• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.49 no.6
• /
• pp.289-293
• /
• 2016

We investigate the long-term spatial drift of the center and the temporal variation of the shutter delay time map of Y4KCam mounted on the CTIO 1.0 m telescope. We have collected shutter delay time maps over eight years as a part of our long-term survey program. We find that the center of the shutter delay time map can drift up to $450{\mu}m$, equivalent to ${\approx}30pixels$, on the CCD. This effect can result in a small amount of error in integration time without the proper shutter delay time correction, but it does not appear to cause any significant problems in photometric measurements. We obtain a mean shutter delay time of $69.1{\pm}0.8$ ms and find no temporal variation of the shutter delay time of Y4KCam over eight years, indicative of the mechanical stability of the shutter. We suggest that using a master shutter delay time correction frame would be sufficient to achieve high precision photometry, which does not exceed photometric errors ${\approx}1.7mmag$ across the CCD frame for exposure times longer than 1 s.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.187-197
• /
• 2014

We have investigated the dynamical stability of the proposed companions orbiting the Algol type short-period eclipsing binary SW Lyncis (Kim et al. 2010). The two candidate companions are of stellar to substellar nature, and were inferred from timing measurements of the system's primary and secondary eclipses. We applied well-tested numerical techniques to accurately integrate the orbits of the two companions and to test for chaotic dynamical behavior. We carried out the stability analysis within a systematic parameter survey varying both the geometries and orientation of the orbits of the companions, as well as their masses. In all our numerical integrations we found that the proposed SW Lyn multi-body system is highly unstable on time-scales on the order of 1000 years. Our results cast doubt on the interpretation that the timing variations are caused by two companions. This work demonstrates that a straightforward dynamical analysis can help to test whether a best-fit companion-based model is a physically viable explanation for measured eclipse timing variations. We conclude that dynamical considerations reveal that the proposed SW Lyncis multi-body system most likely does not exist or the companions have significantly different orbital properties from those conjectured in Kim et al. (2010).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.43.4-44
• /
• 2017

Bar fractions depend on the properties of host galaxies. However, the observational studies did not provide consistent tendency. We investigated the bar fractions and their dependence on properties of host galaxies using three bar classifications: visual inspection, ellipse fitting method and Fourier analysis from a volume-limited sample of 1,698 disk galaxies brighter than Mr=-15.2 within z = 0.01 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7). We found two causes to make the discrepancy in previous studies. One is caused by the difficulty in automatically identifying bars for bulge-dominated galaxies. In particular, ellipse fitting methods could miss early-type barred galaxies when a large bulge weakens the transition between a bar and disk. The other is caused by the difference in the correlation between the bar types and host morphology for strong bars and weak bars. Strong bars are preponderant in early-type spirals which are red, bulge-dominated and highly concentrated, whereas weak bars are frequent in late-type spirals which are blue, disk-dominate and less-concentrated. Therefore, how much weak bars they contain affects the trend of bar fraction on host galaxy properties. We also discuss the effect of host properties on the formation, evolution, and destruction of bars.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.49.1-49.1
• /
• 2010

The optical lightcurves of flare events can be regarded as a direct indicator about the existence of magnetic activity in low-mass stars. Stellar flares are generated by magnetodynamic processes in the stellar interiors as on the Sun and indicate that the locally intensified active regions still exist on the photosphere. However previous photometric observations are limited to a few selected active objects because of their faintness and randomness of the flare occurrence. Based on dedicated deep (r~23), long-term (24 night) time-series monitoring of the open cluster M37 from MMT 6.5m transit survey program, we searched for flare-like transient phenomena in the 3,052 M-dwarf lightcurves with relatively high-temporal resolution (30s-90s). In order to collect all statistical significant events, we applied the change-point analysis with filtering algorithm using local statistics. We found a number of flares from 412 M-dwarf stars that are probable cluster members. Nearly half of them have periodic brightness variations with a near or distorted sinusoidal shape. With a small exception of binary cases, most of these variations appear to reflect the presence of large starspots resulting in rotational brightness modulations. We will discuss the relationship among magnetic activity indicators and dependence on spectral type.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.40.2-40.2
• /
• 2010

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features have emerged as one of the most important infrared (IR) features since these PAH features dominate mid-IR spectra of galaxies and are ubiquitous within galactic and extragalactic objects. These PAH features have the potentials to become reliable star formation rate (SFR) proxies and diagnostics of physical conditions of interstellar medium, such as ionization states of dust grains and grain sizes. While constructing an unbiased library of 44 sample galaxies selected from 5MUSES sample, AKARI mJY Unbiased Survey of Extragalactic Sources in 5MUSES (AMUSES) intends to measure and to calibrate the PAH 3.3 mm emission feature which has not been studied extensively due to its weak strength and dearth of capable instruments. Out of 20 target galaxies, we detected the 3.3mm feature from eight galaxies and measured their line strengths, line widths and line ratios with other PAH emission features. Sample galaxies whose spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are classified as starburst-type have clearly stronger 3.3mm emission features than ones with AGN-type SEDs. We also found that there is a correlation between the PAH 3.3mm luminosity and total IR luminosity within our sample galaxies, albeit a large scatter. We further discuss implications of our results.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.79-85
• /
• 2004

We developed an algorithm to identify and determine periods of variable sources. With its robustness and high speed, it is expected to become an useful tool for surveys with large volume of data. This new scheme consists of an initial coarse. process of finding several candidate periods followed by a secondary process of much finer period search. With this multi-step approach, best candidates among statistically possible periods are produced without human supervision and also without any prior assumption on the nature of the variable star in question. We tested our algorithm with 381 stars taken from the ASAS survey and the result is encouraging. In about $76\%$ cases, our results are nearly identical as their published periods. Our algorithm failed to provide convincing periods for only about $10\%$ cases. For the remaining $14\%$, our results significantly differ from their periods. We show that, in many of these cases, our periods are superior and much closer to the true periods. However, the existence of failures, and also periods sometimes worse than manually controlled results, indicates that this algorithm needs further improvement. Nevertheless, the present experiment shows that this is a positive step toward a fully automated period analysis for future variability surveys.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.135-142
• /
• 2011

A $200'{\times}200'$ region around 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is observed and analyzed in the near-infrared. We obtain polarimetry data in the J, H, and Ks bands using the SIRIUS polarimeter SIRPOL at the Infrared Survey Facility 1.4 m telescope. We measure the Stokes parameters of 2562 point-like sources to derive the degree of polarization and the polarization position angles. We discuss the statistics of the groups classified by color-magnitude diagram and proper motions of the sources, in order to separate the Galactic foreground sources from those present in the LMC. We notice that groups classified by the proper motion data show a tendency towards different polarimetric properties.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.67.1-67.1
• /
• 2016

We observed two star forming regions, N159 and N160, in the Large Magellanic Cloud with SIRPOL, the polarimeter of the Infrared Survey Facility (IRSF) in South Africa. The photometric and polarimetric observations are done in three near-infrared bands, J, H, and Ks. We measured Stokes parameters of point sources and calculated their degrees of polarization and polarization angles. The polarization vector map shows complex features associated with dust and gas structures. Overall features of the magnetic field in N159 and N160 regions are different from each other and appear to be related to local environments, such as interior and boundary of shell structure, existence of star-forming HII regions, and boundaries between HII regions and dense dark clouds. We discuss the relation between the structure of magnetic field and the local properties of dust and gas in N159 and N160 regions by comparing our polarization vector map with images of $H{\alpha}$, mid-infrared, and $^{12}CO$ emissions, respectively by WFI of MPG/ESO telescope, Spitzer IRAC, and NANTEN.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.237.1-237.1
• /
• 2012

We report extensive statistical analyses based on the simultaneous observational results of SiO and $H_2O$ masers toward 166 known both SiO and $H_2O$ maser sources (Kim et al. 2010), 83 known SiO maser sources (Cho & Kim 2012 submitted), and 152 known $H_2O$ maser sources (Kim et al. 2012 in preparation). We investigate mutual relations between SiO and $H_2O$ maser properties (peak and total flux density ratios, full line width ratios, and velocity structures etc.) according to stellar pulsation phases and type of evolved stars. These statistical results are compared with monitoring observational results of some individual stars. In addition, a relation between the full line width of SiO/$H_2O$ masers and stellar mass loss rates is examined. For 401 observed stars, we also investigate characteristics of SiO and $H_2O$ maser properties related with evolutionary stages in the IRAS two-color diagram.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.82.2-82.2
• /
• 2011

Infra-Red Dark Clouds (IRDCs) seen silhouette against the bright Galactic background in mid-IR are a class of interstellar clouds that are dense and cold with very high column densities. While IRDCs are believed to be the precursors to massive stars and star clusters, individual IRDCs show diverse star forming activities within them. We report a remarkable example of such cloud, the IRDC at ${\Gamma}53.2^{\circ}$, and star formation activity in this cloud. The IRDC was previously identified in part as three separate, arcmin-size clouds in the catalogue of MSX IRDC candidates, but we found that the IRDC is associated with a long, filamentary CO cloud at 2 kpc from the Galactic Ring Survey data of $^{13}CO$ J = 1-0 emission, and that its total extent reaches ~ 30pc. The Spitzer MIPSGAL 24mm data show a number of reddened mid-IR sources distributed along the IRDC which are probably young stellar objects (YSOs), and the UWISH2 $H_2$ data (2.122mm) reveal ubiquitous out flows around them. These observations indicate that the IRDC is a site of active star formation with YSOs in various evolutionary stages. In order to investigate the nature of mid-IR sources, we have performed photometry of MIPSGAL data, and we present a catalogue of YSOs combining other available point source catalogues from optical to IR. We discuss the evolutionary stages and characteristics of YSOs from their IR colors and spectral energy distributions.