Fix issue 1255 - #1372

Have you tested to see if this works as intended if a user does not supply an inits.json file?

Have you tested to see if this works as intended if a user does not supply an inits.json file?

Hi Dr. Zellem , I have performed a regression test on the interactive (non-JSON) workflow to verify the fix.
During testing, I identified that planet_info() returns None for candidate planets in interactive mode, which originally caused an AttributeError in my fallback logic. I have updated the implementation to:
Safely initialize pDict as an empty dictionary if the archive returns None.
Successfully perform the RA/DEC fallback from userpDict for both JSON and manual entries.
Verified the fix by passing the full pytest suite (45/45) on Python 3.12.
This ensures the FOV plot is now robust across all input methods.And as always, thank you for the guidance!
The issue is fixed and tested

Executed review, 2026-08-22 (part of the open-PR triage Rob asked me to run; evidence only, decisions stay with maintainers).

What it does: when the NASA Exoplanet Archive query returns no usable coordinates (candidate targets, omissions, API failures), falls back to the inits.json RA/DEC so the FOV plot can still be generated (issue #1255).

Static assessment: the direction is right and the issue is real. Three things before merge:

1. Sparse-pDict scope — after the patch, a failed archive query yields pDict containing only ra/dec. That rescues the FOV plot, but everything downstream that expects period/priors still sees an empty dict. Was this tested end-to-end on a real candidate target (the Fall back to RA+DEC on Colab for FOV Plot #1255 scenario), and does the run complete rather than fail later? A one-line answer with the target name you tested would settle it.
2. Comment hygiene — # --- V2 SOTA FALLBACK (FIXED FOR CANDIDATES) --- describes the patch's history, not the code. Suggest replacing with a comment saying why (archive can omit candidates; FOV plot needs coords from somewhere).
3. The magic branch (Large update for Speed, Robustness and Pre-reduced focussed updates.  #1373) has rebuilt this exact region — it now guards isinstance(pDict, dict), keeps an archive_planet_dict, and does archive↔inits coordinate recovery in both directions (exotic.py ~32479–32530). This patch won't apply there, and the Fall back to RA+DEC on Colab for FOV Plot #1255 failure may already be fixed on that branch. Worth one test of the Fall back to RA+DEC on Colab for FOV Plot #1255 scenario against Large update for Speed, Robustness and Pre-reduced focussed updates.  #1373 before deciding whether this merges to develop as a stopgap or closes as superseded.

Recommendation: iterate (answer 1, clean 2), and run the scenario on #1373 — if the magic branch already handles it, close as superseded with the issue cross-referenced; if not, this is a reasonable develop-side stopgap.