RadioAstronomySoftwareGroup / RadioAstronomySoftwareGroup/pyuvdata

Add support for reference frame information in UVData

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enhancement UVData
Dominant language
Python
Stars
102
Forks
35
Avg merge
1d 20h
Merged PRs (30d)
14

Description

SMA uses doppler tracking at the time of observations to help keep spectral lines at fixed position, irrespective of the changing velocity of the observatory (either due to the rotation of the Earth or the Earth going around the Sun). For some observations (usually where you've got linedwidths that are ~< 10 km/sec), propagating this information is important, particularly if one needs to move between reference frames. We'd like to see this added under the banner of "optional variables" within UVData.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the UVData implementation and its handling of optional variables; the issue does not name a file or test. Determine how SMA doppler-tracking and reference-frame information should be represented and propagated, then verify that observations retain the information needed to move between reference frames.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
data
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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