• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 2023

The main goal of the Korean VLBI Network Calibrator Survey (KVNCS) is to expand the VLBI calibrators catalog for KVN, KaVA (KVN and VERA Array), EAVN (East-Asian VLBI Network), and other extended regions. The second KVNCS (KVNCS2) aimed to detect VLBI fringes of new candidates for calibrators in the K band. Out of the 1533 sources whose single-dish flux density in the K band was measured with KVN telescopes (Lee et al. 2017), 556 sources were observed with KVN in the K band. KVNCS2 confirmed the detection of VLBI fringes of 424 calibrator candidates over a single baseline. All detected sources had a high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of >25. Finally, KVNCS2 confirmed 347 new candidates as VLBI calibrators in the K band, resulting in a 5% increase in the sky coverage compared to previous studies. The spatial distribution was quasi-uniform across the observable region (Dec. > -32.5°). In addition, the possibility as calibrator candidates for the detected sources was checked, using an analysis of the flux-flux relationship. Ultimately, the KVNCS catalog will not only become the VLBI calibrator list but is also useful as a database of compact radio sources for astronomical studies.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.137-147
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• 2023

Shoushili was the official calendrical method promulgated in 1280 CE by the Yuan dynasty. It contains a list of the angular spans in right ascensions for the 28 lunar lodges. They are known to have been measured by Guo Shoujing with his advanced instruments with an unprecedented precision or reading error of 5'. Such precise data are useful to determine their observational epoch with an error range which is narrow enough to pinpoint on which historical occasion they were observed. Using the precise SIMBAD data based on eDR3 of GAIA and carefully identified determinative stars and considering the precession of equinoxes and proper motions, we apply linear regression methods to those data and obtain the observational epoch of 1271 ± 16 CE and the measurement error of 4.1'. We also have polar distances corresponding to declinations written in another manuscript of the Ming dynasty. Since the two data sets have similar significant digits, they were suggested to have the same origin. However, we obtain their observational epoch of 1364±5 CE and the measurement error of 5.7'. They must have been measured with different instruments and on a different occasion from the observations related to Shoushili. We review the history of the calendrical reform during the 13th century in the Yuan dynasty. We conclude that the observational epoch obtained from lodge spans in Shoushili agrees with the period of observations led by Guo Shoujing or 1276-1279 CE, which is also supported by the fact that the ecliptic lodge span values listed in Shoushili were calculated from the equatorial lodge spans.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.93-107
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• 2016

Augmenting the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) microlensing campaigns with intensive observations from a ground-based network of wide-field survey telescopes would have several major advantages. First, it would enable full two-dimensional (2-D) vector microlens parallax measurements for a substantial fraction of low-mass lenses as well as planetary and binary events that show caustic crossing features. For a significant fraction of the free-floating planet (FFP) events and all caustic-crossing planetary/binary events, these 2-D parallax measurements directly lead to complete solutions (mass, distance, transverse velocity) of the lens object (or lens system). For even more events, the complementary ground-based observations will yield 1-D parallax measurements. Together with the 1-D parallaxes from WFIRST alone, they can probe the entire mass range M ≳ M_⊕. For luminous lenses, such 1-D parallax measurements can be promoted to complete solutions (mass, distance, transverse velocity) by high-resolution imaging. This would provide crucial information not only about the hosts of planets and other lenses, but also enable a much more precise Galactic model. Other benefits of such a survey include improved understanding of binaries (particularly with low mass primaries), and sensitivity to distant ice-giant and gas-giant companions of WFIRST lenses that cannot be detected by WFIRST itself due to its restricted observing windows. Existing ground-based microlensing surveys can be employed if WFIRST is pointed at lower-extinction fields than is currently envisaged. This would come at some cost to the event rate. Therefore the benefits of improved characterization of lenses must be weighed against these costs.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.48.3-49
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• 2016

