• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.41-70
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• 1979

From $B\ddot{o}hm$-Vitense's atmospheric model calculations, the relations, [$T_e$, (B-V)] and [B.C, (B-V)] with respect to heavy element abundance were obtained. Using these relations and evolutionary model calculations of Rood, and Sweigart and Gross, analytic expressions for some physical parameters relating to the C-M diagrams of globular clusters were derived, and they were applied to 21 globular clusters with observed transition periods of RR Lyrae variables. More than 20 different parameters were examined for each globular cluster. The derived ranges of some basic parameters are as follows; $Y=0.21{\sim}0.33,\;Z=1.5{\times}10^{-4}{\sim}4.5{\times}10^{-3},\;age,\;t=9.5{\sim}19{\times}10^9$ years, mass for red giants, $m_{RG}=0.74m_{\odot}{\sim}0.91m_{\odot}$, mass for RR Lyrae stars, $m_{RR}=0.59m_{\odot}{\sim}0.75m_{\odot}$, the visual magnitude difference between the turnoff point and the horizontal branch (HB), ${\Delta}V_{to}=3.1{\sim}3.4(<{\Delta}V_{to}>=3.32)$, the color of the blue edge of RR Lyrae gap, $(B-V)_{BE}=0.17{\sim}0.21=(<(B-V)_{BE}>=0.18),\;[\frac{m}{L}]_{RR}=-1.7{\sim}-1.9$, mass difference of $m_{RR}$ relative to $m_{RG},(m_{RG}-m_{RR})/m_{RG}=0.0{\sim}0.39$. It was found that the ranges of derived parameters agree reasonably well with the observed ones and those estimated by others. Some important results obtained herein can be summarized as follows; (i) There are considerable variations in the initial helium abundance and in age of globular clusters. (ii) The radial gradient of heavy element abundance does exist for globular clusters as shown by Janes for field stars and open clusters. (iii) The helium abundance seems to have been increased with age by massive star evolution after a considerable amount (Y>0.2) of helium had been attained by the Big-Bang nucleosynthesis, but there is not seen a radial gradient of helium abundance. (iv) A considerable amount of heavy elements ($Z{\sim}10{-3}$) might have been formed in the inner halo ($r_{GC}$<10 kpc) from the earliest galactic co1lapse, and then the heavy element abundance has been slowly enriched towards the galactic center and disk, establishing the radial gradient of heavy element abundance. (v) The final galactic disk formation might have taken much longer by about a half of the galactic age than the halo formation, supporting a slow, inhomogeneous co1lapse model of Larson. (vi) Of the three principal parameters controlling the morphology of C-M diagrams, it was found that the first parameter is heavy clement abundance, the second age and the third helium abundance. (vii) The globular clusters can be divided into three different groups, AI, BI and CII according to Z, Y an d age as well as Dickens' HB types. BI group clusters of HB types 4 and 5 like M 3 and NGC 7006 are the oldest and have the lowest helium abundance of the three groups. And also they appear in the inner halo. On the other hand, the youngest AI clusters have the highest Z and Y, and appear in the innermost halo region and in the disk. (viii) From the result of the clean separations of the clusters into three groups, a three dimensional classification with three parameters, Z, Y and age is prsented. (ix) The anomalous C-M diagrams can be expalined in terms of the three principal parameters. That is, the anomaly of NGC 362 and NGC 7006 is accounted for by the smaller age of the order of $1{\sim}2{\times}10^9$ years rather than by the helium abundance difference, compared with M 3. (x) The difference in two Oosterhoff types I and II can be explained in terms of the mean mass difference of RR Lyrae variables rather than in terms of the helium abundance difference as suggested by Stobie. The mean mass of the variables in Oosterhoff type I clusters is smaller by $0.074m_{\odot}$ which is exactly consistent with Rood's estimate. Since it was found that the mean mass of RR Lyrae stars increases with decreasing Z, the two Oosterhoff types can be explained substantially by the metal abundance difference; the type II has Z<$3.4{\times}10^{-4}$, and the type I has higher Z than the type II.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.89-102
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• 2021

