feat: accept AbstractRange as times in *Ephemerides constructors (#215)

* feat: accept AbstractRange as times in *Ephemerides constructors

Allow any AbstractRange (e.g. range(et_begin, et_end; length=n)) to be
passed as the times argument. The inner constructor now calls
convert(Vector{Float64}, times) so the stored field is always a
Vector{Float64}. For an existing Vector{Float64} input, convert is a
no-op and returns the same object, so callers do not need to change.

This eliminates the boilerplate `times = collect(et_range)` line that
appeared in every integration test and user script.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* refactor: pass et_range directly to *Ephemerides in integration tests

Remove the `times = collect(et_range)` boilerplate now that constructors
accept AbstractRange directly. et_range is passed to the constructor and
the stored ephem.times is used for subsequent output spec setup.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: MasanoriKanamaru

ROADMAP.md

@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ Redesign the API around a Problem-Solver pattern inspired by `DifferentialEquati
 Non-breaking fixes and convenience improvements before the v0.3.0 surface roughness work.
 
 - [ ] **Rename internal `energy_in` / `energy_out`** to `absorbed_power` / `emitted_power` — current names are physically inaccurate (units are W, not J); not exported so no breaking change
-- [ ] **`*Ephemerides` convenience constructors** — accept `et_begin`, `et_end`, step count to assemble `times` and `r_sun` in one call, reducing user boilerplate; purely additive
+- [x] **`*Ephemerides` convenience constructors** — `times` accepts any `AbstractRange` (e.g. `range(et_begin, et_end; length=n)`) and is automatically collected to `Vector{Float64}`, eliminating the separate `collect` call; purely additive
 - [ ] **Test prefix cleanup** — remove unnecessary `AsteroidThermoPhysicalModels.` prefixes from exported symbols in test files
 
 ## v0.3.0 - Surface Roughness Support (Target: 2026)

src/ephem_types.jl

@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@ The type parameter `R` controls whether force and torque are computed:
     SingleAsteroidEphemerides(times, r_sun, R_body_to_inertial)
         -> SingleAsteroidEphemerides{Vector{SMatrix{3,3,Float64,9}}}
 
+An `AbstractRange` (e.g. `range(et_begin, et_end; length=n)`) may be passed
+as `times` and is automatically collected to `Vector{Float64}`.
 Plain `AbstractVector` / `AbstractMatrix` elements in `r_sun` and
 `R_body_to_inertial` are automatically converted to the corresponding
 `SVector{3,Float64}` / `SMatrix{3,3,Float64,9}` types, so importing
@@ -111,7 +113,7 @@ struct SingleAsteroidEphemerides{R <: Union{Nothing, AbstractVector}} <: Abstrac
         R_body_to_inertial === nothing || length(R_body_to_inertial) == n || throw(DimensionMismatch(
             "R_body_to_inertial ($(length(R_body_to_inertial))) and times ($n) must have the same length"
         ))
-        new{R}(times, _to_svec3_vec(r_sun), R_body_to_inertial)
+        new{R}(convert(Vector{Float64}, times), _to_svec3_vec(r_sun), R_body_to_inertial)
     end
 end
 
@@ -165,6 +167,8 @@ R_{s2i} = R_{p2i} \\cdot R_{p2s}^{\\top}
     BinaryAsteroidEphemerides(times, r_sun, r_secondary, R_primary_to_secondary, R_primary_to_inertial)
         -> BinaryAsteroidEphemerides{Vector{SMatrix{3,3,Float64,9}}}
 
+An `AbstractRange` (e.g. `range(et_begin, et_end; length=n)`) may be passed
+as `times` and is automatically collected to `Vector{Float64}`.
 Plain `AbstractVector` / `AbstractMatrix` elements are automatically converted
 to `SVector{3,Float64}` / `SMatrix{3,3,Float64,9}` types in all fields.
 """
@@ -196,7 +200,7 @@ struct BinaryAsteroidEphemerides{R <: Union{Nothing, AbstractVector}} <: Abstrac
             "R_primary_to_inertial ($(length(R_primary_to_inertial))) and times ($n) must have the same length"
         ))
         new{R}(
-            times,
+            convert(Vector{Float64}, times),
             _to_svec3_vec(r_sun),
             _to_svec3_vec(r_secondary),
             _to_smat33_vec(R_primary_to_secondary),

test/TPM_Didymos/TPM_Didymos.jl

@@ -70,15 +70,14 @@ See https://github.com/Astroshaper/Astroshaper-examples/tree/main/TPM_Didymos fo
     et_end   = et_begin + P₂ * n_cycle  # End time of TPM
     et_range = range(et_begin, et_end; length=n_step_in_cycle*n_cycle+1)
 
