• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.37-54
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• 2013

China and Korea have a long history of star charts, dating from the prehistoric period. Historically, Korean astronomy has been deeply influenced by China over the last two thousand years, particularly on constellation system. Therefore, Chinese and Korean traditional star charts have many similarities in terms of shape of constellation, number of star, and so forth. Korean star charts, however, have lots of unique characteristics distinguishing from Chinese ones, such as, size of star and position of constellation. Overall knowledge of the Chinese star chart is required to study the Korean star chart. In this paper, I focus on introducing selected star charts in China and Korea. Although this review is very limited, I hope that this paper is helpful in research in the field of historical astronomy.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.51-62
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• 2015

I investigated a method for drawing the star chart in the planisphere Cheonsang-yeolcha-bunyajido. The outline of the star chart can be constructed by considering the astronomical information given in the planisphere alone and the drawing method described in Xin-Tangshu; further the chart can be completed by using additional information on the shape and linking method of asterisms out of an inherited star chart. The circles of perpetual visibility, the equator, and the circle of perpetual invisibility are concentric, and their common center locates the Tianshu-xing, which was defined to be a pole star in the Han dynasty. The radius of the circle of perpetual visibility was modified in accordance with the latitude of Seoul, whereas the other circles were drawn for the latitude of $35^{\circ}$, which had been the reference latitude in ancient Chinese astronomy. The ecliptic was drawn as an exact circle by parallel transference of the equator circle to fix the location of the equinoxes at the positions recorded in the epitaph of the planisphere. The positions of equinoxes originated from the Han dynasty. The 365 ticks around the boundary of the circle of perpetual invisibility were possibly drawn by segmenting the circumference with an arc length instead of a chord length with the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter as accurate as 3.14 presumed. The 12 equatorial sectors were drawn on the boundary of the star-chart in accordance with the beginning and ending lodge angles given in the epitaph that originated from the Han dynasty. The determinative lines for the 28 lunar lodges were drawn to intersect their determinative stars, but seven determinative stars are deviated. According to the treatises of the Tang dynasty, these anomalies were inherited from charts of the period earlier than the Tang dynasty. Thus, the star chart in Cheonsang-yeolcha-bunyajido preserves the old tradition that had existed before the present Chinese tradition reformed in approximately 700 CE. In conclusion, the star chart in Cheonsang-yeolcha-bunyajido shows the sky of the former Han dynasty with the equator modified to the latitude of Seoul.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.433-437
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• 1996

We have analyzed the content of the Korean stone star chart. Ch'on-Sang-Yul-Cha-Bun-Ya-Ji-Do(here-after Ch'on-Sang-Do). In the star map we have found 1468 stars, 4 more than the Chinese star catalog Bo-Chun-Ga. The four extra stars form a constellation, Jong Dae Boo. The map projection law used in the star chart is found to be the polar equtorial and equidistance projection. The linear distance of an object on Ch'on-Sang-Do from the center is linearly proportional to the north polar angular distance. We have found from a statistical analysis that most stars with declination lower than 50 are at positions representing the epoch of around the first century. On the other hand, stars near the north pole with declination higher than 50 are at the epoch of about 1300, which is close to the time the chart was engraved. This implies that the original Ko-Gu-Rye Dynasty's star chart has been revised by astronomers of Cho-Sun Dynasty. We have also shown that stars on Ch'on-Sang-Do are engraved in such a way that their area is linearly proportional to the visual magnitude.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.85.2-85.2
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• 2014