We have five different types of observation modes with regard to the Deep Ecliptic Patrol of the Southern Sky (DEEP-South); Opposition Census (OC) for targeted photometry, Sweet Spot Survey (S1) for discovery and orbit characterization of Atens and Atiras, Ecliptic Survey (S2) for asteroid family studies and comet census, NEOWISE follow-up (NW) for near simultaneous albedo measurements in the visible bands, and Target of Opportunity (TO) observation for follow-up either for unpredictable events or targets of special interests. Different exposures with such different modes result in a wide range of background noise level, the number of background stars and the mover's projected speed in each image. The Moving Object Detection Program (MODP) utilizes multiple mosaic images being taken for the same target fields at different epochs at the three KMTNet sites. MODP employs existing software packages such as SExtractor (Source-Extractor) and SCAMP (Software for Calibrating Astrometry and Photometry); SExtractor generates object catalogs, while SCAMP conducts precision astrometric calibration, then MODP determines if a point source is moving. This package creates animated stamp images for visual inspection with MPC reports, the latter for checking whether an object is known or unknown. We evaluate the astrometric accuracy and efficiency of MODP using the year one dataset obtained from DEEP-South operations.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.48.2-48.2
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• 2016

The wide-field and the round-the clock operation capabilities of the KMTNet enables the discovery, astrometry and follow-up physical characterization of asteroids and comets in a most efficient way. We collectively refer to the team members, partner organizations, the dedicated software subsystem, the computing facility and research activities as Deep Ecliptic Patrol of the Southern Sky (DEEP-South). Most of the telescope time for DEEP-South is devoted to targeted photometry of Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) to push up the number of the population with known physical properties from several percent to several dozens of percent, in the long run. We primarily adopt Johnson R-band for lightcurve study, while we employ BVI filters for taxonomic classification and detection of any possible color variations of an object at the same time. In this presentation, the progress and new findings since the last KAS meeting will be outlined. We report DEEP-South preliminary lightcurves of several dozens of NEAs obtained at three KMTNet stations during the first year runs. We also present a physical model of asteroid (5247) Krylov, the very first Non principal Axis (NPA) rotator that has been confirmed in the main belt (MB). A new asteroid taxonomic classification scheme will be introduced with an emphasis on its utility in the LSST era. The progress on the current version of automated mover detection software will also be summarized.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.20 no.1 s.24
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• pp.55-62
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• 2005

The First Generation Digitized Sky Survey (DSS-I) is a collection of digitized photographic atlases of the night sky taken from the Palomar Observatory (northen sky) and the Anglo-Australian Observatory (southern sky). DSS-I is widely used by the astronomical community for a number of applications including object cross-identification and astrometry. However, accessing and retrieving the actual images are nontrivial owing to the huge size (> 60 GB) of the dataset. To facilitate retrieval process of DSS-I data for the public, Korean Astronomical Data Center (KADC) developed a web application that provides not only data retrieval but also visualization functions. The web application consists of several modules developed using Java Applet, Jave Servlet, and JaveServer Pages (JSP) technologies. It allows users to retrieve images efficiently in various formats such as FITS, JPEG, GIF, and TIFF, and also offers an interactive visulization tool, ImgViewer, for displaying/analyzing FITS images. To use the web application, users require a Java-enabled web browser.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.122.2-122.2
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• 2011

For more than a decade, NEA (Near-Earth Asteroid) survey teams equipped with 1 meter-class telescopes discovered thousands of NEAs in the northern sky. As of August 2011, some 8,200 NEAs have been cataloged, yet only five percent of them has been investigated for their physical and chemical properties. In order to improve current situation, we propose a deep ecliptic survey utilizing KMTNet, for detection and characterization of NEAs in the southern sky. Thanks to the wide-field capability (four square degrees) of the telescopes, we will be able to considerably expand the search volume carrying out precision photometry down to 21.5th magnitude. We plan to focus our survey on opposition and two "sweet spots" in the ecliptic belt. Since SDSS colors characterize mineralogical properties of NEAs, g', r', i', z' filters will be employed. Based on the round-the-clock observation, we will study their rotational properties; for multiple systems, mass, density and other physical parameters can be obtained. We plan to maintain a dedicated database of the physical and mineralogical properties of NEAs. With this archive, it is expected that our understanding on the population will see a drastic change. We also plan to participate in the GAIA Follow-Up Network for ground based observation of the Solar System Objects (GAIA-FUN-SSO). The follow- up astrometry will be performed upon alerts issued by the GAIA-FUN-SSO Central Node in France.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2020

