From 29a933ccdde075bad59adfc813639834a01e32d7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Richard Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2026 17:02:31 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] docs(troubleshooting): put the condition first in the GPS lock note Readers on Cloudy Nights took the old note two different wrong ways. One read it as "GPS is only for the solar system", another called the wording confusing. The sentence opened with "a GPS lock is not needed" and hung the whole condition on a trailing "once your location and time are set", so the reader kept the first half and dropped the second. Lead with what actually needs a location and a time, then separate the two cases: a hand entry serves as well as a lock, and with neither you lose Push-To as well as the Planets and Comets catalogs. Verified against the code. altaz_ready() is location.lock and datetime() (state.py), and manual entry sets lock=True via Location.make_fix(..., "MANUAL") (ui/callbacks.py), so a hand entry is equivalent to a lock. aim_degrees() returns (None, None) without both, on Alt/Az and EQ mounts alike (calc_utils.py), and object_details.py draws "Searching for GPS" in its place. Planets and Comets are the only runtime-computed catalogs. The issue's claim that alignment stops without a location is wrong: align_on_radec() is purely RA/Dec to camera pixel, and the Focus screen has no location or time dependency at all, so both are described as working either way. Closes #646 Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) --- docs/source/troubleshooting.rst | 9 ++++++--- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/source/troubleshooting.rst b/docs/source/troubleshooting.rst index d494ce8a9..1d32760bd 100644 --- a/docs/source/troubleshooting.rst +++ b/docs/source/troubleshooting.rst @@ -188,9 +188,12 @@ If you would rather not wait, enter your location and time by hand and start obs :ref:`user_guide:getting a gps lock`. .. note:: - A GPS lock is not needed to focus, align, or push to objects once your location and time - are set. It is needed before the Planets and Comets catalogs fill in, because those - depend on your time and place. + Push-To and the Planets and Comets catalogs need a location and a time. They do not + need the GPS receiver to supply them. Entering your location and time by hand works + just as well as a lock. With no lock and nothing entered by hand, Push-To shows + **Searching for GPS** in place of directions, and the two catalogs stay empty. The + Focus and Align screens work either way, because neither depends on where or when you + are. An object has "disappeared" from a list (for example, M45) From ad880e8d9b2b294120bc29db9870a6999627d8be Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Richard Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2026 17:26:51 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] docs(catalogs): a hand-entered location fills Planets and Comets too Both catalog entries said the catalog fills in "once the PiFinder has a GPS lock", which is imprecise in exactly the way #646 was about: the catalogs need a location and a time, not the receiver that usually supplies them. Entering Place & Time by hand fills them just as well, because Location.make_fix(..., "MANUAL") sets lock=True and is indistinguishable from a GPS fix downstream. Same correction as the rewritten note in "The GPS never locks", applied where a reader browsing the catalog list meets the claim first. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) --- docs/source/catalogs.rst | 10 ++++++---- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/source/catalogs.rst b/docs/source/catalogs.rst index 0fad78741..4777972e0 100644 --- a/docs/source/catalogs.rst +++ b/docs/source/catalogs.rst @@ -36,8 +36,9 @@ CM Comets. The PiFinder computes each comet's position from orbital elements published by the Minor Planet Center. -The catalog fills in once the PiFinder has a GPS lock, because a comet's position -depends on your time and place. Until then it appears empty. +The catalog fills in once the PiFinder knows your location and time, because a comet's +position depends on both. A GPS lock supplies them, and so does entering them by hand +in :ref:`user_guide:place & time`. Until then the catalog appears empty. The PiFinder refreshes the orbital elements by itself. Whenever it starts up with internet access in Client mode, it checks the Minor Planet Center for a newer set @@ -83,8 +84,9 @@ Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, along with the Moon a Pluto. The Sun is not included. The PiFinder computes their positions for the moment you look, and updates them as the night goes on. -The catalog fills in once the PiFinder has a GPS lock, because a planet's position -depends on your time and place. Until then it appears empty. +The catalog fills in once the PiFinder knows your location and time, because a planet's +position depends on both. A GPS lock supplies them, and so does entering them by hand +in :ref:`user_guide:place & time`. Until then the catalog appears empty. RDS ----