• Title/Summary/Keyword: Lunar astronomy

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Effects of asymmetric plasmasphere on MHD waves in a three-dimensional dipolar magnetosphere

  • Roh, Sang-Il;Lee, Dong-Hun;R. E. Denton;K. Takahashi;J. Goldstein;A. Keiling;R. A. King;K. Yumoto
    • Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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    • 2003.10a
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    • pp.39-39
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    • 2003
  • The plasmaspheric region shows relatively strong longitudinal asymmetry in the sense that the location of the plasmapause and the density distribution significantly vary with respect to local time, and this asymmetry effect has been neglected in previous magnetospheric ULF wave studies. In this study, we numerically examine the MHD wave properties of field line resonances (FLRs) and Pi2 pulsations when the inner magnetosphere is assumed to be asymmetric. We use the dipole magnetic field model, but our density model is based on. observational data from the IMAGE satellite. We assume an impulsive input in the magnetotail, which can be associated with a substorm onset. Our results suggest that local FLRs appear in both the radial and azimuthal oscillations owing to the asymmetry. Plasmaspheric Pi2 signals appear in the compressional component, but they are more strongly affected by ambient plasmaspheric structure than the FLRs. We compare our results with the observational data of Pi2 events.

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Rendezvous Mission to Apophis: III. Polarimetry of S-type: For A Better Understanding of Surficial Evolution

  • Geem, Jooyeon;Jeong, Minsup;Jin, Sunho;Sim, Chae Kyung;Bach, Yoonsoo P.;Ishiguro, Masateru;Kwon, Yuna G.;Moon, Hong-Kyu;Choi, Young-Jun;Kim, Myung-Jin
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.46 no.2
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    • pp.57.4-58
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    • 2021
  • Asteroids have undergone various processes such as impacts, space weathering, and thermal evolution. Because they expose their surfaces to space without atmosphere, these evolutional processes have been recorded directly on their surfaces. The remote-sensing observations have been conducted to reveal these evolutional histories of the target asteroids. For example, crater and boulder distributions are unambiguous evidence for past nondestructive impacts with other celestial bodies. Multiband and spectroscopic observations have revealed space-weathering history (as well as compositions). Whereas most physical quantities have been examined intensively using spacecraft and telescopes, only a little has been studied on "the grain size". It is one of the fundamental physical quantities for diagnosing the collisional and thermal history of asteroids. Our group has conducted polarimetric research of asteroids (as well as Moon [1]) to determine the particle size and further investigate the evolutional histories of target asteroids [2],[3]. For example, the existence of regolith on an S-type asteroid, Toutatis, was suggested almost twenty years before space exploration [4]. Moreover, we reported that near-Sun asteroids indicate a signature of submillimeter grains, which could be created by a thermal sintering process by solar radiation [5]. However, it is important to note that in-situ polarimetry has not been reported on the asteroid surface, although the Korean Lunar Exploration Program aims to do polarimetry on the lunar surface [6]. Therefore, it is expected that the polarizer mounted on the Korean Apophis spacecraft can make the first estimate of the grain size and its regional variation over the Apophis surface. In this presentation, we outline research of S-type asteroid surfaces through remote-sensing observations and consider the role of polarimetry. Based on this review, we consider the purpose, potentiality, and strategy of the polarimetry using the onboard device for the Apophis spacecraft. We will report a possible polarization phase curve of Apophis estimated from ordinary chondrites and past observational data of S-type asteroids, taking account of the space weathering effect. Based on this estimation, we will consider the strategy of how to determine the particle size (and space weathering degree) of the Apophis surface. We will also mention the detectability of dust hovering on the surface.

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STUDY ON THE STRUCTURE AND WORKING PRINCIPLE OF SONG I-YŎNG'S ARMILLARY CLOCK (송이영(宋以穎) 혼천시계(渾天時計)의 천체운행 장치 구조와 작동원리 연구)

  • Lee, Yong-Sam;Kim, Sang-Hyuk
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.167-178
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    • 2007
  • We analysis the structure of Song $I-y\u{o}ng's$ Armillary Clock, a Korean National Treasure (No. 230) that is displayed at Korea University Museum. This Armillary Clock is only one remained in east Asia, but does not working because some parts had been broken away. We measured this remains and reconstructed a working model of the astronomical armillary sphere system of the his armillary clock, which system is consisted of Solar and lunar moving devices.

