• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.235-253
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• 2014

Intensity interferometry, based on the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect, is a simple and inexpensive method for optical interferometry at microarcsecond angular resolutions; its use in astronomy was abandoned in the 1970s because of low sensitivity. Motivated by recent technical developments, we argue that the sensitivity of large modern intensity interferometers can be improved by factors up to approximately 25 000, corresponding to 11 photometric magnitudes, compared to the pioneering Narrabri Stellar Interferometer. This is made possible by (i) using avalanche photodiodes (APD) as light detectors, (ii) distributing the light received from the source over multiple independent spectral channels, and (iii) use of arrays composed of multiple large light collectors. Our approach permits the construction of large (with baselines ranging from few kilometers to intercontinental distances) optical interferometers at the cost of (very) long-baseline radio interferometers. Realistic intensity interferometer designs are able to achieve limiting R-band magnitudes as good as $m_R{\approx}14$, sufficient for spatially resolved observations of main-sequence O-type stars in the Magellanic Clouds. Multi-channel intensity interferometers can address a wide variety of science cases: (i) linear radii, effective temperatures, and luminosities of stars, via direct measurements of stellar angular sizes; (ii) mass-radius relationships of compact stellar remnants, via direct measurements of the angular sizes of white dwarfs; (iii) stellar rotation, via observations of rotation flattening and surface gravity darkening; (iv) stellar convection and the interaction of stellar photospheres and magnetic fields, via observations of dark and bright starspots; (v) the structure and evolution of multiple stars, via mapping of the companion stars and of accretion flows in interacting binaries; (vi) direct measurements of interstellar distances, derived from angular diameters of stars or via the interferometric Baade-Wesselink method; (vii) the physics of gas accretion onto supermassive black holes, via resolved observations of the central engines of luminous active galactic nuclei; and (viii) calibration of amplitude interferometers by providing a sample of calibrator stars.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.82.2-82.2
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• 2015

In this talk, we introduce the Lee Sang Gak Telescope (LSGT), a 0.43m telescope that can be operated remotely. This telescope was installed at the Siding Spring Observatory in 2015 October, and since then, it has been operated through a robotic reservation system, remotely from Korea. This telescope is now being used for educational and research activities of SNU Astronomy program. By placing the telescope at a place with an excellent astro-climate in Australia, the observation class activity can include objects in the southern hemisphere to the magnitude limit of V=20 mag at an exposure time of a few minutes. For example, Cepheid stars in Magellanic clouds can be observed during a class activity for constructing the classical Cepheid light curves that has been a key distance measure technique. Research activities such as transient observation and monitoring observation of AGN are possible, and we are currently running a high cadence supernovae search program by monitoring nearby galaxies intensively (see a presentation by C. Choi). The installation of the telescope was made possible from a support from the Seoul.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.111-118
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• 1996

We review observational evidence bearing on the formation of a prototypical large spiral galaxy, the Milky Way. New ground- and space-based studies of globular star clusters and dwarf spheroidal galaxies provide a wealth of information to constrain theories of galaxy formation. It appears likely that the Milky Way formed by an combination of rapid, dissipative collapse and mergers, but the relative contributions of these two mechanisms remain controversial. New evidence, however, indicates that initial star and star cluster formation occurred simultaneously over a volume that presently extends to twice the distance of the Magellanic Clouds.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2006

We report the photometric properties in BVR bands for the resolved bright supergiant stars in the dwarf galaxy Holmberg II. The color-magnitude diagrams and color-color diagram of 374 resolved stars indicate that the majority of the member stars are supergiant stars with a wide range of spectral type between B-K. A comparison with theoretical evolutionary tracks indicates that the supergiant stars in the observed field have progenitor masses between ${\sim}10M_{\bigodot}\;and\;20M_{\bigodot}$. The exponent of luminosity function in V is in good agreement with those of the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.87.2-87.2
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• 2011

We report our 110 ks Chandra observations of the supernova remnant (SNR) 0104-72.3 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The X-ray morphology shows two prominent lobes along the northwest-southeast direction and a soft faint arc in the east. Previous low resolution X-ray images attributed the unresolved emission from the southeastern lobe to a Be/X-ray star. Our high resolution Chandra data clearly shows that this emission is diffuse, shock-heated plasma, with negligible X-ray emission from the Be star. The eastern arc is positionally coincident with a filament seen in optical and infrared observations. Its X-ray spectrum is well fit by plasma of normal SMC abundances, suggesting that it is from shocked ambient gas. The X-ray spectra of the lobes show overabundant Fe, which is interpreted as emission from the reverse-shocked Fe-rich ejecta. The overall spectral characteristics of the lobes and the arc are similar to those of Type Ia SNRs, and we propose that SNR 0104-72.3 is the first case for a robust candidate Type Ia SNR in the SMC. On the other hand, the remnant appears to be interacting with dense clouds toward the east and to be associated with a nearby star-forming region. These features are unusual for a standard Type Ia SNR. Our results suggest an intriguing possibility that the progenitor of SNR 0104-72.3 might have been a white dwarf of a relatively young population.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.39.1-39.1
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• 2021

The Local Volume Mapper(LVM) project in the fifth iteration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-V) will produce large integral-field spectroscopic survey data to understand the physical conditions of the interstellar medium in the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and other local-volume galaxies. We are developing the LVM Instrument control software. The architecture design of the software follows a hierarchical structure in which the high-level software packages interact with the low-level and mid-level software and hardware components. We adopt the spiral software development model in which the software evolves by iteration of sequential processes, i.e., software requirement analysis, design, code generation, and testing. This spiral model ensures that even after being commissioned, the software can be revised according to new operational requirements. We designed the software by using the Unified Modeling Language, which can visualize functional interactions in structure diagrams. We plan to use the SDSS software framework CLU for the interaction between components, based on the RabbitMQ that implemented the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP).