• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.41-48
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• 2019

We compared and analyzed the astronomy terms currently used by astronomers in the two Koreas to promote inter-Korean astronomy cooperation. We analyzed a total of 2716 pairs of terms common in both Koreas glossaries, using the astronomical terminology contained in the South Korean source, the 'Terminology of Astronomy', and the North Korean source, 'Mirror 2.0'. For each pair of terms, their morphological features and meanings were compared. We categorized into 11 groups for comparison of astronomical terms. We found that most of the terms are used similarly in the two Koreas. About 47% of the total is similar in form. Although terms are different, meanings communicate about 37% of the total. As a result, similar terms used by the two Koreas correspond to about 85% of the total. However, 15% of terms are difficult to understand because they have different forms or meanings such as diffraction (회절/에돌이), flare (플레어/요반) etc. Further research on terms that are used differently by the two Koreas, and the conversion of appropriate terms through mutual understanding should be made in the future.

• 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.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.63.2-63.2
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• 2016

1900년대 초에 발행된 천문학 서적 2권을 중심으로 사용된 천문학 용어를 현재와 비교분석하는 연구를 진행하였다. 우리는 두 서적에 사용된 용어에서 천문학용어, 화학원소 용어, 인물 및 지명 용어로 나누어서 현재의 과학용어사전과 비교하였다. 지금까지 사용되는 용어와 지금은 사용하지 않는 용어, 그리고 의미는 동일하지만 변화를 보인 용어로 나누어 분석하였다. 한 권의 천문학 서적에는 영어 색인이 포함되어 있어, 그 기준으로 현재와 비교하고, 나머지 천문학 서적은 본문에 나온 용어를 추려서 비교하였다. 용어를 통해서 두 권의 서적이 다른 경로로 수입 번역되었음을 알 수 있었고, 현재와 같이 용어의 통일이 없었다는 점에서 당시 천문학 교육의 한계점이 드러났다. 이 연구는 당시의 천문학 서적이나 관련 서적을 연구할 때, 한자 표기 없이 영어 어휘를 음차하여 표기된 용어를 동정하는데 도움을 줄 것으로 보인다.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.39-51
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• 2024

Since the division of the Korean Peninsula in 1948, South and North Korea have independently developed their astronomical almanacs: Ryeokseo at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute in South Korea and Cheonmunryeok at the Pyongyang Astronomical Observatory in North Korea. This study compares Ryeokseo and Cheonmunryeok for the year 2015, focusing on publication systems, content, terminology, and differences in data calculation methods. Additionally, it examines the calendars of South and North Korea from 2018 to 2023, analyzing similarities and differences in the representation of calendrical dates, public holidays, and other related aspects. The findings reveal that while the structure and content of the astronomical almanacs are similar in both countries, notable variances exist in the versions of ephemerides, time scales, and calculation precision. Consequently, identical data points are often recorded with slightly different values in each country's almanacs. Furthermore, approximately 28% of the terms used in North Korea's astronomical almanac are either not utilized in South Korea or have different definitions. Regarding calendar systems, those of South and North Korea are largely similar, resulting in no significant discrepancies in dates. However, there are notable differences in the observance of public holidays. While traditional holidays are common to both, most holidays are distinctively celebrated. Notably, North Korea does not observe religious holidays, and many of its holidays are associated with the regime.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.827-838
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to identify the conceptions of elementary school teachers regarding the variation scale about astronomical distance and its accuracy with distance increased. The astronomical distance questionnaire was administered to 69 elementary school teachers, then; three teachers were selected to interview about their conceptions. Results showed that many elementary school teachers overestimated the distance from the Earth to the Moon and to the Sun, and dramatically underestimated the distances to the nearest star and to the nearest galaxy. They inferred astronomical distance with the use of both intuitive (psychological) measure and theoretical (calculative) measure. They well recited the terminology such as AU and a light-year, yet they did not show a good understanding of what the terms exactly means. Some teachers thought that the distance to Neptune is farther than the distance from Earth to the nearest star. There was a considerable variability in the participants' estimates of astronomical distances. Elementary school teachers showed a tendency to overestimate the distance as it gradually increases to the outer solar system.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.21-34
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• 2016

There were two books on astronomy published in 1908. One is "Astronomy (天文學)" written by Jeong, Yeong-Taek (鄭永澤, 1874 ~ 1948), an educator. The other is "Introduction to Astronomy(텬문략 )" written by William Martyn Baird (裵偉良, 1862 ~ 1931), an American missionary. It was known that these two books were translated into Korean as astronomical textbooks of the Korean Empire. We investigated the life of translators, the motivation of writing textbook, and the translators' specialty in astronomy. We also compared the two books in terms of content, orthography of terminology, scale of units, and so forth. We suggest that these books were really utilized as textbooks of astronomy in the modern school in the early $20^{th}$ century in Korea. We also conclude that in astronomy education these two textbooks bridged the gap between the traditional Chinese astronomy of the middle age and modern astronomy from the West.