check the error code, it becomes obvious that the values returned
  should not be used as if they were valid. (No more sneaky silent errors.)

• Many SuperNOVAS functions allow NULL arguments, both for optional input values as well as outputs that are not
  required (see the API Documentation for specifics).
  This eliminates the need to declare dummy variables in your application code for quantities you do not require.

• All SuperNOVAS functions that take an input vector to produce an output vector allow the output vector argument
  be the same as the input vector argument. For example, frame_tie(pos, J2000_TO_ICRS, pos) using the same
  pos vector both as the input and the output. In this case the pos vector is modified in place by the call.
  This can greatly simplify usage, and can eliminate extraneous declarations, when intermediates are not required.

• SuperNOVAS declares function pointer arguments as const whenever the function does not modify the data content
  being referenced. This supports better programming practices that generally aim to avoid unintended data
  modifications.

• Catalog names can be up to 6 bytes (including termination), up from 4 in NOVAS C, while keeping struct layouts
  the same as NOVAS C thanks to alignment, thus allowing cross-compatible binary exchage of cat_entry records
  with NOVAS C 3.1.

• Object ID numbers are long instead of short to accommodate NAIF IDs, which require minimum 32-bit integers.

• cel2ter() and ter2cel() can now process 'option'/'class' = 1 (NOVAS_REFERENCE_CLASS) regardless of the
  methodology (EROT_ERA or EROT_GST) used to input or output coordinates in GCRS.

• Changed make_object() to retain the specified number argument (which can be different from the starnumber value
  in the supplied cat_entry structure).

• cio_location() will always return a valid value as long as neither output pointer arguments is NULL.

• sun_eph() in solsysl3.c evaluates the series in reverse order compared to NOVAS C 3.1, accumulating the least
  significant terms first, and thus resulting in higher precision result in the end.

• Changed vector2radec() to return NAN values if the input is a null-vector (i.e. all components are zero).

• More efficient paging (cache management) for cio_array(), including I/O error checking.

• Changed the standard atmospheric model for (optical) refraction calculation to include a simple model for the
  annual average temperature at the site (based on latitude and elevation). This results is a slightly more educated
  guess of the actual refraction than the global fixed temperature of 10 °C assumed by NOVAC C 3.1 regardless of
  observing location.

Deprecated

• novascon.h / novascon.c: These definitions of constants was troublesome for two reasons: (1) They were
  primarily meant for use internally within the library itself. As the library clearly defines in what units input
  and output quantities are expressed, the user code can apply its own appropriate conversions that need not match
  the internal system used by the library. Hence exposing these constants to users was half baked. (2) The naming of
  constants was too simplistic (with names such as C or F) that it was rather prone to naming conflicts in user
  code. As a result, the constants have been moved to novas.h with more unique names (such as NOVAS_C and
  NOVAS_EARTH_FLATTENING. New code should rely on these definitions instead of the troubled constants of
  novascon.c / .h if at all necessary.

• equ2hor(): It's name does not make it clear that this function is suitable only for converting TOD (old
  methodology) to horizontal but not CIRS to horizontal (IAU 2000 standard). You should use the equivalent but more
  specific tod_to_itrs() or the newly added cirs_to_itrs(), followed by itrs_to_hor() instead.

• cel2ter() / ter2cel(): These function can be somewhat confusing to use. You are likely better off with
  tod_to_itrs() and cirs_to_itrs() instead, and possibly followed by further conversions if desired.

• app_star(), app_planet(), topo_star() and topo_planet(): These use the old (pre IAU 2000) methodology,
  which isn't clear from their naming. Use place() or place_star() with NOVAS_TOD or NOVAS_CIRS as the system
  instead, as appropriate.

• readeph(): prone to memory leaks, and not flexible with its origin (necessarily at the barycenter). Instead, use
  a similar novas_ephem_provider implementation and set_ephem_provider() for a more flexible and less
  troublesome equivalent, which also does not need to be baked into the library and can be configured at runtime.

• tdb2tt(). Use tt2tdb() instead. It's both more intuitive to use (returning the time difference as a double) and
  faster to calculate, not to mention that it implements the more standard approach.

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This discussion was created from the release v1.0.

[attipaci]

Superseded by the v1.0.1 release.