• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2009

The e-CALLISTO is a global network of frequency-agile solar radio spectrometers that was constructed in a collaboration between Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) and local host institutes. It is intended to monitor solar radio bursts 24 hours a day in frequency range between 45 MHz and 870 MHz. One of e-CALLISTO spectrometer was installed at Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) in 2007 October. The spectrometer gets signals from a horizontally polarized log-periodic antenna mounted on an automatic Sun-tracking system. Tracking status and data are monitored in Space Weather Monitoring Laboratory (SWML) of KASI in real time, and flare time data are transferred to ETH Zurich data archive daily. Using this spectrometer we obtained a couple of type II solar radio bursts on 2007 December 31, and found that these bursts are associated with a CME which occurred on the east limb.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.66.3-67
• /
• 2016

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will feature two interchangeable Gregorian secondary mirrors, an adaptive secondary mirror (ASM) and a fast-steering secondary mirror (FSM). The FSM has an effective diameter of 3.2 m and built as seven 1.1 m diameter circular segments, which are conjugated 1:1 to the seven 8.4m segments of the primary. Each FSM segment contains a tip-tilt capability for fine co-alignment of the telescope subapertures and fast guiding to attenuate telescope wind shake and mount control jitter. This tip-tilt capability thus enhances performance of the telescope in the seeing limited observation mode. As the first stage of the FSM development, KASI conducted a Phase 0 study to develop a program plan detailing the design and manufacturing process for the seven FSM segments. The GMTO-KASI team matured this plan via an internal review in May 2016 and the revised plan was further assessed by an external review in June 2016. In this poster, we present the technical aspects of the FSM development plan.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.37.3-37.3
• /
• 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.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.37-44
• /
• 2016

The Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) is a wide-field photometric system installed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). Here, we present the overall technical specifications of the KMTNet observation system, test observation results, data transfer and image processing procedure, and finally, the KMTNet science programs. The system consists of three 1.6 m wide-field optical telescopes equipped with mosaic CCD cameras of 18k by 18k pixels. Each telescope provides a 2.0 by 2.0 square degree field of view. We have finished installing all three telescopes and cameras sequentially at the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in South Africa, and the Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) in Australia. This network of telescopes, which is spread over three different continents at a similar latitude of about -30 degrees, enables 24-hour continuous monitoring of targets observable in the Southern Hemisphere. The test observations showed good image quality that meets the seeing requirement of less than 1.0 arcsec in I-band. All of the observation data are transferred to the KMTNet data center at KASI via the international network communication and are processed with the KMTNet data pipeline. The primary scientific goal of the KMTNet is to discover numerous extrasolar planets toward the Galactic bulge by using the gravitational microlensing technique, especially earth-mass planets in the habitable zone. During the non-bulge season, the system is used for wide-field photometric survey science on supernovae, asteroids, and external galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.83.2-83.2
• /
• 2012

We have carried out simultaneous 22GHz $H_2O$ and 44GHz Class I $CH_3OH$ maser survey of 112 ultra-compact HII regions (UCHIIs) twice in 2010 and 2011. We detected $H_2O$ maser and $CH_3OH$ maser emission from 76(68%) and 49(44%) UCHIIs, respectively. Among them 15 $H_2O$ masers and 32 $CH_3OH$ masers are new detections. These high detection rates suggest that the occurrence periods of both masers are significantly overlapped with the UCHII phase. $CH_3OH$ masers always have small (<10 km s-1) relative velocities with respect to the natal molecular cores, while $H_2O$ masers often show larger velocities. We find 20 UCHIIs with $H_2O$ maser lines at relative velocities >30 km s-1. The formation and disappearance of $H_2O$ masers is frequent over one-year time interval. In contrast, $CH_3OH$ masers usually do not show substantial variation in intensity, velocity, or shape. The isotropic luminosities of both masers well correlate with the bolometric luminosities of the central stars when data points of lowand intermediate-mass protostars are added: $L_{H_2O}=5.89{\times}10^{-9}{(L_{bol})^{0.69}}$ and $L_{CH_3OH}=4.27{\times}10^{-9}{(L_{bol})^{0.62}}$. They also tend to increase with the 2cm radio continuum luminosity of UCHIIs and the 850 um continuum luminosity of the associated molecular cores. We discuss some individual sources.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.20 no.1 s.24
• /
• pp.143-149
• /
• 2005

KASI (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) is developing the near-infrared camera system named KASINICS (KASI Near-Infrared Camera System) which will be installed at the 60cm f/13.5 Ritchey-Chretien telescope of the Sobaeksan Optical Astronomy Observatory (SOAO). The camera system is optimized for JHKL bands and has a 6 arcmin FOV. The optical system consists of two spherical mirrors and a 8-position filter wheel. With the exception for the dewar window, all optical elements are cooled inside cryogenic dewar. Since the Offner system is adopted to prevent thermal noises from outside of the telescope primary mirror, the secondary mirror of the Offner system acts as a cold Lyot stop. The optical performance does not change by temperature variations because the Aluminum mirrors contract and expand homogeneously with its mount. We finished the design and fabrication of the optical parts and are now aligning the optical system. We plan to have a test observation on 2006 January.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.39.2-39.2
• /
• 2010

