# UnitSphericalDifferential¶

class astropy.coordinates.UnitSphericalDifferential(d_lon, d_lat=None, copy=True)[source]

Differential(s) of points on a unit sphere.

Parameters
d_lon, d_latQuantity

The longitude and latitude of the differentials.

copybool, optional

If True (default), arrays will be copied. If False, arrays will be references, though possibly broadcast to ensure matching shapes.

Attributes Summary

 attr_classes d_lat Component ‘d_lat’ of the Differential. d_lon Component ‘d_lon’ of the Differential.

Methods Summary

 from_representation(representation[, base]) Create a new instance of this representation from another one. represent_as(other_class[, base]) Convert coordinates to another representation. to_cartesian(base) Convert the differential to 3D rectangular cartesian coordinates.

Attributes Documentation

attr_classes = {'d_lat': <class 'astropy.units.quantity.Quantity'>, 'd_lon': <class 'astropy.units.quantity.Quantity'>}
d_lat

Component ‘d_lat’ of the Differential.

d_lon

Component ‘d_lon’ of the Differential.

Methods Documentation

classmethod from_representation(representation, base=None)[source]

Create a new instance of this representation from another one.

Parameters
representationBaseRepresentation instance

The presentation that should be converted to this class.

baseinstance of cls.base_representation

The base relative to which the differentials will be defined. If the representation is a differential itself, the base will be converted to its base_representation to help convert it.

represent_as(other_class, base=None)[source]

Convert coordinates to another representation.

If the instance is of the requested class, it is returned unmodified. By default, conversion is done via cartesian coordinates.

Parameters
other_classBaseRepresentation subclass

The type of representation to turn the coordinates into.

baseinstance of self.base_representation, optional

Base relative to which the differentials are defined. If the other class is a differential representation, the base will be converted to its base_representation.

to_cartesian(base)[source]

Convert the differential to 3D rectangular cartesian coordinates.

Parameters
baseinstance of self.base_representation

The points for which the differentials are to be converted: each of the components is multiplied by its unit vectors and scale factors.

Returns
This object as a CartesianDifferential