ValueError with a simple cross-match

[hombit]

Bug report

lsdb.open_catalog(
    's3://stpubdata/panstarrs/ps1/public/hats/otmo'
).crossmatch(
    lsdb.open_catalog('s3://stpubdata/gaia/gaia_dr3/public/hats'),
).partitions[0].compute()

Environment Information

INSTALLED VERSIONS

--------      SYSTEM INFO      --------
python        : 3.13.12
python-bits   : 64
OS            : Darwin
OS-release    : 25.3.0
Version       : Darwin Kernel Version 25.3.0: Wed Jan 28 20:53:05 PST 2026; root:xnu-12377.81.4~5/RELEASE_ARM64_T6020
machine       : arm64
processor     : arm
byteorder     : little
LC_ALL        : en_US.UTF-8
LANG          : en_US.UTF-8
--------   INSTALLED VERSIONS   --------
lsdb          : 0.9.0
hats          : 0.9.0
nested-pandas : 0.6.8
pandas        : 2.3.3
numpy         : 2.4.3
dask          : 2026.3.0
pyarrow       : 23.0.1
fsspec        : 2026.2.0

Traceback

File ~/.virtualenvs/lsdb-release/lib/python3.13/site-packages/lsdb/catalog/dataset/healpix_dataset.py:154, in HealpixDataset.compute(self, progress_bar, tqdm_kwargs)
    152 desc = tqdm_kwargs.pop("desc", "Computing Catalog") if tqdm_kwargs else "Computing Catalog"
    153 with TqdmCallback(desc=desc, disable=not progress_bar, **(tqdm_kwargs or {})):
--> 154     res = self._ddf.compute()
    155 return res

File ~/.virtualenvs/lsdb-release/lib/python3.13/site-packages/lsdb/nested/core.py:362, in NestedFrame.compute(self, **kwargs)
    360 def compute(self, **kwargs):
    361     """Compute this Dask collection, returning the underlying dataframe or series."""
--> 362     return npd.NestedFrame(super().compute(**kwargs))

File ~/.virtualenvs/lsdb-release/lib/python3.13/site-packages/dask/base.py:377, in DaskMethodsMixin.compute(self, **kwargs)
    353 def compute(self, **kwargs):
    354     """Compute this dask collection
    355
    356     This turns a lazy Dask collection into its in-memory equivalent.
   (...)    375     dask.compute
    376     """
--> 377     (result,) = compute(self, traverse=False, **kwargs)
    378     return result

File ~/.virtualenvs/lsdb-release/lib/python3.13/site-packages/dask/base.py:685, in compute(traverse, optimize_graph, scheduler, get, *args, **kwargs)
    682     expr = expr.optimize()
    683     keys = list(flatten(expr.__dask_keys__()))
--> 685     results = schedule(expr, keys, **kwargs)
    687 return repack(results)

File ~/.virtualenvs/lsdb-release/lib/python3.13/site-packages/dask/dataframe/utils.py:382, in check_meta(x, meta, funcname, numeric_equal)
    376         return x
    377     errmsg = "Partition type: `{}`\n{}".format(
    378         typename(type(meta)),
    379         asciitable(["", "dtype"], [("Found", x.dtype), ("Expected", meta.dtype)]),
    380     )
--> 382 raise ValueError(
    383     "Metadata mismatch found{}.\n\n"
    384     "{}".format((f" in `{funcname}`" if funcname else ""), errmsg)
    385 )

ValueError: Metadata mismatch found in `from_delayed`.

Partition type: `nested_pandas.nestedframe.core.NestedFrame`
+---------------+-------+----------------+
| Column        | Found | Expected       |
+---------------+-------+----------------+
| 'Dir_otmo'    | -     | int64[pyarrow] |
| 'Norder_otmo' | -     | int8[pyarrow]  |
| 'Npix_otmo'   | -     | int64[pyarrow] |
+---------------+-------+----------------+

Before submitting
Please check the following:

• I have described the situation in which the bug arose, including what code was executed, and any applicable data others will need to reproduce the problem.
• I have included information about my environment, including the version of this package (e.g. lsdb.show_versions())
• I have included available evidence of the unexpected behavior (including error messages, screenshots, and/or plots) as well as a description of what I expected instead.
• If I have a solution in mind, I have provided an explanation and/or pseudocode and/or task list.

[nevencaplar]

Is this possibly still because PanSTARSS is broken on the Space Telescope side?

[hombit]

@nevencaplar I guess _common_metadata is wrong, but I haven't checked