• Title/Summary/Keyword: historical astronomy

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Historical solar eclipses and practical observation area in Goguryeo

  • Yang, Hong-Jin
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.43 no.1
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    • pp.49.5-50
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    • 2018
  • Korean chronicles have a large amount of observational records over two thousand years. Many historical astronomical records are useful in modern times. In this study, we examined solar eclipses in Goguryeo-bongi(高句麗本紀) by using the modified(newest) nutation value and reviewed the observation area through eclipsing map. There are 11 solar eclipse records in the book. We calculated intersectional visible area with 0.6 eclipsing magnitude using the records of AD116, 124, 149, 158 and 219 and found the observational area of $N40-43^{\circ}$ and $E123-127^{\circ}$, which corresponds to the Liaodong(遼東). We also examined historical Chinese solar eclipse records and compared them with Korean eclipses.

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Observations of the Rigollet Comet from Korea and Japan

  • Lee, Ki-Won;Mihn, Byeong-Hee;Ahn, Young Sook;Kim, Bong-Gyu
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • v.31 no.1
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    • pp.63-66
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    • 2014
  • Since Rigollet first discovered a comet in 1939, many follow-up observations have been made, particularly in Europe. It is now known that the Rigollet comet is identical with the one observed by Herschel in 1788, and thus it is now called 35P/1939 O1 or the Herschel-Rigollet comet. Yumi, a Japanese astronomer, also observed the Rigollet comet in Korea using a 6-inch refractor telescope, and published his data in two Japanese journals (Bulletin of the Observatory of the Government-General of Korea and Publication of the Lecture on Meteorology). In his paper, Yumi also referred to observations by Hirose and Kanda in Japan. However, their works have not been given attention by international society. In this study, we analyze the observation data of Yumi and present preliminary orbital elements using it with a modified Gauss method. We expect that this study will be used to refine the orbital elements of the Rigollet comet by orbital-calculation experts. For that reason, we have also transcribed all the observational data presented by Yumi.

A Study on the Sundials of the Kang Family of Jinju

  • Kim, Sang-Hyuk;Lee, Ki-Won;Lee, Yong-Sam
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • v.27 no.2
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    • pp.161-172
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    • 2010
  • In this paper, we investigate the sundials made by the Kang Family of Jinju in the later period of the Joseon dynasty in terms of their characteristics, functions and the manufacturing technique. One of the characteristics of these sundials is that the value of polar height (i.e., the latitude of Seoul), the name of manufacturer, 24 seasonal subdivisions and so forth are written on the surface. In particular, polar height is expressed as '$37^{\circ}$ 39' 15"' in all 12 sundials examined in this study. To investigate the manufacturing technology in terms of astronomy, we analyze the positions of gnomon and of the lines corresponding to 24 seasonal subdivisions (season lines) and to each hour (hour lines). To verify the accuracy of the positions, we use a planar projection method. That is, we obtain 2D images of the sundials using a camera or scanner, and compare these with astronomical calculations for the positions of gnomon and season/hour lines. We believe that this method will be very useful for the study of sundials preserved elsewhere.

DECIPHERING THE DOUBLE MEANINGS OF THE COWHERD STAR (견우성의 이중적 의미에 대한 해석)