Study of the Lunar Regolith using Multi-band Polarimetric Observations

  • Kim, Sungsoo S.;Jung, Minsup;Sim, ChaeKyung;Kim, Il-Hoon;Min, Kyoung Wook;Jin, Ho
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.39 no.1
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    • pp.65.2-65.2
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    • 2014
  • 태양 빛이 달 표면에서 반사될 때는 일부가 편광 된다. 이러한 월면 편광은 달 표토층 입자의 크기와 성분을 알려주는 중요한 정보이나, 이전의 달 궤도선에서는 한 번도 탐사되지 않았다. 또한 달 탐사임무에 있어 틈새시장인 월면 특이지역 연구에도 편광이 중요한 기초자료를 제공한다는 사실이 최근 밝혀졌다. 이에 본 연구진은 한국형 달 탐사선을 위한 우리나라 고유의 창의적 과학 임무 중 하나로 <월면 다파장 편광 탐사>를 제안하며, 이러한 탐사에 필요한 기초연구 및 선행연구를 수행하고 있다. 본 발표에서는 우리가 수행한 지상으로부터의 다파장 편광 관측 결과를 보고하고, 최근 시작한 랩실험과 컴퓨터 시뮬레이션 실험에 대해 소개할 것이다.

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Panspermia in a Milky Way-like Galaxy

  • Hong, Sungwook E.;Gobat, Raphael;Snaith, Owain;Hong, Sungryong
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.46 no.2
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    • pp.48.3-49
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    • 2021
  • We study the process of panspermia in Milky Way-like galaxies by modeling the probability of successful travel of organic compounds between stars harboring potentially habitable planets. To this end, we apply the modified habitability recipe of Gobat & Hong (2016) to a model galaxy from the MUGS suite of zoom-in cosmological simulations. We find that, unlike habitability, which only occupies narrow dynamic range over the entire galaxy, the panspermia probability can vary be orders of magnitude between the inner (R, b = 1~4 kpc) and outer disk. However, only a small fraction of star particles have very large values of panspermia probability and, consequently, the fraction of star particles where the panspermia process is more effective than prebiotic evolution is much lower than from naïve expectations based on the ratio between panspermia probability and natural habitability. The lunar surface progressively darkens and reddens as a result of sputtering from solar wind particles and bombardment of micrometeoroids. The extent of exposure to these space weathering agents is frequently calculated as the location in a diagram of reflectance at 750 nm

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VERIFICATION OF THE CALENDAR DAYS OF THE JOSEON DYNASTY

  • Lee, Ki-Won;Ahn, Young-Sook;Mihn, Byeong-Hee
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.45 no.4
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    • pp.85-91
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    • 2012
  • Astronomical data making such as forming a calendar, period of day, determining the time of rising/setting of the sun and the onset of twilight are essential in our daily lives. Knowing the calendar day of the past is particularly crucial for studying the history of a clan or a nation. To verify previous studies in the calendar day of the Joseon dynasty (1392 - 1910), we investigate the sexagenary cycle of the new moon day (i.e., the first day in a lunar month) by using sources such as results of the calculations using the Datong calendar (a Chinese Calendar of the Ming Dynasty) and the data of Baekjungryeok (a Perpetual Calendar; literally, a one hundred-year almanac). Compared with the study of Ahn et al., we find that as many as 17 sexagenary cycles show discrepancies. In the cases of nine discrepancies, we find that the sexagenary cycles of this study are identical to those of the almanacs at that time. In addition, we study five sexagenary cycles by using the historical accounts of Joseon Wangjo Sillok (Annals of the Joseon Dynasty), Seungjeongwon Ilgi (Daily Reports of Royal Secretariat), Chungung Ilgi (Logs of Crown Prince), and so forth. For the remaining discrepancies, we present historical literature supporting the results of this study. This study will greatly contribute to the identification of the lunisolar calendar days during the Joseon dynasty as the dates of the modern (i.e., Gregorian) calendar.

