0.8.0: Event finder rewrite for correctness and speed

[ChristopherRabotin]

Gemini summary

Here are the release notes for version 0.8.0.

🚀 Major Overhaul: Event Finder

The event finding system has been completely rewritten from the ground up. This new implementation is approximately 25 times faster and resolves several bugs related to missed or incorrectly identified events (like eclipses and sunsets).

The API for event finding has been redesigned for clarity and power:

• The Event class no longer uses desired_value and value_precision.
• It now uses a new Condition enum (e.g., Condition.LessThan(90.0), Condition.Equals(0.0), Condition.Maximum()), which makes event definitions more intuitive.
• The report_events function is now used for finding specific moments (events matching Equals, Minimum, or Maximum conditions).
• The new report_event_arcs function is used to find time spans (events matching LessThan, GreaterThan, or Between conditions).
• The report_events function no longer requires a heuristic duration argument, as the new adaptive scanner handles this automatically.

✨ New Features

• Astrodynamics: Added support for Brouwer-Lyddane short mean elements and Equinoctial elements. These are accessible as new variants in the OrbitalElement scalar enum and via new methods on the Orbit object (e.g., orbit.sma_brouwer_short_km(), orbit.equinoctial_h()).
• Analysis: A new anise.analysis.find_arc_intersections function is available to find common overlapping time windows from multiple EventArc lists.
• Analysis: The report_scalars_flat function can now export results to a .csv file.
• Python API: The Python module now exposes __version__, __author__, and __doc__ attributes.

⚠️ Breaking API Changes

• Orbit.from_latlongalt: This method's signature has changed. It no longer accepts an angular velocity and now creates a state with ZERO angular velocity in the specified frame.
  • To get the previous behavior (specifying an angular velocity), use the new Orbit.from_latlongalt_omega method.
• Method Renames:
  • Event.above_horizon_from_location_id is now Event.visible_from_location_id.
  • Almanac.frame_from_uid is now Almanac.frame_info.
  • All angular_velocity_wtr... (with-respect-to) methods are renamed to angular_velocity_wrt....

🛠️ Improvements and Fixes

• AER Terrain Masks: Azimuth, Elevation, and Range (AER) calculations with terrain masks are improved. Instead of returning NaN when obstructed, the AzElRange object now populates the mask_deg field and provides a new elevation_above_mask_deg() method.
• AER from Location: The logic for calculating AER from a location has been updated to use the new Orbit.from_latlongalt implementation, simplifying the internal logic.
• Python API: LocationDhallSet and MetaAlmanac now have dumps/loads aliases for to_dhall/from_dhall.
• Dependencies: Updated hifitime, pyo3, and numpy versions.
• CI: Updated CI data files, kernel checksums, and pinned the build to Python 3.12.

Pull request summary

New features

• Add Brouwer mean elements + equinoctial elements + fix python type hints by @ChristopherRabotin in Add Brouwer mean elements + equinoctial elements + fix python type hints #568

Bug fixes

• Fix incorrect NAIF ID constants for Mercury and Venus by @google-labs-jules[bot] in Fix incorrect NAIF ID constants for Mercury and Venus #571
• Lat/long/alt initializer incorrectly expected an angular velocity for fixed-points by @ChristopherRabotin in Lat/long/alt initializer incorrectly expected an angular velocity for fixed-points #573
• Add Newton step attempt in event finder by @ChristopherRabotin in Add Newton step attempt in event finder #548
• Revamp event finding entirely: report_event is now very robust, enabling a robust event "arc" finder by @ChristopherRabotin in Revamp event finding entirely: report_event is now very robust, enabling a robust event "arc" finder #570
• Fix visibility arcs with terrain masks enabled by @ChristopherRabotin in Fix visibility arcs with terrain masks enabled #575

Miscellaneous

• Fix release of PyPI package by @ChristopherRabotin in Fix release of PyPI package #544
• fix(docs): align :rtype: with rust return types in python.rs files by @google-labs-jules[bot] in fix(docs): align :rtype: with rust return types in python.rs files #545
• Fix CRC32 + variety of python docs by @ChristopherRabotin in Fix CRC32 + variety of python docs #547
• fix: JPL removed the MRO file we were using in validation by @ChristopherRabotin in fix: JPL removed the MRO file we were using in validation #560
• Upgrade dependencies in Cargo.toml by @ChristopherRabotin in Upgrade dependencies in Cargo.toml #562
• Fix typo "wtr" to "wrt" by @google-labs-jules[bot] in Fix typo "wtr" to "wrt" #554

Full Changelog: 0.7.0...0.8.0

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