We report a calendar sheet for the 31st year of the reign of King Gojong (1894) (hereafter, calendar sheet 1894) in Korea, which calendrical data in a single page. This calendar sheet 1894 is composed of 14 rows by 14 columns (about 190 cells), and various calendrical data are recorded such as the sexagenary circle of the first day in each month, 24 solar terms, full moon day. In this paper, we compare calendrical data of 1894 calendar sheet with those of the almanac based on the Shixian calendar (hereafter, annual almanac) of the same year. Our findings are as follows. First, we find that the year is expressed using the reign-year of the king of the Joseon dynasty differently from using the reign-style of China in the annual almanac those times. Other calendar days of this calendar sheet are the same as those of the annual almanac in term of lunar dates, 24 solar terms, sexagenary days and so forth. Second, we find that the calendar sheet 1894 contains memorial days for 64 lineally ancestors of the Joseon royal family. These royal memorial days appears in the annual almanac two years later (i.e., 1896). Third, as the most distinctive feature, we find that the symbol of 工 kept every two cells. It was found that the cells can be filled with three days as the maximum number of days and then are labelled the same symbol 工 every second cell. This feature allows us to get the first year in which this kind of calendar sheet was published. It is conjectured one of 11 years, such as 1845, 1846, 1847, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879 or 1880. We also think that the format of the calendar sheet 1894 has influenced on the Daehan-Minryeok (Korean civil calendar sheet) of 1920.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.75.4-76
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• 2016

DEEP-South (Deep Ecliptic patrol of the Southern sky) is one of the secondary science projects of KMTNet (Korea Microlensing Telescope Network). The objective of this project is twofold, the physical characterization and the discovery of small Solar System bodies, focused on NEOs (Near Earth objects). In order to achieve the goals, we are implementing a software package to detect and report moving objects in the $18k{\times}18k$ mosaic CCD images of KMTNet. In this paper, we present preliminary results of the moving object detection experiments using the prototype MODP (Moving Object Detection Program). We utilize multiple images that are being taken at three KMTNet sites, towards the same target fields (TFs) obtained at different epochs. This prototype package employs existing softwares such as SExtractor (Source-Extracto) and SCAMP (Software for Calibrating Astrometry and Photometry); SExtractor generates catalogs, while SCAMP conducts precision astrometric calibration, then MODP determines if a point source is moving. We evaluated the astrometric accuracy and efficiency of the current version of MODP. The plan for upgrading MODP will also be mentioned.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.54.3-55
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• 2016

DEEP-South Scheduling and Data reduction System (DS SDS) consists of two separate software subsystems: Headquarters (HQ) at Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), and SDS Data Reduction (DR) at Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI). HQ runs the DS Scheduling System (DSS), DS database (DB), and Control and Monitoring (C&M) designed to monitor and manage overall SDS actions. DR hosts the Moving Object Detection Program (MODP), Asteroid Spin Analysis Package (ASAP) and Data Reduction Control & Monitor (DRCM). MODP and ASAP conduct data analysis while DRCM checks if they are working properly. The functions of SDS is three-fold: (1) DSS plans schedules for three KMTNet stations, (2) DR performs data analysis, and (3) C&M checks whether DSS and DR function properly. DSS prepares a list of targets, aids users in deciding observation priority, calculates exposure time, schedules nightly runs, and archives data using Database Management System (DBMS). MODP is designed to discover moving objects on CCD images, while ASAP performs photometry and reconstructs their lightcurves. Based on ASAP lightcurve analysis and/or MODP astrometry, DSS schedules follow-up runs to be conducted with a part of, or three KMTNet telescopes.