• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.177-185
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• 2015

We develop a new auto-guiding system for the Camera for QUasars in the EArly uNiverse (CQUEAN). CQUEAN is an optical CCD camera system attached to the 2.1-m Otto-Struve Telescope (OST) at McDonald Observatory, USA. The new auto-guiding system differs from the original one in the following: instead of the cassegrain focus of the OST, it is attached to the finder scope; it has its own filter system for observation of bright targets; and it is controlled with the CQUEAN Auto-guiding Package, a newly developed auto-guiding program. Finder scope commands a very wide field of view at the expense of poorer light gathering power than that of the OST. Based on the star count data and the limiting magnitude of the system, we estimate there are more than 5.9 observable stars with a single FOV using the new auto-guiding CCD camera. An adapter is made to attach the system to the finder scope. The new auto-guiding system successfully guided the OST to obtain science data with CQUEAN during the test run in 2014 February. The FWHM and ellipticity distributions of stellar profiles on CQUEAN, images guided with the new auto-guiding system, indicate similar guiding capabilities with the original auto-guiding system but with slightly poorer guiding performance at longer exposures, as indicated by the position angle distribution. We conclude that the new auto-guiding system has overall similar guiding performance to the original system. The new auto-guiding system will be used for the second generation CQUEAN, but it can be used for other cassegrain instruments of the OST.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.64.2-64.2
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• 2012

The SPICA (SPace Infrared Telescope for Cosmology & Astrophysics) project is a next-generation infrared space telescope optimized for mid- and far-infrared observation with a cryogenically cooled 3m-class telescope. It will achieve the high resolution as well as the unprecedented sensitivity from mid to far-infrared range. The FPC (Focal Plane Camera) is a Korean-led near-infrared instrument as an international collaboration. The FPC-S and FPC-G are responsible for the scientific observation in the near-infrared and the fine guiding, respectively. The FPC-G will significantly reduce the alignement and random pointing error through the observation of guiding stars in the focal plane. We analyzed the pointing requirement from the focal plane instruments. The feasibility study was performed to achieve the requirements. Here, we present the role of SPICA/FPC as a fine guiding camera.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.55-60
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• 2003

In Lee, Kang & Byun (2001) the discovery of Raman scattered 6545 A feature was reported in symbiotic stars and the planetary nebula M2-9. The broad emission feature around 6545 A is formed as a result of Raman scattering of He II n = 6 $\to$ n = 2 photons by atomic hydrogen. In this paper, we introduce a method to compute the equivalent width of He II $\lambda$ 1025 line and present an optical spectrum of the symbiotic star RR Telescopii as an example for a detailed illustration. In this spectrum, we pay attention to the broad H$\alpha$ wings and the Raman scattered He II 6545 feature. The broad Ha wings are also proposed to be formed through Raman scattering of continuum around Ly$\beta$ by Lee (2000), and therefore we propose that the equivalent width of the He II $\lambda$ 1025 emission line is obtained by a simple comparison of the strengths of the 6545 feature and the broad H$\alpha$ wings. We prepare a template H$\alpha$ wing profile from continuum radiation around Ly$\beta$ with the neutral scattering region that is supposed to be responsible for the formation of Raman scattered He II 6545 feature. Isolation of the 6545 feature that is blended with [N II] $\lambda$ 6548 is made by using the fact that [N II] $\lambda$ 6584 is always 3 times stronger than [N II] $\lambda$ 6548. We also fit the 6545 feature by a Gaussian which has a width 6.4 times that of the He II $\lambda$ 6527 line. A direct comparison of these two features for RR Tel yields the equivalent width $EW_{Hel025} = 2.3{\AA}$ of He II $\lambda$ 1025 line. Even though this far UV emission line is not directly observable due to heavy interstellar extinction, nearby He II lines such as He II $\lambda$ 1085 line may be observed using far UV space instruments, which will verify this calculation and hence the origins of various features occurring in spectra around H$\alpha$.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.84.1-84.1
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• 2010

