• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.56.2-56.2
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• 2010

M87, a cD galaxy in the Virgo cluster, has 3-10 times larger enclosed mass than the Milky Way at any given galactocentric radius. Thus the globular cluster (GC) system in M87 is expected to have undergone a more significant dynamical evolution than that of the Milky Way if it had started from the same initial mass function (MF) and radial distribution (RD) as the Milky Way. The evolution of MF and RD of the M87 GC system has been calculated using an advanced, realistic Fokker-Planck (FP) model that considers dynamical friction, disk/bulge shocks, and eccentric cluster orbits. We perform hundreds of FP calculations with different initial cluster conditions, and then search a wide parameter space for the best-fit initial GC MF and RD that evolves into the observed present-day GC MF and RD. We also find best-fit initial MFs and RDs for blue and red GC groups, separately.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.68.2-68.2
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• 2012

We present a discovery of two new globular clusters in the Hubble Space Telescope archive images of the M81 group. They are located much farther from both M81 and M82 in the sky, compared with previously known star clusters in these galaxies. Both clusters show that higher luminosity and larger effective radius than typical globular clusters in Milky Way and M81. Using the available spectroscopic data provided by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we derive a low metallicity with [Fe/H] ${\approx}$ -2.3 and an old age ~14 Gyr for GC-2. The I-band magnitude of the tip of the RGB for GC-1 is consistent with that of the halo stars in the GC-1 and GC-2 field. However, that of GC-2 is 0.26 mag fainter than its field. It shows that GC-2 is about 400 kpc behind the M81 halo along our line of sight. The deprojected distance to GC-2 from M81 is much larger than any other known globular clusters in the local universe. We discuss the possible scenarios to explain the existence of globular cluster in such an extremely isolated environment.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.277-289
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• 1998

We report V-(B - V) CCD Color Magnitude Diagrams (CMDs) for 23 southern Galactic globular clusters. Limiting magnitudes for each cluster are between 18 and 20 magnitudes in V. Most CMDs show subgiant starts, red giant stars, and horizontal branch stars. From the CMDs, we have determined the horizontal branch magnitudes, V(HB), reddenings, E(B - V), and distances of each cluster.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.65.1-65.1
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• 2017

We present the high-resolution spectroscopic study of the red-giant branch (RGB) stars in the peculiar globular cluster M22 (NGC 6656). We obtained high-resolution spectra of 55 RGB stars using the CTIO 4-m telescope and the HYDRA multi-object spectrograph. By employing an improved LTE analysis method, we measured accurate elemental abundances. In this talk, we will discuss the differences in the chemical composition between the two stellar populations in the context of the formation of M22.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.63.1-63.1
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• 2011

M82 is a famous starburst galaxy which is dominated by young stellar populations and ISM. Some previous studies indicated the existence of intermediate-age and old stellar population in this galaxy, but little is known about them. We present a study of old globular clusters in M82 using the Hubble Space Telescope archive data. From the cluster survey of M82 we found 650 star clusters. We divided them into disk and halo star clusters according to their position. The color-color diagrams show that all 19 halo star clusters are old globular clusters. The disk sample may include both reddened young clusters and geniune old globular clusters. We estimated their ages using spectral energy distribution fit method with six filter data covering from ultraviolet (F330W) to infrared (F160W), and found that 30 of them are older than 3 Gyr. These are considered to be disk globular clusters. Twelve of the halo globular clusters are found to be partially resolved into their member stars. The (B-V) color range of the halo globular clusters is consistent with that of the Milky Way globular clusters, but most of M82 globular clusters are bluer than (B-V)=0.7. The existence of these old globular clusters suggests that the starburst galaxy M82 has an old stellar halo that may be as old as the Milky Way halo.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.80.3-81
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• 2015

Globular clusters (GCs) are known to have a very small amount of or no dark matter (DM). Several studies propose that GCs may have formed in individual dark halos. Thus, some of the current GCs might have a non-negligible DM content. Using the Fokker-Planck (FP) calculations, we investigate the dynamical evolution of the Galactic GCs residing in mini DM halo. We trace the initial amount of DM of 47 Tuc, NGC 1851, and M15, which is a 'disk/bulge' cluster, an 'old halo' cluster, and a 'young halo' cluster, respectively. We find that the three GCs have initially insignificant amounts of DM, less than 20 percent of the initial stellar mass of the each cluster.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.38.1-38.1
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• 2008

Tides caused by the Galactic gravitational field affect the current dynamical structure of globular clusters in the Galaxy. Indeed, the observed feature of tidal tails stretching beyond globular clusters' tidal radii provides a key information of interaction with the gravitational field of the Galaxy and kinematical orbit of the clusters, which can be an evidence of the merging scenario of the Galaxy formation and evolution. To find such a tidal feature, we have studied spatial density distribution of stars around five globular clusters in the Galactic halo and one cluster in the Galactic bulge, for which we have used wide-field deep photometric data of gri and JHK bands obtained from the MegaCam and WIRCam of the CFHT. Applying the statistical contrast filtering of field stars in the color-magnitude plane of detected stars around five halo clusters, we have found features of tidal tails for four clusters M53, M15, NGC 5053, and NGC 5466. The detected over-density tidal features are well aligned with the cluster's orbits and stretched into the direction of the Galactic center. Statistical analysis indicate that these tidal tails are believed to be cluster stars that have escaped due to the tidal effects to the clusters. A similar tidal feature to that of halo clusters is also detected for the bulge cluster NGC 6626, while the over-density feature seems to be extended into the Galactic plane rather than into the orbital direction and the Galactic center. Conclusively, our result adds further observational evidence of the merging scenario of the Galaxy formation and evolution.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.61-76
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• 1994

We investigate the dynamical evolution of globular clusters under the diffusion, the Galactic tide, and the presence of halo black holes. We compare the results with our previous work which considers the diffusion processes and the Galactic tide. We find the followings: (1) The black holes contribute the expansion of the outer part of the cluster. (2) There is no evidence for dependence on the orbital phase of the cluster as in our previous work. (3) The models of linear and Gaussian velocity distribution for the halo black holes do not show any significant differences in all cases. (4) The perturbation of black holes reduces the number of stars in lower energy regions. (5) There is a significant number of stars with retrograde orbits beyond the cutoff radius especially in the case of diffusion and the perturbation of black holes.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.63.2-63.2
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• 2013

Unlike the conventional wisdom, observations made during the past decade have revealed that many globular clusters possess more than one stellar population. Here, we have discovered evidence for multiple red giant branches (RGBs) in the globular cluster NGC 6388 from the narrow-band Calcium and Str$\ddot{o}$mgren b & y (Caby) photometry. In order to confirm the difference in Calcium abundance, we have acquired the low resolution spectroscopy for these RGB stars. In this paper, we will present results of our photometry and hand in the preliminary results of spectroscopic observations.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.137-142
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• 2000

CN and CH band strengths for ten new bright giants in the globular cluster M15 have been measured from archival spectra obtained with the Multiple Mirror Telescope. Using published indices for other bright M15 giants, a CN-CH band strength anticorrelation is found for bright red giants. However, stars that do not follow the CN-CH anticorrelation are also found. They seem to show a positive correlation between the two indices. Among them, all the AGB and HB stars of the sample are included. Stars I-38 and X6, which are located near the RGB fiducial line in the CMD, have low measured CH(G) indices compared with other RGB stars. Stars IV-38, S4, and S1, which are all near the RGB tip, have strong measured CH(G) indices. Therefore, most of their evolutionary states are suspected to be different from those of a normal single RGB star.