In this paper, I present the domestic development of near infrared camera systems for the ground telescope and the space satellite. These systems are the first infrared instruments made for astronomical observation in Korea. KASINICS (KASI Near Infrared Camera System) was developed to be installed on the 1.8m telescope of the Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO) in Korea. KASINICS is equipped with a $512{\times}512$ InSb array enable L band observations as well as J, H, and Ks bands. The field-of-view of the array is $3.3'{\times}3.3'$ with a resolution of 0.39"/pixel. It employs an Offner relay optical system providing a cold stop to eliminate thermal background emission from the telescope structures. From the test observation, limiting magnitudes are J=17.6, H=17.5, Ks=16.1 and L(narrow)=10.0 mag at a signal-to-noise ratio of 10 in an integration time of 100 s. MIRIS (Multi-purpose InfraRed Imaging System) is the main payload of the STSAT-3 in Korea. MIRIS Space Observation Camera (SOC) covers the observation wavelength from $0.9{\mu}m$ to $2.0{\mu}m$ with a wide field of view $3.67^{\circ}{\times}3.67^{\circ}$. The PICNIC HgCdTe detector in a cold box is cooled down below 100K by a micro Stirling cooler of which cooling capacity is 220mW at 77K. MIRIS SOC adopts passive cooling technique to chill the telescope below 200K by pointing to the deep space (3K). The cooling mechanism employs a radiator, a Winston cone baffle, a thermal shield, MLI of 30 layers, and GFRP pipe support in the system. Opto-mechanical analysis was made in order to estimate and compensate possible stresses from the thermal contraction of mounting parts at cryogenic temperatures. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of mechanical structure was also conducted to ensure safety and stability in launching environments and in orbit. MIRIS SOC will mainly perform the Galactic plane survey with narrow band filters (Pa $\alpha$ and Pa $\alpha$ continuum) and CIB (Cosmic Infrared Background) observation with wide band filters (I and H) driven by a cryogenic stepping motor.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.61.2-61.2
• /
• 2010

GMTNIRS (the GMT Near Infrared Spectrograph) is one of the first generation instrument candidates for GMT (Giant Magellan Telescope). Conceptual design studies for nine instruments were proposed last year, and the GMT organization selected 6 instruments including GMTNIRS for the next phase. GMTNIRS will be developed by an international collaboration between KASI and UT(University of Texas). KASI and UT have been also developing IGRINS (the Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrometer) which is a fore-runner instrument of GMTNIRS since 2009. In this talk, we will present the instrument details and development plan, and discuss the science case for GMTNIRS.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.52.1-52.1
• /
• 2017

Galaxy clusters are the most massive gravitationally bound systems and thus probably the most recent objects to form. One of promising routes to understand the assembly history of galaxy clusters is to measure observable quantities of components in clusters that are sensitive to the evolutionary state of the cluster. Recent deep observations on the nearby clusters show distinct diffuse intracluster light (ICL), that the light from stars are not bound any individual cluster galaxy, however until now this component has not been well studied due to its faint nature, with typical brightness of ~100 times fainter than the sky background. As shown in galaxy cluster simulation studies, the ICL abundance increases during various dynamical exchanges of galaxies such as the disruption of dwarf galaxies, major mergers between galaxies and the tidal stripping of galaxies. Thus, the ICL is an effective tool to measure the evolutionary stage of galaxy clusters. Moreover, the investigation of the ICL evolution mechanism will allow us understand the galaxy evolution process therein. In this pilot study, we target the Coma cluster, where the existing ICL studies are limited only in the central region. With large and uniform deep optical images from the Subaru telescope, available only recently (Okabe et al. 2014), we are developing a robust ICL measurement technique, extracting the ICL surface brightness and color profiles, which will allow us to study the origin of the ICL and its connection to the evolutionary history of the Coma cluster. For the next phase, we plan to utilize the plenty of spectroscopy data from the MMT telescope to compare ICL properties with the star formation history of the brightest cluster galaxies (BCG), and discuss the ICL formation mechanism of the Coma cluster by comparing the distribution of cluster galaxies with the distribution of diffuse light inside the Coma cluster.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.275-282
• /
• 2013

In this study, the numerical model was developed to evaluate the observational environment of sunshine duration and, for evaluating the accuracy and utility of the model, it was verified against the observational data measured at Dae-gu Automated Synoptic Observing System (ASOS) located in an urban area. Three-dimensional topography and building configuration as the surface input data of the model were constructed using a Geographic Information System (GIS) data. First, the accuracy of the computing planetary positions suggested by Paul Schlyter was verified against the data provided by Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and the results showed that the numerical model predicted the Sun's position (the solar azimuth and altitude angles) quite precisely. Then, this model was applied to reproduce the sunshine duration at the Dae-gu ASOS. The observed and calculated sunshine durations were similar to each other. However, the observed and calculated sunrise (sunset) times were delayed (curtailed), compared to those provided by KASI that considered just the ASOS's position information such as latitude, longitude, and elevation height but did not consider the building and topography information. Further investigation showed that this was caused by not only the topographic characteristic (higher in the east and lower in the west) but also the buildings located in the southeast near the sunrise and the southwest near the sunset. It was found that higher building resolution increased the accuracy of the model. It was concluded that, for the accurate evaluation of the sunshine duration, detailed building and topography information around the observing sites was required and the numerical model developed in this study was successful to predict and/or the sunshine duration of the ASOS located in an urban area.