Globular clusters (GCs) are known to be one of the oldest objects in the Milky Way. Therefore the dynamical informations of GCs are very important to understand the formation and evolution of our Galaxy. Motion of GCs in the halo of Galaxy can be traced by radial velocities of individual stars and proper motions of GCs. Measuring the radial velocities of stars in GCs has been challenging for decades because the brightness of stars (even for the brightest stars) in GCs are too faint (V>14) to measure the radial velocities. The available large telescopes (D>4m) enable us to observe the spectra of stars in the red giant branch of GCs, and it is now more plausible to measure the radial velocities of stars in GCs. On the contrary it is still very difficult to measure the sky-projected two-dimensional motion of GCs in Galaxy even with the large telescopes because the distance to GCs is quite large (~10kpc) compared to the spatial resolution of present-day large ground-based telescopes. Instruments on-board Hubble Space Telescope are ideal to study the proper motion of GCs thanks to their extremely high spatial resolution (~0.05arcsec). We report a study of proper motion of NGC 104, one of the most metal-rich Milky Way GCs, based-on archival images of NGC 104 observed using HST/ACS. Using the stars in Small Magellanic Cloud as reference coordinate, we are able to measure the proper motions of individual stars in NGC 104 with a high precision. We discuss the internal dynamics of stars in NGC 104 by comparing proper motion results based-on shorter (<1yr) and longer (~7yrs) time durations.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.51.3-52
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• 2018

Since Voyager 1 passed the Heliopause in 2012, it has provided the observations of the charged particles in the local interstellar medium. However, Voyager 1 only provides the information along with its trajectory. In order to understand the global view of the interstellar plasma flow surrounding the Heliopause, we need another tool. When the interstellar plasmas approach the Heliopause, the ions are deflected around the Heliopause due to the draping of the interstellar magnetic field. The draping of the interstellar magnetic field is strongly connected with the shape of the Heliopause. A fraction of the diverted ions exchanges their charges with the undisturbed primary interstellar neutral atoms, and then the ions become neutral atoms called the secondary interstellar neutral atoms. The newly created neutral atoms carry information on the diverted flow of the interstellar ions, and a fraction of them can travel to the Sun. Therefore, the secondary component of the interstellar neutrals is an excellent diagnostic tool to provide important information to constrain the shape of the Heliopause. The secondary interstellar neutrals are observed by Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) at Earth's orbit. Since 2009, two energetic neutral atom cameras on IBEX have measured neutral atoms and it has provided sky maps of neutral atoms. In this presentation, we will discuss the directional distribution of the secondary interstellar neutrals at Earth's orbit. In the sky maps, the primary interstellar neutral gas is seen between $200^{\circ}$ and $260^{\circ}$ in ecliptic longitude and the secondary components are seen in the longitude range of $160^{\circ}-200^{\circ}$. We also present a simplified model of the outer heliosheath to help interpret the observations of interstellar neutrals by the IBEX-Lo instruments. We extract information on the large-scale shape of the Heliopause by comparing the neutral flux measured at IBEX along four different look directions with simple models of deflected plasma flow around hypothetical obstacles of different aspect ratios to the flow. Our comparisons between the model results and the observations indicate that the Heliopause is very blunt in the vicinity of the Heliospheric nose, especially compared to a Rankine half-body or cometary shape.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.150.2-150.2
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• 2011

Volume Phase Holographic (VPH) gratings are getting more popular as dispersion elements in spectrographs. High efficiency, compact configuration, and easy handling are driving many visual spectrographs to use VPH gratings for their main dispersers or for their cross-dispersers in higher resolution spectrographs. More recently, VPH gratings are being adopted in near-infrared by some spectrographs and by a number of next generation instrument projects. IGRINS (Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrograph) uses a VPH grating as a cross-disperser in each H or K band arm. J or H band performance of VPH gratings has been proven by other instruments. But K-band VPH gratings are new to the field. In this presentation, we are going to present test results we have got so far for verification of H-band VPH gratings and development of K-band VPH gratings.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.39-47
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• 2008

