• 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.45 no.1
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• pp.51.1-51.1
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• 2020

The Rosette Nebula is the most actively star-forming region in the Monoceros OB2 association. This region hosts more than three stellar groups, including the most populous group NGC 2244 at the center of the region and the smaller stellar groups around the border of the H II bubble. To trace their formation process, we investigate the kinematic properties of these groups using the Gaia astrometric data and high-resolution spectra taken from observation with Hectochelle on MMT. The proper motions of stars in NGC 2244 show a pattern of radial expansion. The signature of cluster rotation is also detected from their radial velocities. On the other hand, the small groups appear to be physically associated with some clouds at the ridge of the H II region. Among them, the group near the eastern pillar-like gas structure shows the signature of feedback-driven star formation. In this presentation, we will further discuss the formation process and dynamical evolution of the stellar groups in the Rosette Nebula, based on the observation and results of N-body simulations.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.50.4-51
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• 2020

We report our discovery of Raman-scattered He II λ6545 feature in young planetary nebulae NGC 6886 and NGC 6881 which indicates the existence of atomic hydrogen components. Considering sharply increasing cross-section of hydrogen atom near the resonance, Raman-scattered He II features are a useful diagnostic tool to investigate the distribution and kinematics of H I region in planetary nebulae. The high-resolution spectroscopic observation was carried out using BOES installed on the 1.8 m telescope of BOAO. We estimate the column density of H I region and its expansion velocity using our grid-based Monte-Carlo radiative transfer code. We assume that the H I region is uniformly distributed in spherical shell geometry with an opening angle and expands with constant speed. Our best-fit model is shown with the column density NHI = 3 × 1020 cm-2 and expansion speed vexp = 25 km s-1 with the opening angle ~ 25° for NGC 6886, and NHI = 4 × 1020 cm-2 and vexp = 30 km s-1 with the opening angle ~ 35° for NGC 6881. We present brief discussions on the late-stage of evolution of stars with mass > 3 M⊙.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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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.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.71.1-71.1
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• 2013

Among quadruples or higher multiplicity stars, only a few binary systems have been discovered. They are important targets to understand the formation and evolution of multiple stellar systems because we can obtain accurate stellar parameters from photometric and spectroscopic studies. We present the observational results of this kind of rare object 1SWASP J093010.78+533859.5, for which the doubly eclipsing feature had been detected previously from the SuperWASP photometric archive. Individual PSF photometry for two objects with a separation of about 1.9 arcsec was performed for the first time in this study. Our time-series photometric data show that the brighter object A is an Algol-type detached eclipsing binary with an orbital period of 1.3 days and the fainter B is a W UMa-type contact eclipsing binary with a period of 0.23 days. Using the high-resolution optical spectra, we obtained well-defined radial velocity variations of the system A. Furthermore, stationary spectral lines were detected and should have originated from the other stellar component, which was confirmed by the third object contribution from the light curve analysis. No spectral feature of the system B was detected, probably due to its faintness. We obtained the binary parameters and the absolute dimensions from each light curve synthesis. The primary and secondary components of the system A have a spectral type of K1 and K5 main sequences, respectively. Two components of system B have nearly the same type of K3 main sequence. Light variations at out of eclipses were appeared in both systems, interpreting as the effect of stellar spots on these late spectral type stars. We estimated the distances to the systems A and B individually. They may have similar distances of about 70 pc and seem to be gravitationally bound with a separation of about 130 AU. In conclusion, we suggest that 1SWASP J093010.78+533859.5 is a quintuple stellar system with a hierarchical structure of a triple system A(ab)c and a binary system B(ab).

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.199-208
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• 2016

We present photometric results of the δ Sct star V1162 Ori, which is extensively monitored for a total of 49 nights from mid-December 2014 to early-March 2015. The observations are made with three KMTNet (Korea Microlensing Telescope Network) 1.6 m telescopes installed in Chile, South Africa, and Australia. Multiple frequency analysis is applied to the data and resulted in clear detection of seven frequencies without an alias problem: five known frequencies and two new ones with small amplitudes of 1.2-1.7 mmag. The amplitudes of all but one frequency are significantly different from previous results, confirming the existence of long-term amplitude changes. We examine the variations in pulsation timings of V1162 Ori for about 30 years by using the times of maximum light obtained from our data and collected from the literatures. The O − C (Observed minus Calculated) timing diagram shows a combination of a downward parabolic variation with a period decreasing rate of (1/P)dP/dt = −4.22 × 10⁻⁶ year⁻¹ and a cyclic change with a period of about 2780 days. The most probable explanation for this cyclic variation is the light-travel-time effect caused by an unknown binary companion, which has a minimum mass of 0.69 M_⊙. V1162 Ori is the first δ Sct-type pulsating star of which the observed fast period decrease can be interpreted as an evolutionary effect of a pre-main sequence star, considering its membership of the Orion OB 1c association.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.79-82
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• 2015

