• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.26.1-26
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• 1998

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.309-314
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• 2007

Originating from the Oort cloud, some comets disappear to impact against the Sun or to split up by strong gravitational force. Then they don't go back to the Oort cloud. They are called sungrazing comets. The comets are detected by sublimation of ices and ejection of gas and dust through solar heat close to the Sun. There exists the charge transfer from heavy ions in the solar wind to neutral atoms in the cometary atmosphere by interaction with the solar wind. Cometary atoms would be excited to high electronic levels and their do-excitation would result in X-ray emission, or it would be scattering of solar X-ray emission by very small cometary grains. We calculated the X-ray emission applying the model suggested by Mendis & Flammer (1984) and Cravens (1997). In our estimation, the sungrazing comet whose nucleus size is about 1 km in radius might be detectable within a distance of 3 solar radius from the sun on soft X-ray solar camera.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.487-498
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• 2009

We observed Comet Machholz (C/2004Q2) using the BOES (BOao Echelle Spectograph) at the Bohyunsan Observatory on January 4, 2005. We have studied a wavelength range of $4800{\sim}8100{\AA}$ in order to investigate unidentified spectral lines in the high-resolution spectra of Machholz. We compared the Machholz spectra with the high-resolution spectra of previous comets: Swift-Tuttle, Brorsen-Metcalf, Austin, and 122P/de Vico. We identified many molecular lines, which are previously unknown; and these identifications will be useful information for studying high-resolution spectra of future comets.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.33-37
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• 1999

We have constructed a synthetic spectrum of the 2.5 micron $C_2H$ bands and compared them with diminutive structures in the near-infrared spectra of Comets P/Halley and West (1976 VI). We found that the Q branches of the $C_2H$ bands coincide with two small emission peaks in the spectra of the comets. We undertook Monte Carlo simulations using observed emission intensities of $C_2$ and possibly $C_2H$ in Comet P/Halley in order to derive a lifetime range of $C_2H$ and a production rate at the time of observations of P/Halley. We obtained a $C_2H$ production rate of $1\times10^{27}\;sec^{-1}$ for P/Halley on December 20, 1985, assuming the 2.5 micron features are due to $C_2H$. We derived a very short lifetime (<100 seconds) of $C_2H$ at 1AU heliocentric distance, assuming that the only parent molecule for $C_2H$ and $C_2$ is $C_2H$. Using this short lifetime we were unable to fit our $C_2$ distribution model to $C_2$ distribution curves observed by O'Dell et al.(1988), because our curve shows a steep slope compared with the observed one. We conclude that there must be significant additional source(s) for $C_2H$ and $C_2$ other than $C_2H_2$.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.50.2-50.2
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• 2017

Spatial distribution of atmosphereless bodies in the solar system provides an important clue as to their origins, namely asteroids from Mainbelt or comets from outer solar system. It is, however, difficult to distinguish asteroids and dormant comets due to their similar appearances. In this study, we conducted a unique observation to differentiate asteroids and dormant comets in terms of 'polarimetry'. We observed (331471) 1984 QY1 (hereafter QY1) at large phase angles using the Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) on the 1.6-m Pirka Telescope from UT 2016 May 25 to June 24. QY1 is a dormant comet candidate in terms of the dynamical properties (i.e. the Tisserand parameter with respect to Jupiter, TJ = 2.68). We analyzed the polarization degree of QY1 as a function of phase angle and found its maximum polarization degree, $Pmax=8.68{\pm}0.28%$ and $8.72{\pm}0.38%$, in RC-and V-band, respectively, around the phase angle of ${\alpha}=100^{\circ}$. In addition, we obtained the geometric albedo, $pV=0.16{\pm}0.02$ by means of an empirical slope-albedo law. The polarimetric properties and the albedo value we acquired are similar to those of S-type asteroids rather than cometary nuclei. In this presentation, we introduce our observation and findings. In addition, we further discuss a dynamical transportation process from Mainbelt to the current orbit.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1529-1535
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• 2017

Due to its unique formation and mystery phenomena, comets is a major motif that inspires various creative fields. Media art that has been developed and expanded in step with the development of modern scientific technology has expressed the unique characteristics of comets such as their structure in the art as a motif, using technologies. This study describes the process of producing "Near by", an distance-recognition interactive media art. offering the audience a chance to create a tail of a comet as they close to it. changes the color of a LED structure representing the nucleus of a comet as the audience approaches it. At the same time, a video of a comet's tail is projected. Through this interaction, the audience will renew their perception on comets and emotionally interact with the art. This work capturing not only the formative characteristics of a comet, but also its forming process as a motif. Such composite way of expressing a motif could be presented as a possibility of extending the expression of the natural phenomenon in the future media art field.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.151-168
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• 2007

