beamSize parameter ambiguous

[MatthewWhiting]

The beamSize parameter refers to the *area* of the beam, not the width. The name of it is therefore somewhat ambiguous, and should be changed.

Perhaps have beamArea and beamFWHM parameters to provide a bit of flexbility? Have one/both default to zero so that there is a preference?

[MatthewWhiting]

Moving to MS-1.1.9

[(none)]

Milestone Release 1.1.9 deleted

[MatthewWhiting]

Made two new input parameters: beamArea and beamFWHM, with corresponding Param class members. Their functionality isn't fully fleshed out yet - basically beamArea just directly replaces beamSize at this point.

What I want is to make beamFWHM used, unless beamArea is specified, since beamFWHM is the equivalent of BMAJ. However, this will mean defining the equivalent of BMIN if we want non-circular beams... (Or people should just specify the area).

Will also need to update the parameters appendix in the Guide, as well as putting some text somewhere about how the beam area is calculated from the beam shape (and how it is used to correct the integrated flux).

[MatthewWhiting]

Done in [675]. Now have beamFWHM and beamArea input parameters. If beamFWHM is given, we use that to calculate the area, otherwise use beamArea (which defaults to 10).

Have also updated the documentation, as well as the parameter reporting functions. We also get a warning if the old beamSize parameter is used.

Closing this ticket.