• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.299-305
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• 2013

Ganui-Dae, built in the reign of King Sejong, Joseon Dynasty, is a comprehensive observatory. It has various instruments for observation and time signal such as Ganui, Gyupyo(Gnomon), water-hammering type Honui and Honsang, and so on. Studying on Ganui-Dae has been focused on its location, history, criterion, etc, so far. However, studying on its external form and construction method has been conducted insufficiently. This study suggests the model for restoration of Ganui-Dae. The model is based on the analysis about external form of Ganui-Dae in various antique maps, and its construction method in those days.

• 천문학논총
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.129-139
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• 2010

The Cowherd Star and the Weaving Maid Star have been famous stars in East Asian countries. Nowadays Altair is defined to be the Cowherd Star in public materials including science books, mass media, public outreach programs, and movies played in public planetariums and science museums. However, in astronomical books and star-charts in history, the Cowherd Big Star (牽牛大星) has been known to be Dabih or $\beta$ Cap in the constellation Capricorn, and the asterism Cowherd consists of six stars including Dabih. Since the same title is given to the different objects simultaneously, considerable misunderstanding and confusion among the public have occurred. In this paper we consider this problem in two aspects. One aspect is which star has been defined to be the Cowherd Star in ancient literatures; the other is which stars were regarded as the Cowherd or the Cowherd Star in the historical records of occultation or conjunction in History of Koryo, Annals of the Choson Dynasty, and Daily Records of Royal Secretariat of the Choson Dynasty. As a result, we see that Altair has been regarded as the Cowherd Star in folklore and literature, but Dabih has been defined to be the Cowherd Big Star in astronomical works. An explanation proposed by previous researchers on the reason why such double meanings have been appeared is introduced. In the explanation, the fact that the Altair was defined as the Cowherd Star in ancient times had not been handed over properly, and the name of Cowherd was later put to the Dabih and its surrounding five stars to form one of 28 lunar lodges. Based upon these facts, we suggest the following ideas: (1) Altair should be introduced to be the Cowherd Star in public-friendly programs, and Dabih should be noticed to be the Cowherd Big Star in the field of history of astronomy. Dabih should be added as the astronomical Cowherd Big Star in academic books such as a dictionary of astronomical terminology. (2) The Korean pronunciation for Altair should be al-tear instead of al-tairu in accordance with the definition in the astronomical terminology dictionary compiled by the Korean Astronomical Society.

• 천문학회보
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• 제39권2호
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• pp.64.1-64.1
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• 2014

We study the dust and star-formation characteristics of a nearby dwarf elliptical galaxy, NGC 855. With various archival data from ultraviolet to far-infrared, we build up the spectral energy distribution (SED) that can give us constraints on stellar populations, dust characteristics, star-formation history, etc. From GALEX and SDSS data, slightly de-centered bluer central core is confirmed, where star formation might take place. This regions is coincident with seemingly dis-integrated cores detected by Spitzer IRAC data and with bright Ha feature observed at ground-based telescope. The PACS and SPIRE data by Herschel Space Observatory show the dominant dust features at the center. Lastly, we propose necessary follow-up observations with ground-based telescopes to investigate spectral properties of NGC 855.

• 천문학회보
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• 제46권2호
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• pp.53.1-53.1
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• 2021

The KASI team are participating in the NASA MIDEX mission (PI Institute: Caltech), the all-sky infrared spectro-photometric surveyor SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer). The SPHEREx will provide us the first all-sky infrared spectro-photometric data set to probe the origin of our Universe, to explore the origin and evolution of galaxies, and to explore whether planets around other stars could harbor life. After the project PDR (Preliminary Design Review) was successfully passed on the last September, the fabrication of flight hardware is in progress. As an international partner, KASI deeply involved in all fields of projects, i.e., the development of calibration facility, the construction of data reduction modules and the science studies for the SPHEREx. After finishing the fabrication and test of calibration facility for the SPHEREx in this year, it will be delivered to Caltech. Here, we report the status of the SPHEREx project and the progress in the Korean participation.

