The solar eclipse, as observed from Truro

To observe the solar eclipse of 20th March 2015, to get a nice clear view of the sky to the southeast, where the eclipse would be visible, I went into a field just up the road from where I live in Truro, that we called the Donkey Field in my childhood, because the field adjoining it had donkeys in it at one point.

I set up a pair of binoculars, with one lens open, and a piece of card to shade it, and a cardboard box with paper stuck to the inside of the base. Fortunately I managed to find the adaptor I had that allows me to attach the binoculars to a tripod. I also show below the method advocated by the Royal Astronomical Society using a colander.

I used the software Darktable for processing the images, for example to improve the contrast on the projected solar disk against the background.

My main gallery of these is on my Google+ profile. Pictures from a trip I took to Turkey in 2006 are also available: digital pictures, analogue ones. The latter had a technical failure, involving the film not winding on properly in combination with some light exposure to the film, which I think makes them artistic in a way.

A short while after first contact at the beginning of the eclipse, at about 0825 UT

Mum and Dad, with the setup. 0837 UT

Some small crescents projected via the colander. 0858 UT

Notice a darker spot near the bottom of the Sun as seen on this picture, this is in fact a sunspot group visible on the solar photosphere. 0905 UT

Some helpful passers-by lent us their pram to hold the box in place.

0914 UT

0915 UT

0916 UT

An atmosphere shot, it was a hazy day. There was a definite drop in light level and an unusual quality to the light that is difficult to get from the photographs. 0921 UT

Close to greatest eclipse (88%) 0924 UT

0928 UT

The firemen and their platform.

Myself, with the setup. 0942 UT

Syllable segmentation of Cornish text - Part II

I have started a website at neocities.org, which I have called Taklow Kernewek.

I have uploaded the Python script that does the segmentation onto it.

Here is the opening few lines of Gwreans an Bys, the Creation of the World:

 Ego sum Alpha et Omega.
 Heb dalleth na diwedhva
 pur wir my yw,
 omma a-ji dhe'n kloudys,
 war fas an dowr yn sertan,
 tri ferson yn unn dywses
 ow kesreynya bys vykken
 yn meur enor ha vertu.
 My ha'w Mab ha'n Spyrys Sans,
 tri yth on yn unn substans,
 komprehendys yn unn Dyw.

The output of the script is as follows: (excluding the first line which is Latin)

An ger yw: Heb
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['Heb']
1 : Heb

An ger yw: dalleth
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['dall', 'eth']
1 : dall
2 : eth

An ger yw: na
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['na']
1 : na

An ger yw: diwedhva
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 3
Hag yns i:
['diw', 'edh', 'va']
1 : diw
2 : edh
3 : va

An ger yw: pur
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['pur']
1 : pur

An ger yw: wir
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['wir']
1 : wir

An ger yw: my
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['my']
1 : my

An ger yw: yw
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['yw']
1 : yw

An ger yw: omma
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['omm', 'a']
1 : omm
2 : a

An ger yw: a-ji
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['a', 'ji']
1 : a
2 : ji

An ger yw: dhen
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['dhen']
1 : dhen

An ger yw: kloudys
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['kloud', 'ys']
1 : kloud
2 : ys

An ger yw: war
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['war']
1 : war

An ger yw: fas
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['fas']
1 : fas

An ger yw: an
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['an']
1 : an

An ger yw: dowr
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['dowr']
1 : dowr

An ger yw: yn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['yn']
1 : yn

An ger yw: sertan
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['sert', 'an']
1 : sert
2 : an

An ger yw: tri
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['tri']
1 : tri

An ger yw: ferson
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['fer', 'son']
1 : fer
2 : son

An ger yw: yn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['yn']
1 : yn

An ger yw: unn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['unn']
1 : unn

An ger yw: dywses
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['dyws', 'es']
1 : dyws
2 : es

An ger yw: ow
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['ow']
1 : ow

An ger yw: kesreynya
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 3
Hag yns i:
['kes', 'reyn', 'ya']
1 : kes
2 : reyn
3 : ya

An ger yw: bys
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['bys']
1 : bys

An ger yw: vykken
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['vykk', 'en']
1 : vykk
2 : en

An ger yw: yn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['yn']
1 : yn

An ger yw: meur
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['meur']
1 : meur

An ger yw: enor
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['en', 'or']
1 : en
2 : or

An ger yw: ha
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['ha']
1 : ha

An ger yw: vertu
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['vert', 'u']
1 : vert
2 : u

An ger yw: My
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['My']
1 : My

An ger yw: haw
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['haw']
1 : haw

An ger yw: Mab
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['Mab']
1 : Mab

An ger yw: han
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['han']
1 : han

An ger yw: Spyrys
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['Spyr', 'ys']
1 : Spyr
2 : ys

An ger yw: Sans
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['Sans']
1 : Sans

An ger yw: tri
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['tri']
1 : tri

