Stellar Heliacal Validation Corpus (2026-04-09)

Purpose:

• define the admitted stellar heliacal validation corpus shape beyond source discovery
• preserve explicit event semantics and observer assumptions for stellar rows
• keep stellar validation stronger than vague "star-related historical mention" checks

Primary repo inputs:

• wiki/03_validation/STELLAR_HELIACAL_VALIDATION_SOURCES_2026-04-09.md
• wiki/03_validation/STELLAR_HELIACAL_CANDIDATE_SOURCE_LEDGER_2026-04-09.md
• wiki/03_validation/HELIACAL_VALIDATION_MATRIX_2026-04-09.md
• tests/integration/test_visibility_validation.py
• moira/heliacal.py
• moira/stars.py
• moira/sothic.py

1. Current Baseline

The current stellar heliacal validation basis is real but narrow.

It currently includes one admitted corpus family:

• Sirius / Sothic 139 AD anchor slice
• generalized stellar event delegation check against the direct star-heliacal path
• explicit enforcement in tests/integration/test_visibility_validation.py

It also has two admitted secondary support sources:

• Schaefer (2000) as secondary scholarly support for the Sirius anchor context
• Schaefer (1987) as secondary methodology support for event semantics and criterion law

This is enough to justify a stellar validation slice claim.

It is not yet enough to justify:

• broad stellar heliacal closure across named stars
• broad validation across declination regimes, magnitudes, and observational contexts

2. Current Strengths

The present stellar corpus already does three useful things:

• proves the generalized stellar branch is not detached from a real historical anchor
• proves the generalized visibility surface and the direct star-heliacal search stay aligned for Sirius
• preserves the doctrinal separation between the Sothic subsystem and the broader stellar heliacal surface

Those are real gains. They should remain in the corpus even after expansion.

3. Current Weaknesses

3.1 Single admitted star

The current admitted stellar corpus has one star only: Sirius.

Consequence:

• it validates a real stellar slice, not broad named-star coverage

3.2 Historical-anchor concentration

The present admitted row is anchored to the Sothic historical family.

Consequence:

• strong for Sirius doctrine and historical anchor integrity
• weaker for claiming modern observational breadth across other stars

3.3 Limited geometry diversity

The current corpus does not yet behave like a designed matrix across:

• different declinations
• different brightness regimes
• different latitude bands
• different event difficulty levels

4. Desired Corpus Shape

The next admitted stellar corpus should be a matrix, not a loose collection of references.

Each future row should vary along these axes:

• star: at minimum one additional bright historically prominent star beyond Sirius
• event kind: heliacal rising first; heliacal setting only when the source basis is equally clear
• observer latitude: preserve at least one low/mid-latitude historical family and one distinct geometry family
• source family: historical anchor, scholarly reconstruction, or explicit observational study
• difficulty: include both easy bright-star cases and more threshold-sensitive rows only after strong sources exist

5. Preferred Oracle Families

A. Historically explicit first-visibility records tied to a named star and site

Use when they include:

• a named star
• a named site or latitude band
• a historical year or date range
• explicit first-visibility semantics

Role:

• strongest historical stellar oracle family

B. Scholarly modern reconstructions with explicit assumptions

Use when they include:

• star identity
• observer location or latitude
• stated visibility criterion or solar-depression rule
• reconstructed date or day range

Role:

• strongest expansion family beyond the raw Sirius anchor

C. Modern observational stellar visibility studies

Use when they include:

• explicit event family
• site conditions
• named stars or star classes
• dates or predicted windows

Role:

• supports broader doctrine stress after the historical anchor family is widened

6. Inadmissible or Weak Stellar Corpus Material

Do not build the stellar corpus around:

• unsourced astrology pages listing heliacal rising dates
• generic historical summaries without event semantics
• Swiss output alone
• star-position references with no visibility event content

These may suggest candidate dates, but they are not the oracle.

7. Minimum Row Schema

Each future admitted stellar row should contain:

• star name
• event kind
• source citation
• source type
• observer latitude
• observer longitude or site/region
• start date or start JD
• expected exact date or admitted date window
• tolerance or window width
• source criterion notes if supplied
• notes on calendrical or observational uncertainty

8. Recommended Validation Tiers

Tier 1: historical-anchor or exact-date rows

Use when the source is specific enough.

Expected assertion style:

• event JD within declared tolerance of the admitted event JD or date band

Tier 2: bounded-window rows

Use when the source provides a day range rather than a single exact date.

Expected assertion style:

• event JD inside the admitted interval

Tier 3: doctrine-comparison rows

Use when external truth is narrower, but subsystem routing still needs enforcement.

Expected assertion style:

• generalized stellar event surface and direct star-heliacal helper remain aligned under the same policy

9. Current Admitted Corpus

The currently admitted stellar corpus contains one row family only:

• Sirius heliacal rising in the 139 AD Sothic anchor context

That row is supported, but not widened, by:

• SHS-002 as secondary scholarly support
• SHS-003 as secondary methodology support

This row is enough to support the present safe wording:

• "stellar heliacal validation is presently anchored by the Sirius / Sothic slice"

It is not enough to support:

• "stellar heliacal visibility is broadly validated across the named-star surface"

10. Immediate Next Artifact

The next useful document after this one is:

• a concrete stellar case ledger containing the current admitted row plus explicit candidate rows for expansion

That keeps the corpus inspectable before broader implementation expands.

11. Final Judgment

Stellar heliacal validation is already real.

Its weakness is not legitimacy. Its weakness is breadth and corpus design.

The next improvement is therefore:

• expand from the admitted Sirius anchor into a small, explicit bright-star corpus with inspectable provenance

not:

• add new heliacal algorithms to a subsystem that already exists

12. Remaining External Gaps

The remaining gaps are now narrower and more explicit:

• no admitted non-Sirius stellar heliacal validation row yet exists
• no contrasting-declination bright-star row yet exists
• no admitted modern observational stellar study has yet been converted into a corpus row

Those are the real external-oracle gaps left in the stellar branch.