  • Ahn, Sang-Hyeon;Kim, Dong-Bin;Lee, Yong-Sam;Song, Doo-Jong
    • Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.25 no.4
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    • pp.129-139
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    • 2010
  • The Cowherd Star and the Weaving Maid Star have been famous stars in East Asian countries. Nowadays Altair is defined to be the Cowherd Star in public materials including science books, mass media, public outreach programs, and movies played in public planetariums and science museums. However, in astronomical books and star-charts in history, the Cowherd Big Star (牽牛大星) has been known to be Dabih or $\beta$ Cap in the constellation Capricorn, and the asterism Cowherd consists of six stars including Dabih. Since the same title is given to the different objects simultaneously, considerable misunderstanding and confusion among the public have occurred. In this paper we consider this problem in two aspects. One aspect is which star has been defined to be the Cowherd Star in ancient literatures; the other is which stars were regarded as the Cowherd or the Cowherd Star in the historical records of occultation or conjunction in History of Koryo, Annals of the Choson Dynasty, and Daily Records of Royal Secretariat of the Choson Dynasty. As a result, we see that Altair has been regarded as the Cowherd Star in folklore and literature, but Dabih has been defined to be the Cowherd Big Star in astronomical works. An explanation proposed by previous researchers on the reason why such double meanings have been appeared is introduced. In the explanation, the fact that the Altair was defined as the Cowherd Star in ancient times had not been handed over properly, and the name of Cowherd was later put to the Dabih and its surrounding five stars to form one of 28 lunar lodges. Based upon these facts, we suggest the following ideas: (1) Altair should be introduced to be the Cowherd Star in public-friendly programs, and Dabih should be noticed to be the Cowherd Big Star in the field of history of astronomy. Dabih should be added as the astronomical Cowherd Big Star in academic books such as a dictionary of astronomical terminology. (2) The Korean pronunciation for Altair should be al-tear instead of al-tairu in accordance with the definition in the astronomical terminology dictionary compiled by the Korean Astronomical Society.

Astronomy Potentials with Korean Neutrino Detector and Telescope

  • Kim, Soo-Bong
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.42 no.1
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    • pp.35.4-36
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    • 2017
  • A 250 kton water Cherenkov detector is proposed to be built in Korea to determine the CP violation phase and the neutrino mass ordering using a neutrino beam produced in J-PARC of Japan. It will be also a world-leading neutrino telescope to reveal the mystery of supernova explosion by observing a neutrino burst. The telescope is expected to detect more than 100,000 neutrinos in ten seconds from a supernova explosion in our Galaxy. The pointing accuracy will be better than 1 degree and be able to guide early optical telescope observations. The expected rate of supernova explosion in our galaxy is once per every 30 years in the most optimistic case or once per every 100 years in the worst case. If it is indeed observed, it will be a historical chance to study the supernova explosion mechanism in great details. In this talk, various astronomy potentials will be discussed if the Korean neutrino observatory is built.

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Global History: Understanding Islamic Astronomy

  • LOHLKER, RUDIGER
    • Acta Via Serica
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.97-118
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    • 2019
  • This study presents a new conceptualization of the history of Islamic astronomy. Islamic history is an embedded global cultural phenomenon and will be analyzed at different levels: a) the history of institutional aspects (observatories, including buildings), b) instruments, c) manuscripts, and d) scholars. This phenomenon will be analyzed as a multi-lingual phenomenon with Arabic as the language of sciences as a starting point. Although this is not a study of a geographical region in a narrow sense, it is a historical note on the entanglement of research written in Arabic, Persian and other languages and contextualized in a framework reaching geographically far beyond the confines of the Islamic world and being part of global history.

Stratospheric Ozone Observations in Korea

  • Cho, Hi-Ku;Kim, Joon;Chung, Sung-Rae
    • International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Korean Journal of Geophysical Research
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.19-27
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    • 1996
  • The ozone layer monitoring program of the Global Environment Laboratory at Yonsei University in Seoul, established as one of the Global Ozone Observing System($GO_3OS$) of the World Meteorological Organization(WMO), has been carried out daily by measuring total ozone and its vertical distribution using a Dobson Ozone Spectrophotometer(Beck #124) since 1984. In this paper, we review the organization and the historical background of ozone measurements in Korea, describe data acquisition and analysis systems, and briefly summarize the results from our ozone observations.

