• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.89-91
• /
• 2005

SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) is an infrared astronomical satellite with a 3.5 m cooled telescope which is very powerful in mid- and far- infrared observations and makes complementary role to JWST and Herschel. SPICA will be launched at ambient temperature without any cryogen into the Sun-Earth L2 orbit and cooled down in space to 4.5 K with use of efficient radiative cooling and mechanical coolers. The present status of SPICA and the developments of the satellite system are reported.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.64.2-64.2
• /
• 2010

From 2009, CEOU of Seoul National University has been utilizing the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, as one of its research facilities. UKIRT is a telescope with 3.8m primary mirror, and it is currently the largest telescope specialized for infrared observations. We will summarize our research activities using UKIRT, which include Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS) of proto-clusters and high redshift quasars, NIR imaging programs of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), Gamma Ray sources, and SNUQSO quasars. Our research programs include international collaboration with the UK GRB team, the NASA/Swift team, Pomona College, and National Central University of Taiwan. We will also touch on our future plan of using UKIRT.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.335-336
• /
• 2005

The working group for an infrared telescope(IRT) toward East Asian Observatory has been set up in EAMA6. This report declares the membership of IRT working group, reviews briefly the activities of promoting the IRT, and puts forward the future plan.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.107-108
• /
• 2005

The situations and locations of the Asian astronomical observatories are overviewed. I propose to construct a medium size Infrared Telescope at a good site in the Asian district.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.117-120
• /
• 2005

Current instrumentation activities and the open user status of Okayama Astrophysical Observatory (OAO) are reviewed. There are two telescopes in operation and one telescope under reforming at OAO. The 188cm telescope is provided for open use for more than 200 nights in a year. The typical over-subscription rate of observation proposals for the 188cm telescope is ${\~}$ 1.5 - 2. The 50cm telescope is dedicated to $\gamma$-ray burst optical follow-up observation and is operated in collaboration with Tokyo Institute of Technology. The 91cm telescope will become a new very wide field near-infrared camera in two years. The high-dispersion echelle spectrograph (HIDES) is the current primary instrument for the open use of the 188cm telescope. Two new instruments, an infrared multi-purpose camera (ISLE) and an optical low-dispersion spectrograph (KOOLS), are now under development. They will be open as common use instruments in 2006.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.43 no.5
• /
• pp.169-181
• /
• 2010

We develop a proto-model of an off-axis reflective telescope for infrared wide-field observations based on the design of Schwarzschild-Chang type telescope. With only two mirrors, this design achieves an entrance pupil diameter of 50 mm and an effective focal length of 100 mm. We can apply this design to a mid-infrared telescope with a field of view of $8^{\circ}{\times}8^{\circ}$. In spite of the substantial advantages of off-axis telescopes in the infrared compared to refractive or on-axis reflective telescopes, it is known to be difficult to align the mirrors in off-axis systems because of their asymmetric structures. Off-axis mirrors of our telescope are manufactured at the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI). We analyze the fabricated mirror surfaces by fitting polynomial functions to the measured data. We accomplish alignment of this two-mirror off-axis system using a ray tracing method. A simple imaging test is performed to compare a pinhole image with a simulated prediction.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.391-397
• /
• 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) proposed by KASI as an international collaboration is a near-infrared instrument. 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 pointing error down to below 0.075 arcsec through the observation of guiding stars in the focal plane. We analyzed the pointing requirement from the focal plane instruments as well as the error factors affecting the pointing stability. We also obtained the expected performance in operation modes. We concluded that the FPC-G can achieve the pointing stability below 0.075 arcsec which is the requirement from the focal plane instruments.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.29 no.spc1
• /
• pp.371-374
• /
• 1996

An updated project status review of the Japan 8m telescope, Subaru, scheduled for its first light in the second quater of 1998 atop Mauna Kea is given.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.93-95
• /
• 2005

ASTRO-F is the first Japanese dedicated infrared astronomical satellite which will be launched in 2005FY and is now in the final stage of the development. ASTRO-F is a 70 cm aperture cryogenically cooled telescope and designed for the infrared survey with much higher sensitivity and angular resolution than IRAS. We present the current status of the mission, focal plane instruments, and the observation plan now being discussed.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.363-365
• /
• 2017

The telescope to be onboard SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) has an aperture diameter of 2.5 m and its imaging performance is to be diffraction-limited at a wavelength of $20{\mu}m$ at the operating temperature of <8 K. Because manufacturing precise autocollimating flat mirrors (ACFs) with sizes comparable to the SPICA telescope is not technically feasible, we plan to use sub-aperture stitching interferometry through ACFs for optical testing of the telescope. We have verified the applicability of the sub-aperture stitching technique to the SPICA telescope by performing stitching experiments in a vacuum at a room temperature, using the 800-mm telescope and a 300-mm ACF. We have also developed a new method to reduce uncertainties possibly caused by cryogenic and gravitational deformations of ACFs.