• 천문학논총
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2018

In order to encourage collaboration with North Korea in astronomy research field, we have studied the astronomical almanacs published in South and North Korea. The almanac contains fundamental astronomical data including not only daily calendar data but also unique characteristics selected by necessity in each country. We compared the South and North Korean astronomical almanacs in terms of contents, detailed descriptions, unique items, and so forth. We used the 2017 almanac for South Korea and 1993 almanac which is useful for this research for North Korea. We found that there were several differences between South and North Korean almanacs. The North Korean almanac is published for the astronomer or navigator, thus it has supplementary information about spherical astronomy such as precession of the north pole and position of celestial bodies. Whereas the South Korean almanac is published for the general public, and it distinctively contains luni-solar calendar, 24 solar terms, national holidays, etc. This study could be helpful for research cooperation between South and North Korea in astronomy.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.83-90
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• 2014

The NISS onboard NEXTSat-1 is being developed by Korea astronomy and space science institute (KASI). For the study of the cosmic star formation history, the NISS performs the imaging spectroscopic observation in the near-infrared range for nearby galaxies, low background regions, star-forming regions and so on. It is designed to cover a wide field of view ($2{\times}2$ deg) and a wide wavelength range from 0.95 to $3.8{\mu}m$ by using linear variable filters. In order to reduce the thermal noise, the telescope and the infrared sensor are cooled down to 200 K and 80 K, respectively. Evading a stray light outside the field of view and making the most use of limited space, the NISS adopts the off-axis reflective optical system. The primary and the secondary mirrors, the opto-mechanical part and the mechanical structure are designed to be made of aluminum material. It reduces the degradation of optical performance due to a thermal variation. This paper presents the study on the conceptual design of the NISS.

• 천문학회보
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.37.3-37.3
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• 2016

The SPEHREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) is one of the candidates for the Astrophysical Small Explore mission of the NASA proposed together with KASI (PI Institute: Caltech). It will perform an all-sky near-infrared spectral survey to probe the origin of the Universe and water in the planetary systems and to explore the evolution of galaxies. The SPHEREx is designed to cover wide field of view of $3.5{\times}7deg$. as well as wide spectral range from 0.7 to $4.8{\mu}m$ by using four linear variable filters. The SPHEREx is under the Phase-A study to finalize the conceptual design and test plan of the instrument. The international partner, KASI will contribute to the SPHEREx in the hardware as well as the major science cases. The final selection will be made in the early 2017. Here, we report the current status of the SPHEREx mission.

• 천문학회보
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• 제39권2호
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• pp.108.1-108.1
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• 2014

Near-infrared Imaging Spectrometer for Star formation history (NISS), one of the main payloads of NEXTSat-1, is being developed by Korea Astronomy & Space Science Institute (KASI). Since NISS adopts an infrared reflecting optical system, its performance is highly sensitive to changes in system temperature. Therefore, it is important to figure out the temperature through thermal analysis and cooling tests in order to optimize the optical system design. We conducted thermal analysis of NISS for the recently updated model, and obtained steady state temperature of the optical system for two cases of satellite attitude: about 190 K for the Normal case and about 210 K for the Hot case. In this paper, we present thermal design of NISS and the preliminary thermal analysis results.

• 천문학회보
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.31.1-31.1
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• 2016

SNe light curves have been used to understand the expansion history of the universe, and a lot of efforts have gone into understanding the overall shape of the radioactively powered light curve. However, we still have little direct observational evidence for the theorized SN progenitor systems. Recent studies suggest that the light curve of a supernova shortly after its explosion (< 1 day) contains valuable information about its progenitor system and can be used to set a limit on the progenitor size, R*. In order to catch the early light curve of SNe explosion and understand SNe progenitors, we are performing a ~8hr interval monitoring survey of nearby galaxies (d < 50 Mpc) with 1-m class telescopes around the world. Through this survey, we expect to catch the very early precursor emission as faint as R=21 mag (~0.1 Rsun for the progenitor). In this talk, we outline this project, and present a few scientific highlights, such as the early light curve of SN 2015F in NGC 2442.

• 천문학회보
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.41.2-41.2
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• 2010

We present ultraviolet (UV) properties of dwarf galaxies in the Ursa Major cluster comparing with those in the Virgo cluster. We have constructed SDSS DR7/GALEX GR5 matched optical/UV catalog for dwarf galaxies with various morphologies in these two clusters. Membership of galaxies belonging to the Ursa Major cluster was made by hierarchical grouping method using SDSS spectroscopic data. We classified morphologies of dwarf galaxies using the combination of visual inspection of the images and spectral features returned from SDSS data. In contrast to the case of the Virgo cluster, majority of dwarf galaxies in the Ursa Major cluster lies in the blue cloud of the UV color-magnitude relations (CMRs) implying strong recent or on-going star formation. We discuss the cluster environment on the star formation history and evolution of dwarf galaxies.