ASTRONOMY WITH SMALL TELESCOPES

  • SINGH, K. YUGINDRO;MEITEI, I. ABLU;SINGH, S. AJITKUMAR;SINGH, R.K. BASANTAKUMAR
    • Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.741-743
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    • 2015
  • We have designed and built three cost effective observatories, in distinct models, which can house Schmidt-Cassegrain type small telescopes having aperture sizes up to 16 inches. Using the available small telescopes, we provided the people of Manipura State in the far north-east corner of India the opportunity to observe directly with their own eyes the rare, spectacular events of the solar eclipse of January 15, 2010, lunar eclipse of December 10, 2011 and the transit of Venus of June 6, 2012. Apart from sharing a platform with the public for astronomy education and popularization through public outreach programs such as workshops, seminars and night watch programs, we have also developed a laboratory infrastructure and gained expertise in observational techniques based on photoelectric photometry, CCD imaging, CCD photometry and spectroscopy. Our team has become a partner in the ongoing international 'Orion project' headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, USA which will be producing high quality photometric and spectroscopic data for five stars in the Orion constellation, namely Betelgeuse (alpha Orionis), Rigel (beta Orionis), Mintaka (delta Orionis), Alnilam (epsilon Orionis) and Alnitak (zeta Orionis). In the present paper, the authors would like to give a detailed report of their activities for the growth of astronomy in the state of Manipur, India.

Spectral Deconvolution Analysis of Mafic Mineral in Irregular Mare Patches on the Moon

  • Hong, Ik-Seon;Yi, Yu;Park, Nuri
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • v.39 no.4
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    • pp.127-139
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    • 2022
  • Irregular mare patches (IMPs), recently discovered on the Moon, are eruptions of magma on the lunar surface, and their origins are still in question. While prior studies on IMPs have mainly focused on optical image analysis, in this study, an analysis of the characteristics of minerals is performed exemplary for the first time. Modified Gaussian model (MGM) deconvolution was applied to the infrared spectrum to confirm the properties of the mafic mineral. Mafic minerals were analyzed for 6 olivine-rich (Ol-rich) IMPs out of 91 currently reported, and only 4 of them yielded results of significance. All four sites showed more abundance of Fe than Mg, and manifested a weak relationship with Mg-suite rock. However, a problem was discovered during the MGM application process due to pilot implementation. In order to solve this problem, it is required to adjust the MGM initial condition settings more precisely and to increase the signal to noise ratio of the observation data. Moreover, it is necessary to analyze the mineral properties for all IMPs considering minerals other than Ol and utilize them to deduce the origin of the IMPs.

Dating the Stars in the Calendrical Method Shoushili of the Yuan Dynasty

  • Sang-Hyeon Ahn
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.56 no.2
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    • pp.137-147
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    • 2023
  • Shoushili was the official calendrical method promulgated in 1280 CE by the Yuan dynasty. It contains a list of the angular spans in right ascensions for the 28 lunar lodges. They are known to have been measured by Guo Shoujing with his advanced instruments with an unprecedented precision or reading error of 5'. Such precise data are useful to determine their observational epoch with an error range which is narrow enough to pinpoint on which historical occasion they were observed. Using the precise SIMBAD data based on eDR3 of GAIA and carefully identified determinative stars and considering the precession of equinoxes and proper motions, we apply linear regression methods to those data and obtain the observational epoch of 1271 ± 16 CE and the measurement error of 4.1'. We also have polar distances corresponding to declinations written in another manuscript of the Ming dynasty. Since the two data sets have similar significant digits, they were suggested to have the same origin. However, we obtain their observational epoch of 1364±5 CE and the measurement error of 5.7'. They must have been measured with different instruments and on a different occasion from the observations related to Shoushili. We review the history of the calendrical reform during the 13th century in the Yuan dynasty. We conclude that the observational epoch obtained from lodge spans in Shoushili agrees with the period of observations led by Guo Shoujing or 1276-1279 CE, which is also supported by the fact that the ecliptic lodge span values listed in Shoushili were calculated from the equatorial lodge spans.

Performance Analysis of Ranging Techniques for the KPLO Mission

  • Park, Sungjoon;Moon, Sangman
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • v.35 no.1
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    • pp.39-46
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    • 2018
  • In this study, the performance of ranging techniques for the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) space communication system is investigated. KPLO is the first lunar mission of Korea, and pseudo-noise (PN) ranging will be used to support the mission along with sequential ranging. We compared the performance of both ranging techniques using the criteria of accuracy, acquisition probability, and measurement time. First, we investigated the end-to-end accuracy error of a ranging technique incorporating all sources of errors such as from ground stations and the spacecraft communication system. This study demonstrates that increasing the clock frequency of the ranging system is not required when the dominant factor of accuracy error is independent of the thermal noise of the ranging technique being used in the system. Based on the understanding of ranging accuracy, the measurement time of PN and sequential ranging are further investigated and compared, while both techniques satisfied the accuracy and acquisition requirements. We demonstrated that PN ranging performed better than sequential ranging in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime where KPLO will be operating, and we found that the T2B (weighted-voting balanced Tausworthe, voting v = 2) code is the best choice among the PN codes available for the KPLO mission.