Even in an era where 8-meter class telescopes are common, small telescopes are considered very valuable research facilities since they are available for rapid follow-up or long term monitoring observations. To maximize the usefulness of small telescopes in Korea, we established the SomangNet, a network of 0.4-1.0 m class optical telescopes operated by Korean institutions, in 2020. Here, we give an overview of the project, describing the current participating telescopes, its scientific scope and operation mode, and the prospects for future activities. SomangNet currently includes 10 telescopes that are located in Australia, USA, and Chile as well as in Korea. The operation of many of these telescopes currently relies on operators, and we plan to upgrade them for remote or robotic operation. The latest SomangNet science projects include monitoring and follow-up observational studies of galaxies, supernovae, active galactic nuclei, symbiotic stars, solar system objects, neutrino/gravitational-wave sources, and exoplanets.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.37.3-38
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• 2016

Recent studies suggest that faint active galactic nuclei may be responsible for the reionization of the universe. Confirmation of this scenario requires spectroscopic identification of faint quasars ($M_{1450}$ > -24 mag) at z > 6, but only a very small number of such quasars have been spectroscopically identified so far. Here, we report the discovery of a faint quasar IMS J220417.92+011144.8 at z ~ 6 in a $12.5deg^2$ region of the SA22 field of the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS). The spectrum of the quasar shows a sharp break at ${\sim}8443{\AA}$, with emission lines redshifted to $z=5.944{\pm}0.002$ and rest-frame ultraviolet continuum magnitude $M_{1450}=-23.59{\pm}0.10$ AB mag. The discovery of IMS J220417.92+011144.8 is consistent with the expected number of quasars at z ~6 estimated from quasar luminosity functions based on previous observations of spectroscopically identified low-luminosity quasars. This suggest that the number of $M_{1450}$ ~ -23 mag quasars at z ~ 6 may not be high enough to fully account for the reionization of the universe. In addition, our study demonstrates that faint quasars in the early universe can be identified effectively with a moderately wide and deep near-infrared survey such as the IMS.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.34.2-34.2
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• 2017

A small wide-field imaging telescope is a powerful instrument to survey the Universe: wide-field image can monitor the variability of many sources at a time, e.g. young stellar objects and active galactic nuclei, and it can be an effective way to locate transient sources without precise positional information such as gravitational wave sources or some gamma-ray bursts. In February 2017, we installed a 0.25 m f/3.6 telescope on the McDonald 0.8 m telescope as a piggyback system. With a $4k{\times}4k$ CCD camera, the telescope has a $2.35{\times}2.35deg$ field-of-view. Currently, it is equipped with Johnson UBVRI filters and 3 narrow-band filters: $H{\alpha}$, OIII and SII. We will present the installation process, and the telescope performance such as detection limit and image quality based on the data from commissioning observations. We will also discuss possible scientific projects with this system.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.363-376
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• 2005

To study the effects of giant population on dynamical substructures of the central region of NGC 7006, we examine the radial variations of ellipticity and position angle on By stellar photometry using ellipse fitting technique. Total variations of ellipticity and position angle lie in the range $0.02\~0.06\;and\;-10^{\circ}+90^{\circ}$, respectively, from the center out to three times the half light radius. Our ellipse fitting results, after removing giant populations, show that the apparent central dynamical substructures of NGC 7006 are mainly affected by red giant, horizontal branch stars. On the contrary, the contribution of light from subgiant stars to the inner dynamical substructure seems to be insignificant.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.61.2-61.2
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• 2011

Low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) have been generally regarded to be powered by active galactic nuclei (AGNs), yet still a number of alternative explanations on the origin of LINER emission are suggested; for example, planetary nebulae nuclei of massive stars, supernovae shocks from death of massive stars, and old stellar populations. Interestingly, a majority of recent star formation early-type galaxies (ETGs) in local universe presents such LINER emission lines. Given that situation, revealing the true nature of LINERs is a crucial step to constrain the evolution path to quiescent ETGs. To resolve the issue, we use Keck/LRIS to obtain spatially resolved spectra on a carefully selected ETG. The ETG SDSS J091628.05+420818.7 at redshift z ~ 0.024 shows modest LINER emission line features without any detection of 21 cm radio continuum nor X-ray emission. We perform a stellar continuum subtraction and measure emission line strengths and their uncertainties for each spectrum from five apertures along the slit with size of 1 arcsecond (~0.5 kpc). We find that extended spatial distributions of four emission lines $H{\alpha}$, $H{\beta}$, [OIII]${\lambda}5007$, and [NII]${\lambda}6583$, and they can be explained by central emission blurring effect. We conclude that the emissions seem to be centrally concentrated, indicating the AGN-nature of LINERs.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.177-193
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• 2011