The physical and chemical properties of prestellar cores, especially massive ones, are still far from being well understood due to the lack of a large sample. The low dust temperature (< 14 K) of Planck cold clumps makes them promising candidates for prestellar objects or for sources at the very initial stages of protostellar collapse. We have been conducting a series of observations toward Planck cold clumps (PCCs) with ground-based radio telescopes. In general, when compared with other star forming samples (e.g. infrared dark clouds), PCCs are more quiescent, suggesting that most of them may be in the earliest phase of star formation. However, some PCCs are associated with protostars and molecular outflows, indicating that not all PCCs are in a prestellar phase. We have identified hundreds of starless dense clumps from a mapping survey with the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) 13.7-m telescope. Follow-up observations suggest that these dense clumps are ideal targets to search for prestellar objects.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.353-356
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• 2012

We present new constraints on the cosmic optical background (COB) obtained from an analysis of the Pioneer 10/11 Imaging Photopolarimeter (IPP) data. After careful examination of the data quality, the usable measurements free from the zodiacal light are integrated into sky maps at the blue (${\sim}0.44{\mu}m$) and red (${\sim}0.64{\mu}m$) bands. Accurate starlight subtraction was achieved by referring to all-sky star catalogs and a Galactic stellar population synthesis model down to 32.0 mag. We find that the residual light is separated into two components: one component shows a clear correlation with the thermal $100{\mu}m$ brightness, whilst the other shows a constant level in the lowest $100{\mu}m$ brightness region. The presence of the second component is significant after all the uncertainties and possible residual light in the Galaxy are taken into account, thus it most likely has an extragalactic origin (i.e., the COB). The derived COB brightness is ($(1.8{\pm}0.9){\times}10^{-9}$ and $(1.2{\pm}0.9){\times}10^{-9}\;erg\;s^{-1}\;cm^{-2}\;sr^{-1}\;{\AA}^{-1}$ in the blue and red spectral regions, respectively, or $7.9{\pm}4.0$ and $7.7{\pm}5.8\;nW\;m^{-2}\;sr^{-1}$. Based on a comparison with the integrated brightness of galaxies, we conclude that the bulk of the COB is comprised of normal galaxies which have already been resolved by the current deepest observations. There seems to be little room for contributions from other populations including "first stars" at these wavelengths. On the other hand, the first component of the IPP residual light represents the diffuse Galactic light (DGL)-scattered starlight by the interstellar dust. We derive the mean DGL-to-$100{\mu}m$ brightness ratios of $2.1{\times}10^{-3}$ and $4.6{\times}10^{-3}$ at the two bands, which are roughly consistent with previous observations toward denser dust regions. Extended red emission in the diffuse interstellar medium is also confirmed.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.265-281
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• 2019

We present new BVRI light curves of UY UMa with no O'Connell effect and a flat bottom secondary eclipse. Light curve synthesis with the Wilson-Devinney code gives a new solution, which is quite different from the previous study: UY UMa is an A-subtype over-contact binary with a small mass ratio of q = 0.21, a high inclination of 81°.4, a small temperature difference of ΔT=18°, a large fill-out factor of f = 0.61, and a third light of approximately 10% of the total systemic light. The absolute dimensions were newly determined. Seventeen new times of minimum light have been calculated from our observations. The period study indicates that the orbital period has intricately varied in a secular period increase in which two cyclical terms with periods of 12^y.0 and 46^y.3 are superposed. The secular period increase was interpreted to be due to a conservative mass transfer of 2.68 × 10^-8 M_⊙/yr from the less massive to the more massive star. The cyclical components are discussed in terms of double-light time contributions from two additional bound stars. The statistical relations of Yang & Qian (2015) among the physical parameters of 45 deep, low mass ratio contact binaries were revisited by using the physical parameters of UY UMa and 25 Kepler contact binaries provided by Şenavci et al. (2016).

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2011

The first presented BV light curves of BH UMa confirmed Krajci's (2005) result that BH UMa is an RR Lyr star that belongs to the RRc subgroup. The light curves showed a slight asymmetry of D = 0.453 with an amplitude of about $0.^m58$ in B, $0.^m47$ in V, and $0.^m11$ in B-V and with a small hump between $0.^p82$ and $0.^p86$. We determined nine new times of minimum light and eight times of maximum light. We also analyzed all of the available unanalyzed minimum timings and found for the first time that the period of BH UMa has varied dramatically in at least three independent sinusoidal ways superposed on a secularly downward parabola over 66 years. The secular period decreasing rate was obtained as $6.^d684{\times}10^{-8}y^{-1}$, corresponding to -0.58 s/century. The semi-amplitude and period for each of the three sinusoidal variations were ($0.^d058$, $14.^y44$), ($0.^d044$, $9.^y98$), and ($0.^d005$, $0.^y97$), respectively. It is uncertain whether the periodicity for the shortest period of $0.^y97$ is real or spurious. The secular period decrease, well consistent with those of the other RRc stars, could be considered as a natural result of the evolution of the BH UMa system. The two possible sinusoidal terms were interpreted as both two light-time effects due to two additional bodies orbiting BH UMa and combinations of random fluctuations in the pulsation period of BH UMa. Two interpretations were shortly discussed with related parameters.