• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.139-148
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• 2022

We explore the latitudinal distribution of sunspots and pursue to establish a correlation between the statistical parameters of the latitudinal distribution of sunspots and characteristics of solar activity. For this purpose, we have statistically analyzed the daily sunspot areas and latitudes observed from May in 1874 to September in 2016. As results, we confirm that the maximum of the monthly averaged International Sunspot Number (ISN) strongly correlates with the mean number of sunspots per day, while the maximum ISN strongly anti-correlates with the number of spotless days. We find that both the maximum ISN and the mean number of sunspots per day strongly correlate with the the average latitude, the standard deviation, the skewness of the the latitudinal distribution of sunspots, while they appears to marginally correlate with the kurtosis. It is also found that the northern and southern hemispheres seem to show a correlated behavior in a different way when sunspots appearing in the northern and southern hemispheres are examined separately.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.325-331
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• 2015

We study an association between the duration of solar activity and characteristics of the latitude distribution of sunspots by means of center-of-latitude (COL) of sunspots observed during the period from 1878 to 2008 spanning solar cycles 12 to 23. We first calculate COL by taking the area-weighted mean latitude of sunspots for each calendar month to determine the latitudinal distribution of COL of sunspots appearing in the long and short cycles separately. The data set for the long solar cycles consists of the solar cycles 12, 13, 14, 20, and 23. The short solar cycles include the solar cycles 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, and 22. We then fit a double Gaussian function to compare properties of the latitudinal distribution resulting from the two data sets. Our main findings are as follows: (1) The main component of the double Gaussian function does not show any significant change in the central position and in the full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM), except in the amplitude. They are all centered at ~ 11° with FWHM of ~ 5°. (2) The secondary component of the double Gaussian function at higher latitudes seems to differ in that even though their width remains fixed at ~ 4°, their central position peaks at ~ 22.1° for the short cycles and at ~ 20.7° for the long cycles with quite small errors. (3) No significant correlation could be established between the duration of an individual cycle and the parameters of the double Gaussian. Finally, we conclude by briefly discussing the implications of these findings on the issue of the cycle 4 concerning a lost cycle.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.55-66
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• 2018

The solar magnetic field plays a central role in the field of solar research, both theoretically and practically. Sunspots are an important observational constraint since they are considered a discernable tracer of emerged magnetic flux tubes, providing the longest running records of solar magnetic activity. In this presentation, we first review the statistical properties of the latitudinal distribution of sunspots and discuss their implications. The phase difference between paired wings of the butterfly diagram has been revealed. Sunspots seem to emerge with the exponential distribution on top of slowly varying trends by periods of ~11 years, which is considered multiplicative rather than additive. We also present a concept for the center-of-latitude (COL) and its use. With this, one may sort out a traditional butterfly diagram and find new features. It is found that the centroid of the COL does not migrate monotonically toward the equator, appearing to form an 'active latitude'. Furthermore, distributions of the COL as a function of latitude depend on solar activity and the solar North-South asymmetry. We believe that these findings serve as crucial diagnostic tools for any potential model of the solar dynamo. Finally, we find that as the Sun modulates the amount of observed galactic cosmic ray influx, the solar North-South asymmetry seems to contribute to the relationship between the solar variability and terrestrial climate change.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2011

Characteristics of latitude variations of sunspots in the northern and southern hemispheres are investigated using the daily sunspot area and its latitude during the period from 1874 to 2009. Solar magnetic activity is portrayed in the form of sunspot, regions of concentrated fresh magnetic fields observed on the surface of the Sun. By defining center-of-latitude (COL) as an area-weighted latitude, we find that COL is not monotonically decreasing as commonly assumed. In fact, small humps (or short plateaus) between solar minima can be seen around every solar maxima. We also find that when the northern (southern) hemisphere is magnetically dominant, COL is positive (negative), except the solar cycle 23, which may give a hint that these two phenomena are consistently regulated by one single mechanism. As a result of periodicity analysis, we find that several significant periodicities, such as, of ~5.5, ~11, ~49, and ~167 years.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 2011

The latitudinal variation of sunspots appearing during the period from 1874 to 2009 has been studied in terms of centerof-latitude (COL). The butterfly diagram has been used to study the evolution of the magnetic field and the dynamics at the bottom of the solar convection zone. Short-term periodicities have been of particular interest, in that they are somehow related to the structure and dynamics of the solar interior. We thus have focused our investigation on shortterm periodicities. We first calculated COL by averaging the latitude of sunspots with the weight function in area. Then, we analyzed the time series of COL using the wavelet transform technique. We found that a periodicity of ~5 years is the most dominant feature in the time series of COL, with the exception of the ~11 year solar cycle itself. This periodicity can be easily understood by considering small humps between the minima in the area-weighted butterfly diagram. However, we find that periodicities of ~1.3 (0.064), ~1.5 (0.056), or ~1.8 (0.046) years ($\frac{1}{month}$), month ), which have been previously suggested as evidence of links between the changing structure of the sunspot zone and the tachocline rotation rate oscillations, are insignificant and inconsistent. We therefore conclude that the only existing short-term periodicity is of ~5 years, and that periodicities of ~1.3, ~1.5, or ~1.8 years are likely to be artifacts due to random noise of small sunspots.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.103-113
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• 2012