Spectral line profiles of filaments/prominences to be observed by the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph (FISS) are studied. The main spectral lines of interests are $H{\alpha}$, Ca II 8542, and Ca II K. FISS has a high spectral resolving power of $2{\times}10^5$, and supports simultaneous dual-band recording. This instrument will be installed at the 1.6m New Solar Telescope (NST) of Big Bear Solar Observatory, which has a high spatial resolution of 0.065" at 500nm. Adopting the cloud model of radiative transfer and using the model parameters inferred from pre-existing observations, we have simulated a set of spectral profiles of the lines that are emitted by a filament on the disk or a prominence at the limb. Taking into account the parameters of the instrument, we have estimated the photon count to be recorded by the CCD cameras, the signal-to-noise ratios, and so on. We have also found that FISS is suitable for the study of multi-velocity threads in filaments if the spectral profiles of Ca II lines are recorded together with $H{\alpha}$ lines.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2011

KASI and Seoul National University developed the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph (FISS) as one of major scientific instruments for the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope (NST) and installed it in the Coude room of the NST at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) in May, 2010. The major objective of the FISS is to study the fine-scale structures and dynamics of plasma in the photosphere and chromosphere. To achieve it, the FISS is required to take data with a spectral resolution higher than $10^5$ at the spectrograph mode and a temporal resolution less than 10 seconds at the imaging mode. The FISS is a spectrograph using Echelle grating and has characteristics that can observe dual bands (H${\alpha}$ and CaII 8542) simultaneously and perform fast imaging using fast raster scan and two fast CCD cameras. In this paper, we introduce briefly the whole process of FISS development from the requirement analysis to the first observations.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.31.4-32
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• 2016

Observing the solar atmosphere with ground-based telescopes in the near-infrared has a number of advantages when compared to classical measurements in visible wavelengths. One of them comes from the magnetic sensitivity of spectral lines, which varies as ${\lambda}_g$, where g is the effective $Land{\acute{e}}$ factor of the transition. This wavelength dependence makes the near-infrared range adequate to study subtle spatial or temporal variations of the magnetic field. Spectral lines, such as the photospheric Fe I $1.5648{\mu}m$ spectral line, with a $Land{\acute{e}}$ factor g=3, have often been used in the past for this type of studies. To study the chromosphere, the Ca II IR triplet and the He I $1.0830{\mu}m$ triplet are the most often observed lines. The latter has the additional advantage that the photospheric Si I $1.0827{\mu}m$ is close enough so that photosphere and chromosphere can be simultaneously recorded with a single detector in a spectrograph. The instrument TIP (Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter) has been continuously operating since 1999 at the 70-cm German VTT of the Observatorio del Teide and has been recently moved to the 1.5-m German GREGOR. During all this time, results have been obtained concerning the nature of the weak photospheric magnetic field of the quiet sun, magneto-acoustic wave propagation, evolution with the cycle of sunspot magnetic fields, photospheric and chromospheric magnetic field in emerging regions, magnetic field in chromospheric structures such as filaments, prominences, flares, and spicules, etc. In this talk, I will review the main results obtained after all these observations and mention the main challenges for the future. With its novel polarization-free design and a complete suite of instruments aimed at simultaneous (imaging and spectroscopic) observations of the solar photosphere and chromosphere, the EST (European Solar Telescope) will represent a major world-wide infrastructure to understand the physical nature of all these phenomena.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.209.2-209.2
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• 2012

UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger telescope (UBAT) is one of major instruments of UFFO-Pathfinder. The UBAT aims at 10 arcmin resolution localization of Gamma Ray Bursts with X-ray coded mask technique. It has $400mm{\times}400mm$ coded mask aperture, hopper, shielding and detector module with effective area of $191cm^2$. The detector module consists of an assembly of 36 64-ch MAPMTs and $25mm{\times}25mm$ pixellated YSO crystal array, and associated analog and digital electronics of about 2500 channels. We performed a vibration test using a dummy MAPMT with the detector module structure to measure the indused stress applied onto the MAPMT. We designed a sub-structure on the detector module to avoid the resonance that would otherwise deforms the detector module structure. A finite element analysis confirms the reduction of the load acceleration down to 12g. The experimental results are to be reported. Consequently, it proves that the MAPMT arrays of the flight UBAT detector module structure would survive in the space launch environment.