• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.82.2-82.3
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• 2019

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), in collaboration with the NASA Goddard Sparce Flight Center (GSFC), will develop a next generation coronagraph for the International Space Station (ISS). COronal Diagnostic EXperiment (CODEX) uses multiple filters to obtain simultaneous measurements of electron density, temperature, and velocity within a single instrument. CODEX's regular, systematic, comprehensive dataset will test theories of solar wind acceleration and source, as well as serve to validate and enable improvement of space-weather/operational models in the crucial source region of the solar wind. CODEX subsystems include the coronagraph, pointing system, command and data handling (C&DH) electronics, and power distribution unit. CODEX is integrated onto a standard interface which provides power and communication. All full resolution images are telemeters to the ground, where data from multiple images and sequences are co-added, spatially binned, and ratioed as needed for analysis.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.52.1-52.1
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• 2019

The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) is the instrument of Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to study the magnetic field and oscillation at the solar surface. The HMI image is not enough to analyze very small magnetic features on solar surface since it has a spatial resolution of one arcsec. Super resolution is a technique that enhances the resolution of a low resolution image. In this study, we use a method for enhancing the solar image resolution using a Deep-learning model which generates a high resolution HMI image from a low resolution HMI image (4 by 4 binning). Deep learning networks try to find the hidden equation between low resolution image and high resolution image from given input and the corresponding output image. In this study, we trained a model based on a very deep residual channel attention networks (RCAN) with HMI images in 2014 and test it with HMI images in 2015. We find that the model achieves high quality results in view of both visual and measures: 31.40 peak signal-to-noise ratio(PSNR), Correlation Coefficient (0.96), Root mean square error (RMSE) is 0.004. This result is much better than the conventional bi-cubic interpolation. We will apply this model to full-resolution SDO/HMI and GST magnetograms.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.47.3-47.3
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• 2018

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) plans to develop a coronagraph in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to be installed on the International Space Station (ISS). It uses multiple filters to obtain simultaneous measurements of electron density, temperature, and velocity within a single instrument. The primary science goal is to understand the physical conditions in the solar wind acceleration region, and the secondary goal is to enable and validate the next generation of space weather science models. The planned launch in 2022 provides great potential for synergy with other solar space missions such as Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.42.2-43
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• 2021

We address a question of what are three main channels that can best translate other channels in ultraviolet (UV) and extreme UV (EUV) observations. For this, we compare the image translations among the nine channels of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on the Solar Dynamics Observatory using a deep learning model based on conditional generative adversarial networks. In this study, we develop 170 deep learning models: 72 models for single-channel input, 56 models for double-channel input, and 42 models for triple-channel input. All models have a single-channel output. Then we evaluate the model results by pixel-to-pixel correlation coefficients (CCs) within the solar disk. Major results from this study are as follows. First, the model with 131 Å shows the best performance (average CC = 0.84) among single-channel models. Second, the model with 131 and 1600 Å shows the best translation (average CC = 0.95) among double-channel models. Third, among the triple-channel models with the highest average CC (0.97), the model with 131, 1600, and 304 Å is suggested in that the minimum CC (0.96) is the highest. Interestingly they are representative coronal, photospheric, and chromospheric lines, respectively. Our results may be used as a secondary perspective in addition to primary scientific purposes in selecting a few channels of an UV/EUV imaging instrument for future solar satellite missions.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.45.3-45.3
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• 2019

Since the high throughput for diffuse objects and the wide-area survey even with a small telescope can be achieved in space, infrared (IR) obervations have been tried through small missions in Korea. Based upon the previous technical development for infrared spectro-photometric instrument, NISS (Near-infrared Imaging Spectrometer for Star formation history) onboard NEXTSat-1, we participated in the all-sky infrared spectro-photometric survey mission, SPHEREx. The SPEHREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) was selected as the NASA MIDEX (Medium-class Explorer) mission (PI Institute: Caltech) in this February. As an international partner, KASI will take part in the hardware development, the operation and the science for the SPHEREx. The SPHEREx will perform the first all-sky infrared spectro-photometric survey 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. For the purpose of the all-sky survey, the SPHEREx is designed to have a wide FoV of 3.5 × 11.3 deg. as well as wide spectral range from 0.75 to 5.0㎛. Here, we report the status of the SPHEREx project and the progress in the Korean participation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.78.1-78.1
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• 2021