We present a photometric study of five open clusters (Czernik 5, Alessi 53, Berkeley 49, Berkeley 84, and Pfleiderer 3) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The position and size of these clusters are determined using the radial number density profiles of the stars, and the member stars of the clusters are selected using the proper motion data in the literature. We estimate the reddening, distance and age of the clusters based on the isochrone fitting in the color-magnitude diagram. The foreground reddenings for these clusters are estimated to be E(B - V ) = 0.71 - 1.55 mag. The distances to these clusters are derived to be 2.0 - 4.4 kpc, and their distances from the Galactic center range from 7.57 kpc to 12.35 kpc. Their ages are in the range from 250 Myr to 1 Gyr. Berkeley 49 and Berkeley 84 are located in the Orion spur, Czernik 5 is in the Perseus arm, and Pfleiderer 3 and Alessi 53 are located beyond the Perseus arm.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.249-252
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• 2012

The absorption features due to interstellar ices, especially $H_2O$ and $CO_2$ ices, provide us with crucial information on present and past interstellar environments, and thus the evolutionary histories of galaxies. Before AKARI, however, few detections of ices were reported for nearby galaxies. The AKARI's unique capability of near-infrared spectroscopy with high sensitivity enables us to systematically study ices in nearby galaxies. Thus we have explored many near-infrared spectra ($2.5-5{\mu}m$) of the 211 pointed observations, searching for the absorption features of ices. As a result, out of 122 nearby galaxies, we have significantly detected $H_2O$ ice from 36 galaxies and $CO_2$ ice from 9 galaxies. It is notable that the ices are detected not only in late-type galaxies but also in early-type galaxies. We find that $CO_2$ ice is more compactly distributed near the galactic center than $H_2O$ ice. Finally, we suggest that the gas density of a molecular cloud and UV radiation may be important factors to determine the abundance of ices.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.79-90
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• 1995

The unique compact radio source, Sgr $A^*$, at the Galactic center show many observational signs that it is powered by supermassive black hole. Recent observations also imply that it is surrounded by winds from nearby IR sources. So we explore the model in which multiwavelength spectrum from Sgr $A^*$ is due to the spherical accretion of these winds onto the central supermassive black hole. Improving upon the previous work, we allowed the possibility that ions and electrons have different temperatures, included the Compton effects and pair processes. Electrons radiate via cyclosynchrotron and bresstrahlung with comptoniztion. We find that ion approaches the virial temperature ${\sim}10^{13}K$ while electron temperature saturates at ${\sim}10^{10}K$. However, decoupling between ion and electron does not greatly affect the shape of the emission spectrum. When the mass of the black hole is ${\sim}10^6M_{\odot}$, radio, IR, X-ray, $\gamma$-ray band spectrum is reasonably explained by the model. Yet Compton effect which is neglected in previous works produces significant emission in IR band, which is marginally compatible with observations. Pair production is negligible and annihilation lines cannot be observed.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.30.3-31
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• 2015

We present a kinematic analysis of 172 likely member galaxies of the Ursa Major Cluster. In order to understand the dynamical state of the cluster, we investigate the correlation of the cluster morphology with rotation, the velocity dispersion profile, and the rotation amplitude parallel to the global rotation direction. Both the minor axis and the rotation are very well-aligned with the global rotation axis in the outer region at half radius (> 0.5 $R_{max}$), but not in the inner region. The cluster exhibits low velocity dispersion and rotation amplitude profiles in the inner region, but higher in the outer. Both profiles exhibit outwardly increasing trends, suggesting an inside-out transfer of angular momentum of dark matter via violent relaxation, as revealed by a recent off-axis major-merging simulation. From Dressler-Schectman plots in the plane of galactic positions, and velocity versus position angle of galaxy, we are able to divide the Ursa Major Cluster into two substructures: Ursa Major South (UMS) and Ursa Major North (UMN). We derive a mass of $3.2{\times}10^{14}M_{\odot}$ for the cluster through the two-body analysis by the timing argument with the distance information (37 for UMN and 36 for UMS) and the spin parameter of ${\lambda}=0.049$. The two substructures appear to have passed each other 4.4 Gyr ago and are moving away to the maximum separation.