# Planetary body-fixed reference frame WCS description in astropy 6.0

**URL:** <https://openplanetary.discourse.group/t/planetary-body-fixed-reference-frame-wcs-description-in-astropy-6-0/719>\
**Category:** Tools and Web Services\
**Tags:** astropy\
**Created:** [September 27, 2023, 8:22pm UTC](https://openplanetary.discourse.group/t/planetary-body-fixed-reference-frame-wcs-description-in-astropy-6-0/719 "2023-09-27T20:22:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cmarmo](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/openplanetary.discourse.group/cmarmo/32/271_2.png) [@cmarmo](https://openplanetary.discourse.group/u/cmarmo)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 8:22pm UTC](https://openplanetary.discourse.group/t/planetary-body-fixed-reference-frame-wcs-description-in-astropy-6-0/719/1 "2023-09-27T20:22:26Z")

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Astropy v6.0 is going to be released by the end of this year with support for body-fixed reference frame World Coordinate System description! 🍾

The feature has been built on top of the [geodetic coordinate representation](https://docs.astropy.org/en/latest/api/astropy.coordinates.BaseGeodeticRepresentation.html#astropy.coordinates.BaseGeodeticRepresentation) implemented in 2020 by Juan Luis Cano Rodríguez.  
Also, a new [bodycentric coordinate representation](https://docs.astropy.org/en/latest/api/astropy.coordinates.BaseBodycentricRepresentation.html#astropy.coordinates.BaseBodycentricRepresentation) has been defined.  
Each spheroidal body have one or multiple [representations](https://docs.astropy.org/en/latest/coordinates/representations.html#astropy-coordinates-create-geodetic) used to define a [reference frame and its related WCS description](https://docs.astropy.org/en/latest/wcs/creating_planetary_wcs.html).  
Some examples using this new feature are available at these links.

- [Create a new coordinate frame class for Mars — Astropy v6.0.dev730+g01af846](https://docs.astropy.org/en/latest/generated/examples/coordinates/plot_mars-coordinate-frame.html#)
- [Mars Body-fixed frame and representation conversions](https://github.com/epn-vespa/tutorials/blob/master/surfaces/astropy-planetary-coordinate-frames/bodyfixed-frame-conversions.ipynb).
- [Planetary images WCS manipulations](https://github.com/epn-vespa/tutorials/blob/master/surfaces/astropy-planetary-coordinate-frames/planetary-images-wcs.ipynb)

This work was made possible thanks to EuroplanetH2024 funding via the Paris Observatory and @s.erard 🙏  
A huge thank you goes to all the Astropy developers and in particular to Marten van Kerkwijk who took the time to thoroughly and patiently review the related pull requests.

Enjoy! 😀  
And feel free to add comments or suggestions about the tutorials here or on github.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cmarmo](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/openplanetary.discourse.group/cmarmo/32/271_2.png) [@cmarmo](https://openplanetary.discourse.group/u/cmarmo)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 8:54am UTC](https://openplanetary.discourse.group/t/planetary-body-fixed-reference-frame-wcs-description-in-astropy-6-0/719/2 "2023-11-28T08:54:49Z")

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And it’s out! 🎆  
[https://docs.astropy.org/en/stable/whatsnew/6.0.html](https://docs.astropy.org/en/stable/whatsnew/6.0.html)