from matplotlib.patches import Circle # $matplotlib/patches.py
def circle( xy, radius, color="lightsteelblue", facecolor="none", alpha=1, ax=None ):
""" add a circle to ax= or current axes
"""
# from .../pylab_examples/ellipse_demo.py
e = Circle( xy=xy, radius=radius )
if ax is None:
ax = pl.gca() # ax = subplot( 1,1,1 )
ax.add_artist(e)
e.set_clip_box(ax.bbox)
e.set_edgecolor( color )
e.set_facecolor( facecolor ) # "none" not None
e.set_alpha( alpha )