An ger yw: yth
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['yth']
1 : yth

An ger yw: on
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['on']
1 : on

An ger yw: yn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['yn']
1 : yn

An ger yw: unn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['unn']
1 : unn

An ger yw: substans
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
['sub', 'stans']
1 : sub
2 : stans

An ger yw: komprehendys
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 4
Hag yns i:
['kom', 'pre', 'hend', 'ys']
1 : kom
2 : pre
3 : hend
4 : ys

An ger yw: yn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['yn']
1 : yn

An ger yw: unn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['unn']
1 : unn

An ger yw: Dyw
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
['Dyw']
1 : Dyw

I think it's doing reasonably well, although I am not sure that ['dyws', 'es'] is the best segmentation of dywses. I am not yet sure how to get it to give ['dyw','ses'] without affecting other things.
Similarly ['kom', 'pre', 'hend', 'ys'] could perhaps better be ['kom', 'pre', 'hen', 'dys'], ['vert', 'u'] could be ['ver', 'tu'] , ['Spyr', 'ys'] could be ['Spy', 'rys']etc.
Perhaps the way to go is to adapt the expressions to ensure the final syllable starts with a consonant if it can do? What the script does at the moment is go through picking off the first syllable from the word with the reg exp. then do so from the remainder or the word until all of it is used. So perhaps have a step at the end after the segmentation where if the last syllable is V or VC and the penultimate is CVC or VC then if possible take a consonant and put it onto the beginning of the last one.
This might not always be appropriate such as for 'loghow' where the 'gh' is a digraph for a single sound (the ch in Scots 'Loch' and the plural of the same word here). [log,how] would be incorrect.

Syllable segmentation of Cornish text

I will put a write up of the my solar eclipse pictures on this blog, dreckly. In the meantime find the pictures on my Google+ album.

For a while now I have been working on, from time to time a Python program to segment Cornish words into syllables using regular expressions. So far I've worked in Kernewek Kemmyn, but one of the uses I have in mind for this is to transliterate text from one orthography to another.

Here are a few test inputs. This is fairly early results and it will need some more testing. I will put the code online once I have the chance to debug it a little more.:

kath (cat)
An ger yw: kath
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
1 : kath


kathik (kitten)
An ger yw: kathik
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
1 : kath
2 : ik


kathigow (kittens)
An ger yw: kathigow
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 3
Hag yns i:
1 : kath
2 : ig
3 : ow


del (leaves)
An ger yw: del
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
1 : del


delenn (leaf)
An ger yw: delenn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
1 : del
2 : enn


delennow (a countable collection of individual leaves)
An ger yw: delennow
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 3
Hag yns i:
1 : del
2 : enn
3 : ow


roes (net)
An ger yw: roes
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
1 : roes


roesweyth (network)
An ger yw: roesweyth
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 2
Hag yns i:
1 : roes
2 : weyth


kesroesweyth (Internet)
An ger yw: kesroesweyth
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 3
Hag yns i:
1 : kes
2 : roes
3 : weyth


jynn (engine/machine)
An ger yw: jynn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 1
Hag yns i:
1 : jynn


jynn-ebrenn (aeroplane)
An ger yw: jynnebrenn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 3
Hag yns i:
1 : jynn
2 : eb
3 : renn


jynnow-ebrenn (aeroplanes)
An ger yw: jynnowebrenn
Niver a sylabelennow yw: 4
Hag yns i:
1 : jynn
2 : ow
3 : eb
4 : renn

Testing my setup for tomorrow's solar eclipse

It has been a nice sunny day today so I thought I would get my setup sorted for the solar eclipse which will be visible as a partial eclipse from where I am.

I plan to project an image of the Sun on white paper using one half of a pair of binoculars. I found my adapter to attach to a tripod today which is fortunate because it was surprisingly difficult to hold the binoculars steady enough.

The Royal Astronomical Society has put together a guide describing the eclipse and several ways to view it safely.  The website created for the August 2017 eclipse in the USA also has a  section about the 20th March 2015 eclipse.

Hopefully clear skies will allow a good view tomorrow.

Looking for the Aurora Borealis from Cornwall

Last night (17th-18th) the Aurora Borealis was seen from the UK. After having a red alert from the Aurora Watch UK service at Lancaster University I had a look for it just after midnight.

I couldn't really see anything from just outside Truro, although the sky seemed a bit brighter I wasn't sure whether that was just a bit of mist illuminated by artificial lights. I think the peak of the storm was slightly earlier, when it was partly cloudy where I was.

Have a look at the link below to see pictures from other people who did see it.
Aurora Watch UK Flickr Group

My own pictures are as follows:

Looking North, with Lyra and part of Cygnus. 15s, f/2 35mm lens. Nikon D90

Looking NW, with the constellation Cassiopaea 15s, f/3.5 18-70mm lens at 18mm. Nikon D90

Looking N, 15s, f/3.5 18-70mm lens. Nikon D90