A Lunar observatory not only provides ideas and experiences for space settlements from the Moon to Mars, but also puts the telescope in an optimal position to compete with space telescopes. Earth observation on the Moon's surface has the advantage of no atmospheric scattering or light pollution and is a stable fuel-free observation platform, allowing all longitude and latitude of the Earth to be observed for a month. Observing the entire globe with a single observation instrument, which has never been attempted before, and calculating the global albedo will significantly help predict the weather and climate change. Spectropolarimetric observations can reveal the physical and chemical properties of the Earth's atmosphere, track the global distribution and migration path of aerosols and air pollutants, and can also help detect very small space debris of which the risk has increased recently. In addition, the zodiacal light, which is difficult to observe from Earth, is very easy to observe from the lunar observatory, so it will be an opportunity to reveal the origin of the solar system and take a step closer to understanding the exoplanet system. In conclusion, building and developing a lunar observatory will be a groundbreaking study to become the world's leader that we have never tried before as a first step in expanding human experience and intelligence.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.303-306
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• 2005

Transient luminous events (TLEs; sprites, elves, jets and etc.) are lightning-related optical flashes occurring above thunderstorms. Since the first discovery of sprites in 1989, scientists have learned a great deal about the morphological, spectroscopic and electromagnetic characteristics of TLEs through ground and spacecraft campaigns. However, most of the TLE studies were based on events recorded over US High Plains. To elucidate the possible biasing effects, space-borne observations are needed and have their merits. Imager of sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning (ISUAL) on the FORMOSAT-2 satellite is the first instrument to carry out a true global measurement of TLEs from a low- earth orbit. In this short paper, we apply a common astronomical data analysis technique, two-color diagram, on the ISUAL spectrophotometer (SP) data. By choosing appropriated bandpasses and converting the measured flux of TLEs into the unit of magnitude, two-color diagrams of TLEs can be constructed. We demonstrate that two-color diagrams, which were constructed from the narrow-band spectrophotometer data, can be used to classify different types of TLEs and trace their temporal evolution. The amount of reddening due to Earth's atmosphere can also be estimated from two-color diagrams assembled from the broad-band spectrophotometer data.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.317-319
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• 2017

We propose a cosmological survey to probe star formation and nuclear activity in galaxies at redshifts of z=2-4 by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features using the SPICA mid-infrared instrument (SMI) with a spectral resolution of R=20. We will cover a wavelength range of $20-36{\mu}$ that corresponds to z=2-4 for the PAH features (11.3, 7.7, and $6.2{\mu}$). The sensitivity will be $1{\times}10^{-19}W/m^2(5{\sigma})$ in case of a reference survey that covers 4 arcmin2 field in a one-hour observation. It corresponds to $L_{IR}=2{\times}10^{11}L_{\odot}$ at z=3 and will give us more than 10000 galaxies in a 450 hour survey.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.811-819
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• 2015

The e-CALLISTO is a network of CALLISTO (Compact Astronomical Low-frequency, Low-cost Instrument for Spectroscopy in Transportable Observatories) spectrometers which detect solar radio bursts 24 hours a day in frequency range 45-870 MHz. The number of channels per spectrum is 200 and the time resolution of whole spectrum is 0.25 second. The Korean e-CALLISTO station was developed by Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) collaborating with Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) since 2007. In this paper, we report replacement of the tracking mount and development of the control program using Visual C++/MFC. The program can make the tracking mount track the Sun and schedule CALLISTO to start and to finish its observation automatically using the Solar Position Algorithm (SPA). Daily tracking errors (RMSE) are 0.0028 degree in azimuthal axis and 0.0019 degree in elevational axis between 2014 January and 2015 July. We expect that the program can save time and labor to make the observations of solar activity for space weather monitoring, and improve CALLISTO data quality due to the stable and precise tracking methods.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.92.1-92.1
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• 2014

In astronomical spectroscopy, stable auto-guiding and accurate target centering capabilities are critical to increase the achievement of high observation efficiency and sensitivity. We developed an instrument control software for the Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrograph (IGRINS), a high spectral resolution near-infrared slit spectrograph with (R=40,000). IGRINS is currently installed on the McDonald 2.7 m telescope in Texas, USA. We had successful commissioning observations in March, May, and July of 2014. The role of the IGRINS slit-viewing camera (SVC) is to move the target onto the slit, and to provide feedback about the tracking offsets for the auto-guiding. For a point source, we guide the telescope with the target on the slit. While for an extended source, we use another a guide star in the field offset from the slit. Since the slit blocks the center of the point spread function, it is challenging to fit the Gaussian function to guide and center the target on slit. We developed several center finding algorithms, e.g., 2D-Gaussian Fitting, 1D-Gaussian Fitting, and Center Balancing methods. In this presentation, we show the results of auto-guiding performances with these algorithms.