Constellation boundaries for non-Western skycultures

We don't have boundaries for non-western constellation.

Agreed -- that's why I opened this bug -- to allow contributors (like myself) to provide constellation boundaries for non-Western skycultures. Since the constellation boundary data is not bound to the skyculture currently, it is not possible for me to enable the display of boundaries unless I'm using the built-in Western skyculture.

Perhaps this would be better categorized as a feature request?

I'm mark this report as 'wishlist' (feature request). If you have boundaries for non-western constellation, then we can move boundaries file into skycultures packages.

The specific case I have is that I have developed a skyculture that provides constellation lines that match Sky & Telescope's charts. This is still a "western" constellation organization, but the constellation lines are different. I'd like to be able to enable the default constellation boundaries in my custom skyculture. But if that's not practical, then I'd like to just copy the default constellation boundaries into my skyculture directory.

Well, constellation lines will be different because that lines not
official. Modern official constellation having only official boundaries,
not lines. Few hundred years ago western constellation has different
boundaries (and more - that boundaries has "curve boundaries")

Correct -- Sky & Telescope uses different constellation figures/lines/asterisms (whatever you want to call it) than the "Western" arrangement that ships as default with Stellarium. It is this that motivated me to create a S&T skyculture to begin with. However, the constellation boundaries are defined by the IAU, not Sky & Telescope; my S&T skyculture (which is just a copy of "Western" with an updated constellationship.fab) should use the same constellation boundaries as "Western".

And if it doesn't (namely, if I find cases where S&T has strayed from the IAU standard for the boundaries) then I'd like to be able to make those updates in the skyculture directly.

For some added flavor, it appears the IAU uses S&T charts when defining the boundaries and figures: http://www.iau.org/public/constellations/

But frankly I don't care what Stellarium ships as the default "Western" skyculture -- my ask here is that the boundaries be customizable and made visible with non-default skycultures.

Some while ago I already have changed the code to allow western variants to show the IAU constellation boundaries that ship with Stellarium. The only requirement is that you skyculture's directory name starts with "western", e.g. western, western_SnT, western_Rey, western_Hevelius, western_Bode etc. It works as of 0.11.4RC1, almost certainly also with 0.11.3 or earlier.

Non-western cultures will not show boundaries, because there usally is no strict concept of straight constellation boundaries. Even sky cultures prepared from the pre-IAU atlases from the 17th-19th centuries would show the modern lines as anachronism that does not fit their culture, in these atlases you may find curved lines that usually vary between authors, if thre are boundaries marked at all. In case you have data for non-western boundaries in the same format as constellations_boundaries.dat, of course this would be a welcome addition, and then the constellations_boundaries.dat goes into the skyculture directory.

BTW, a western_SnT skyculture (and other western stick-figure and art variants) will be a welcome addition!

Kind regards,
Georg

Hi Georg!

This feature request not released yet - maximum status is "Fix Committed".

In any case idea for this feature request is movement support for constellation boundaries from single generic to every skycultures.

Hmm, the "western*" directory name trick is in trunk and has been working for months, so this part has been released. Extending boundaries to other cultures is the next step, just that nobody has cared to provide boundaries yet (and I doubt data sets are available, as this is a "western" concept), so that's wishlist state.
G.

Agree, but now few fellas work under skycultures. Maybe we get boundaries for non-western constellations.

Diff: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~stellarium/stellarium/trunk/revision/5637