The ButterStar Observatory at the Dongducheon High School has been working for photographic observations of the Sun since October 16, 2002. In this study, we observed the Sun at the ButterStar observatory for 3,364 days from October 16, 2002 to December 31, 2011, and analyzed the photographic sunspot data obtained in 1,965 days. The correction factor $K_b$ for the entire observing period is 0.9519, which is calculated using the linear least square method to the relationship between the daily sunspot number, $R_B$, and the daily international relative sunspot number, $R_i$. The yearly correction factor calculated for each year varies slightly from year to year and shows a trend to change along the solar cycle. The correction factor is larger during the solar maxima and smaller during the solar minima in general. This implies that the discrepancy between a relative sunspot number, R, and the daily international relative sunspot number, $R_i$, can be reduced by using a yearly correction factor. From 2002 to 2008 in solar cycle 23, 35.4% and 64.6% of sunspot groups and 35.1% and 64.9% of isolated sunspots in average occurred in the northern hemisphere and in the southern hemisphere, respectively, and from 2008 to 2011 in solar cycle 24, 61.3% and 38.7% of sunspot groups and 65.0% and 35.0% of isolated sunspots were observed, respectively. This result shows that the occurrence frequency for each type of sunspot group changes along the solar cycle development, which can be interpreted as the emerging and decaying process of sunspot groups is different depending on the phase of solar cycle. Therefore, it is considered that a following study would contribute to the efforts to understand the dependence of the dynamo mechanism on the phase of solar cycle.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.128.2-128.2
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• 2012

Spectro-polarimetry is the most powerful technique for deducing the magnetic structure of the Sun. Stokes vector allow us to infer the physical conditions in the solar atmosphere prevailing during the line formation. Inversion codes are the main tool to extract this information from the Stokes spectra. This study will focus on measurements of the chromospheric He I 1083.0 nm triplet and the photospheric Si I 1082.7 nm line. A spectropolarimetric data set of sunspots, obtained with the German Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT) at the Teide observatory on Tenerife, is analyzed using an inversion technique. We will introduce the German Vacuum Tower Telescope and the inversion code HeLix, and will show data sets that are analyzed by HeLix. Finally I made variety plots and maps for understanding photospheric and chromospheric layers of sunspots.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.95.2-95.2
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• 2011

The most powerful technique for deducing the magnetic structure of the Sun is spectro-polarimetry. Detailed measurements of the polarization signal of the spectral lines (Stokes vector) allow us to infer the physical conditions in the solar atmosphere prevailing during the line formation. Inversion codes are the main tool to extract this information from the Stokes spectra. This study will focus on measurements of the chromospheric He I 1083.0 nm triplet and the photospheric Si I 1082.7 nm line. A spectropolarimetric data set of sunspots, obtained with the German Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT) at the Teide observatory on Tenerife, is analyzed using an inversion technique. We will introduce the German Vacuum Tower Telescope and the inversion code HeLix, and will show data sets that are analyzed by HeLix.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.spc1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2003

We have studied the magnetic helicity of active regions by using the data from (1) the photo-electric magnetograph of the Okayama Observatory (1983-1995) and (2) the video magnetograph of NAOJ/Mitaka (1992-2000). The latitude distribution of helicity showed a tendency that the regions in the north (south) hemisphere have negative (positive) helicities, respectively, which is already known as the hemispheric sign rule. If we look into the sign of helicity as a function of time, the sign rule was less definite or was reversed sometimes in the sunspot minimum phase. We also studied the relation between the magnetic helicity and the sunspot tilt angles, and found that these two quantities are positively correlated, which is opposite to the expectation of a theoretical model. The implications of this cycle-phase dependence of helicity signs and the correlation between magnetic he Ii city and sunspot tilt angles are discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.187-194
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• 2023

The remote sensing technique of measuring the magnetic field was applied first to sunspots by Hale (1908). Later Babcock (1961) showed that the solar surface magnetic field on a global scale is a dipole in first-order approximation and that this dipole field reverses once every solar cycle. The Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO) supplies the spherical harmonics coefficients of the solar corona magnetic field of each Carrington Rotation, calculated based on the remotely-sensed photospheric magnetic field of the solar surface. To infer the internal current system producing the global solar coronal magnetic field structure and evolution of the Sun, we calculate the multipole components of the solar magnetic field using the WSO data from 1976 to 2019. The prominent cycle components over the last 4 solar activity cycles are axis-symmetric fields of the dipole and octupole. This implies that the current inversion driving the solar magnetic field reversal originates from the equatorial region and spreads to the whole globe. Thus, a more accurate solar dynamo model must include an explanation of the origin and evolution of such solar internal current dynamics.