The origin of the Korean Screen Planisphere with both Traditional and New Star-Charts, made by Korean Astronomers in the Royal Astronomical Bureau of the Joseon Dynasty by adopting the knowledge of the European astronomy, is investigated by analyzing its inscriptions and star charts. The considerations on both the changes in notations or representations of names of asterisms and the naming taboos used in the Old-style planisphere imply that the star-chart is originated from either the Sukjong-Stele-Replica of Cheonsang-Yeolcha-Punyajido(天象列次分野之圖). The New style planisphere is just the reproduction of Huangdao-congxingtu (黃道總星圖), with the exception of the non-Chinese-traditional stars. The Huangdao-congxingtu was made in 1723 CE by Ignatius K$\ddot{o}$gler who was a Jesuit missionary and worked for the Bureau of Astronomy (欽天監) in the Qing Dyansty. I find that the star chart was imported in 1742 CE from the Qing by An Gukrin (安國麟) who was an astronomer in the Royal Astronomical Bureau of Joseon. The chart became model for the screen star-chart made in 1743 CE and now housed in Bopju temple. I found that the inscriptions are extracted from the sentences in both Xinzhi Lingtai Yixiangzhi (新製靈臺儀象志) and Qinding Yixiangkaocheng (欽定儀象考成). Korean historical records in either Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat of the Joseon Dynasty (承政院日記) or Annals of the Joseonn Dynasty (朝鮮王朝實錄) show that Xinzhi Lingtai-Yixiangzhi was imported from the Qing Dynasty in 1708 CE, and the Qinding Yixiangkaocheng was imported in 1766 CE. Thus, the Korean Screen Planisphere with both Old and New Star-charts was certainly made after 1766 CE.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.52.1-52.1
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• 2012

It is often said that there is little geometrical mind in Korean history. However, a method to project the surface of a sphere onto 2-dimensional plain was applied to the representative Korean star chart or Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido (天象列次分野之圖). The method, called the equi-distant polar projection, was explained in detail in ancient Chinese history book of the Tang dynasty, which was originated from older history. Another method of the Mercator projection was introduced by the famous engineer Su Song (蘇頌) of the Song dynasty. The description has quite geometrical thoughts, especially the concept of infinity or convergence appears, However, this type of sky projection method was not widely used in east Asia. When the European Jesuits came to China to evangelize the Chinese people, they found that the Chinese people paid much attention to advanced European astronomical knowledge. Thus, they introduced the European astronomical knowledges into China, and the star chart was one of them. The projection method of the new charts were quite different from the Chinese tradition. When the Koreans brought those new star chart from China, they must have known the geometrical description of the method. The method was described in detail in a volume of Chongzhen Lishi (崇禎曆書) or Xiyang Xinfa Lishu (西洋新法曆書). The explanation consists of three part. One is the quantitative way; another is a geometrical way using axiomatic systems; and the other is the practical method to draw star chart with the geometical projection. However, when we see the Honcheon Jeondo (渾天全圖) that is thought to be duplicated by Kim Jeongho (金正浩), the new geometrical method was not so widely known to the Koreans. I will discuss the reason why the geometrical minds have not been widely adopted in the Korean civilization.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2015

The applications for retro-reflectors, with their unique reflection characteristics, have been expanding, to include venetian blind slats, displays, traffic safety mark, etc. We propose expandable structures of inclined corner cube retro-reflectors and analyze their corresponding reflection characteristics. Various traffic safety structures with retro-reflectors may be designed more quantitatively using the chart of characteristics we have presented.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2019

"Hon-Chon-Jeon-Do" is a woodcut star map with the size of $79.4cm{\times}127.5cm$, and was widely disseminated as it was made into a set with Kim, Jung Ho's "Yeoji-Jeon-Do". This study confirmed that Yixiang kaocheng xubian ("의상고성속편") star catalogue was used as a source to produce the star map, and the stereographic projection was applied with the projection center being the mid-point (Q) between the celestial and ecliptic north poles. The 'mid-circle' around the Q is arisen between the equator and the ecliptic, and on this circle, the hour angle and the ecliptic longitude of a star can be marked using the same scale. This means that the hour of the day and the season of the year can be read on the same dial of the mid-circle, and the application of this character in the practical use was the key point of the star map production. By observing either transits or positions of the 28 xiu (宿), it is easy to find the corresponding season and time by simply reading the dial on the mid-circle. This is just the function of a portable almanac and thus by disseminating it widely, the convenience of the people would have been promoted. For this reason, it can be stated that "Hon-Chon-Jeon-Do" was a practical astronomical tool which was produced by the western astronomical projection method and was used to find time and season. Choi, Han Ki and Kim, Jung Ho are strong candidates for the makers of this star map. The time of production is estimated to be 1848 ~ 1857, and "Hon-Chon-Jeon-Do" could be regarded as a good contributor to popularization of astronomy in the late Joseon Dynasty.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.65-76
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• 2016

We study a manuscript that includes 28 oriental constellations in the flags of barracks in Gangjin. According to the Joseon Chronicles, the constellation flags in the manuscript are thought to have originated from Seon-Pil Kim (金善弼) who first made 28 constellation flags for the barracks in 1878 during the Joseon Dynasty. Seon-Pil Kim was a commander and he used the 28 constellation flags for communications in a military camp. The flags also contain 28 animals and letter-like symbols with constellation maps. We examine the constellation maps in flags in terms of shapes and number of stars, and compare them with those of constellations in the Korean and Chinese star charts such as CheonSangYeolChaBunYaJiDo (天象列次分野之圖), Joseon-Butienge (朝鮮步天歌), Suzhou (蘇州) Star Chart, and Tang-Butiange (唐步天歌). Finally, we found that the shape of constellations in the flags might be similar to those in the Chinese Tang-Butienge. We also found several errors such as the shape, connecting pattern, and number of constellations drawn in the flags. It seems that the constellation flags were unofficially used in military camps in the late Joseon dynasty. Meanwhile, the 28 constellations are divided into four groups and each group has its own color and direction. We suppose that the constellation flags might represent the positions of military camps and each group of flags has their own color based on their cardinal points.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.201-212
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• 2023

The inscription of Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido (天象列次分野之圖) has the sun's locations at the equinoxes, which must have been copied from the astronomical treatises in Chinese historical annals, Songshu (宋書) and Jinshu (晉書). According to the treatises, an astronomer Wang Fan (王蕃, 228-266 CE) referred those values from a calendrical system called Qianxiangli (乾象曆, 223 CE), from which it is confirmed that it adopted the sun's location at the winter solstice of the $(21{\frac{1}{4}})^{th}$ du of the 8th lunar lodge Dou (斗) as the reference direction for equatorial lodge angles. This indicates that the sun's locations at equinoxes and solstices in the calendrical system are the same as those in Jingchuli (景初曆, 237 CE). Hence, we propose that the sun's location at the autumnal equinox in Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido should be corrected from 'wu du shao ruo' (五度少弱), meaning the $(5{\frac{1}{6}})^{th}$ du, to 'wu du ruo' (五度弱), meaning the $(4{\frac{11}{12}})^{th}$ du, of the first lunar lodge Jiao (角), as seen in Jingchuli. We reconstruct the polar coordinate system used in circular star charts, assuming that the mean motion rule was applied and its reference direction was the sun's location at the winter solstice. Considering the precession, we determined the observational epoch of the sun's location at the winter solstice to be t_o = -18.3 ± 43.0 adopting the observational error of the so-called archaic determinatives (古度). It is noteworthy that the sun's locations at equinoxes inscribed in Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido originated from Houhan Sifenli (後漢 四分曆) of the Latter Han dynasty (85 CE), while the coordinate origin in the star chart is related to Taichuli (太初曆) of the Former Han dynasty (104 BCE).

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.103-113
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• 2019

Spatial resolution is still one of the most important parameters for evaluating image quality. In this study, we propose an approach to evaluate spatial resolution and MTF(Modulation Transfer Function) using bar target and Siemens star chart as a part of quality evaluation for UAV images. To this end, images were taken with a fixed-wing eBee(Canon IXUS) at the flight height of 130m and 260m, and with a rotary-wing GD-800(SONY NEX-5N) at flight height of 130m, with a Phantom 4 pro(FC 6310) at flight height of 90m, respectively. Spatial resolution was measured on orthoimages produced from this data. Results show that the resolution measured on the Siemens star and bar target was accurately degraded in proportion to the flight height regardless of the cameras. In the words, the spatial resolution of images taken at the same altitude of 130m with the eBee(Canon IXUS) and the GD-800(SONY NEX-5N) equipped with different cameras was the same as 4.1cm, and that of the eBee(Canon IXUS) at 260m was 8.0cm. In addition, the resolution measured on the Siemens star was about 1~2cm lower than that of the bar target at every flight height. The general tendency was also found to be proportional to the flight height in the measurement of the ${\sigma}_{MTF}$ from MTF, which simultaneously represents the resolution and contrast information of the image. However, at the same altitude of 130m, the ${\sigma}_{MTF}$ of the GD-800(SONY NEX-5N) is 0.36 and the eBee(Canon IXUS) is 0.59, which shows that the GD-800(SONY NEX-5N) has better camera performance. It is expected that study results will contribute to the analysis of spatial resolution of UAV images and to improve the reliability of quality.