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Cooperation Research Plan in the Historical Astronomy between South Korea and North Korea (남북한 전통천문학 협력 방안 연구)

  • Yang, Hong-Jin;Yim, Insung
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.41 no.1
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    • pp.57.1-57.1
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    • 2016
  • 전통천문학은 우리 역사에 남아 있는 대표적 과학자산이며 현대 천문학적 자료로 활용이 가능한 문화유산이다. 우리나라에는 역사시대 이전부터 조선시대까지 고대 별자리 그림을 비롯해 천문관측기록과 천문대 등 다양한 천문자산이 전해지고 있다. 오랜 시간 여러 전란과 일제 강점시기를 거치며 많은 자료가 소실되었지만 한반도의 남과북에는 여전히 많이 천문유산이 남아 있다. 천문역사를 공유하고 있는 남북한 천문학자들이 전통천문학을 함께 연구해야 하는 이유이기도 하다. 현재 남북한의 전통천문학분야 협력 방안에 대한 기획연구를 진행 중이다. 북한 천문학자들은 지난 2012년 IAU GA를 기점으로 다시 국제 학술 활동을 이어가고 있으며 2015년 IAU GA에서는 전통천문 분야를 비롯해 두 편의 연구 결과를 발표하였다. 남북한 공동 연구를 위해서는 북한의 전통천문학 연구와 국제 학술교류 현황에 대한 이해가 선행되어야 한다. 본 발표에서는 지금까지 조사한 북한의 전통천문 연구 현황과 대외 학술교류 현황에 대해 보고하고 향후 남북한 공동연구를 위한 방법과 연구 주제에 대해서 발표하고자 한다.

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Generation of modern satellite data from Galileo sunspot drawings by deep learning

  • Lee, Harim;Park, Eunsu;Moon, Young-Jae
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.46 no.1
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    • pp.41.1-41.1
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    • 2021
  • We generate solar magnetograms and EUV images from Galileo sunspot drawings using a deep learning model based on conditional generative adversarial networks. We train the model using pairs of sunspot drawing from Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) and their corresponding magnetogram (or UV/EUV images) from 2011 to 2015 except for every June and December by the SDO (Solar Dynamic Observatory) satellite. We evaluate the model by comparing pairs of actual magnetogram (or UV/EUV images) and the corresponding AI-generated one in June and December. Our results show that bipolar structures of the AI-generated magnetograms are consistent with those of the original ones and their unsigned magnetic fluxes (or intensities) are well consistent with those of the original ones. Applying this model to the Galileo sunspot drawings in 1612, we generate HMI-like magnetograms and AIA-like EUV images of the sunspots. We hope that the EUV intensities can be used for estimating solar EUV irradiance at long-term historical times.

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SW Lyncis-Advances and Questions

  • Kim, Chun-Hwey;Kim, Ho-Il;Yoon, Tae-Seog;Han, Won-Yong;Lee, Jae-Woo;Lee, Chung-Uk;Kim, Jin-Hyung;Koch, Robert H.
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • v.27 no.4
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    • pp.263-278
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    • 2010
  • Many filtered CCD measures form the basis of six new light curves of the eclipsing system SW Lyn. From these measures and additional observations for eclipse timing, 47 new times of minimum light over the time-interval of about 13 years have been calculated. The complex period variability can be sorted into a linear period improvement with 5.8-year and 33.9-year periodic terms. The shorter cyclic term of these is ascribed to a cool companion of the eclipsing pair but the longer one has no testable interpretation at present. The new light curves are synthesized by the 2003 version of the Wilson-Devinney differential corrections computer code. The results incorporate a source of "third light" which comes from the cool companion star that had been identified by the cycling of the period of the eclipsing pair and also had previously been identified spectroscopically. There is a measure of satisfaction with current understanding of the SW Lyn eclipsing system because of consistent syntheses of all historical light curves. This agreeable convergence, however, comes partly at the expense of an unanticipated temperature of the hot star and of a photospheric spot that has no obvious basis in the detached character modeled for the binary. We offer predictions of changes in the stellar parameters if the modeled detached-configuration should be wrong. The SW Lyn stellar system is still difficult to understand.