If the call to lsdb.read_hats(..., margin=margin_object) is used, it's possible (and easy) for the pre-loaded margin catalog to be inconsistent with the object catalog. It may have different columns, or have different spatial filters applied.
Initially, we'd been using a pattern of 1) load the margin catalog, and 2) pass the margin catalog to the primary catalog loading, but this is not intuitive for users, and it makes more sense to pass in the path and load both at the same time.
If the call to
lsdb.read_hats(..., margin=margin_object)is used, it's possible (and easy) for the pre-loaded margin catalog to be inconsistent with the object catalog. It may have different columns, or have different spatial filters applied.Initially, we'd been using a pattern of 1) load the margin catalog, and 2) pass the margin catalog to the primary catalog loading, but this is not intuitive for users, and it makes more sense to pass in the path and load both at the same time.