-    times                  = collect(et_range)
     r_sun                  = [SPICE.spkpos("SUN"      , et, "DIDYMOS_FIXED", "None", "DIDYMOS")[1] for et in et_range]  # Sun's position in DIDYMOS_FIXED [km]
     r_secondary            = [SPICE.spkpos("DIMORPHOS", et, "DIDYMOS_FIXED", "None", "DIDYMOS")[1] for et in et_range]  # Dimorphos position in DIDYMOS_FIXED [km]
     R_primary_to_secondary = [SPICE.pxform("DIDYMOS_FIXED", "DIMORPHOS_FIXED", et) for et in et_range]
 
     r_sun       .*= 1000  # Convert [km] to [m]
     r_secondary .*= 1000  # Convert [km] to [m]
 
-    ephem = BinaryAsteroidEphemerides(times, r_sun, r_secondary, R_primary_to_secondary)
+    ephem = BinaryAsteroidEphemerides(et_range, r_sun, r_secondary, R_primary_to_secondary)
 
     SPICE.kclear()
 

test/TPM_Ryugu/TPM_Ryugu.jl

@@ -62,12 +62,10 @@ See https://github.com/Astroshaper/Astroshaper-examples/tree/main/TPM_Ryugu for
     et_end   = et_begin + P * n_cycle  # End time of TPM
     et_range = range(et_begin, et_end; length=n_step_in_cycle*n_cycle+1)
 
-    times = collect(et_range)
     r_sun = [SPICE.spkpos("SUN", et, "RYUGU_FIXED", "None", "RYUGU")[1] for et in et_range]  # Sun's position in RYUGU_FIXED [km]
     r_sun .*= 1000  # Convert [km] to [m]
 
-
-    ephem = SingleAsteroidEphemerides(times, r_sun)
+    ephem = SingleAsteroidEphemerides(et_range, r_sun)
 
     SPICE.kclear()
 

test/TPM_non-uniform_thermoparams/TPM_non-uniform_thermoparams.jl

@@ -62,11 +62,10 @@ Based on TPM_Ryugu test but with varying thermophysical properties.
     et_end   = et_begin + P * n_cycle  # End time of TPM
     et_range = range(et_begin, et_end; length=n_step_in_cycle*n_cycle+1)
 
-    times = collect(et_range)
     r_sun = [SPICE.spkpos("SUN", et, "RYUGU_FIXED", "None", "RYUGU")[1] for et in et_range]  # Sun's position in RYUGU_FIXED [km]
     r_sun .*= 1000  # Convert [km] to [m]
 
-    ephem = SingleAsteroidEphemerides(times, r_sun)
+    ephem = SingleAsteroidEphemerides(et_range, r_sun)
 
     SPICE.kclear()
 

test/test_ephem_types.jl

@@ -145,4 +145,18 @@ Unit tests for parametric *Ephemerides{R} types introduced in v0.2.0:
         @test_throws DimensionMismatch BinaryAsteroidEphemerides(times, r_sun, r_secondary, R_primary_to_secondary[1:end-1], R_primary_to_inertial)
         @test_throws DimensionMismatch BinaryAsteroidEphemerides(times, r_sun, r_secondary, R_primary_to_secondary, R_primary_to_inertial[1:end-1])
     end
+
+    @testset "AbstractRange as times" begin
+        et_range = range(0.0, 100.0; length=n)
+
+        ephem_s = SingleAsteroidEphemerides(et_range, r_sun)
+        @test ephem_s.times isa Vector{Float64}
+        @test ephem_s.times == collect(et_range)
+        @test length(ephem_s) == n
+
+        ephem_b = BinaryAsteroidEphemerides(et_range, r_sun, r_secondary, R_primary_to_secondary)
+        @test ephem_b.times isa Vector{Float64}
+        @test ephem_b.times == collect(et_range)
+        @test length(ephem_b) == n
+    end
 end