We have analyzed the comet records in the Korean history books: Samguksagi, Goryeosa, and Joseonwangjosillok. For a comparison, the Chinese and Japanese comet records collected by Kronk (1999) have also been analyzed. Power spectrum of the time series of the comet records is used to find periodic comets. Statistically significant periodicities in the power spectrum are detected at the periods of 38-40 years, about 76 years, and 300-400 years for all Korean, Chinese, and Japanese comet records. We have also calculated the past orbits of some comets that have been recently observed, to check whether or not they were recorded in the history books. We use a multistep method to numerically integrate the comet's orbital motion backward in time to 51 B.C. The gravitational force due to the Sun and the nine planets, non-gravitational force, and the relativistic effects have been considered. Comparison of comet's perihelion passage time and the position on the sky with the historical records shows that the comet Halley were recorded at every passage in both Goryeo and Joseon periods. The orbital motion of the comet Pons-Brooks has also been compared with the Korean records. For the comet Tempel-Tuttle, Swift-Tuttle, and Ikeya-Zhang, we have compared our calculation of the orbital motions with those of the previous studies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.60.4-60.4
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• 2019

Small bodies in the solar system are pristine leftovers of planetesimals since the formation epoch (~4.6 Gyr ago). After the formation, icy planetesimals have been preserved in the distant cold place beyond 30 au (i.e., Trans-Neptunian region) until recently without any catastrophic processes but have just been injected into inner region (<~5 au from the Sun) to be observed as comets. On the contrary, asteroids are rocky primitive objects (although some of them contains icy volatiles) distributing in the mainbelt between Mars and Jupiter orbits. Because of frequent encounters in the mainbelt, asteroids have experienced a number of repeated impacts until the present day. Namely, it is important to investigate thermal alternation process of cometary volatiles and refractories in the solar radiation field, whereas collisional and subsequence phenomena of asteroidal bodies. Although recent spacecraft observations revealed the physical natures on the surfaces of comets and asteroids, their interiors still remain largely unexplored. It is likely that a sudden brightening of a comet is associated with rapid sublimation of internal CO and CO2 or phase transition of amorphous H2O. An episodic dust ejection from an asteroid is causally related to an impact among asteroids, sudden sublimation of remaining subsurficial volatiles, etc. Because these transient phenomena provide rare opportunities to investigate their interiors, immediate observations using any optical instruments are particular important. In my presentation, I will review some examples of such transient phenomena in the solar system and propose possible collaborative research using the Korean Small Telescope Network.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.61.2-61.2
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• 2015

15P/Finlay is one of the Jupiter-Family Comets that has long been known since the late 19 century. The comet maintains the perihelion around 1.0 AU over a century, without showing any prominent activities (i.e. fragmentation or eruption) since the discovery. According to reports in unpublished observations, the comet exhibited an outburst in the middle of 2014 December. We conducted a imaging observation of 15P/Finlay just after the report, from 2014 December 23 to 2015 February 18 using three telescopes (the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory 50-cm telescope, the Ishigakijima Astronomical Observatory 105-cm telescope, and the Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory 2-m telescope), which constitute a portion of the OISTER (an inter-university observation network in the optical and infrared wavelengths). As a result of the frequent observations, we witnesses the second outburst around UT 2015 January 16. Such cometary outbursts draw the attention to researchers on ground that they could offer insight into the internal structure of comets, following a historical outburst occurred at 17P/Holmes on 2007 October 23. Although cometary outbursts have been often reported mostly in unpublished observations or unreviewed reports, it should be emphasized that there are not a sufficient number of astrophysical research which characterizes the physical properties by observing the aftermaths. This presentation provides a new observational result of 15P/Finlay outburst. Based on the morphological development of the dust cloud as well as the near-nuclear magnitude, we will derive the kinetic energy of the outburst. Finally we plan to compare the results of 15P/Finlay with those of analogical events at 17P/Holmes and P/2010 V1 (Ikeya-Murakami).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.82.2-82.2
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• 2017

Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) is one of powerful tools for investigating primordial objects in the inner solar system in that it covers a large area of the sky ($2{\times}2$ degree2) with a high observational cadence. The Deep Ecliptic Patrol of the Southern sky (DEEP-South) survey has been scanning the southern sky using KMTNet for non-bulge time (45 full nights per year) [1] since 2015 for examining color, albedo, rotation, and shape of the solar system bodies. Since 2017 January, we have launched a new collaborative group between Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and Seoul National University (SNU) with support from KASI to reinforce mutual collaboration among these institutes and further to enhance human resources development by utilizing the KMTNet/DEEP-South data. In particular, we focus on the detection of comets and asteroids spontaneously scanned in the DEEP-South for (1) investigating the secular changes in comet's activities and (2) analyzing precovery and recovery images of objects in the NASA's NEOWISE survey region. In this presentation, we will describe our scientific objectives and current status on using KMTNet data, which includes updating the accuracy of the world coordinate system (WCS) information, finding algorithm of solar system bodies in the image, and doing non-sidereal photometry.