• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.79-95
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• 2021

This study aims to develop a restoration model of an armillary sphere of Tongcheon-ui (Pan-celestial Armillary Sphere) by referring to the records of Damheonseo (Hong Dae-Yong Anthology) and the artifact of an armillary sphere in the Korean Christian Museum of Soongsil University. Between 1760 and 1762, Hong, Dae-Yong (1731-1783) built Tongcheon-ui, with Na, Kyung-Jeok (1690-1762) designing the basic structure and Ann, Cheo-In (1710-1787) completing the assembly. The model in this study is a spherical body with a diameter of 510 mm. Tongcheon-ui operates the armillary sphere by transmitting the rotational power from the lantern clock. The armillary sphere is constructed in the fashion of a two-layer sphere: the outer one is Yukhab-ui that is fixed; and the inner one, Samsin-ui, is rotated around the polar axis. In the equatorial ring possessed by Samsin-ui, an ecliptic ring and a lunar-path ring are successively fixed and are tilted by 23.5° and 28.5° over the equatorial ring, respectively. A solar miniature attached to a 365-toothed inner gear on the ecliptic ring reproduces the annual motion of the Sun. A lunar miniature installed on a 114-toothed inner gear of the lunar-path ring can also replay the moon's orbital motion and phase change. By the set of 'a ratchet gear, a shaft and a spur gear' installed in the solstice-colure double-ring, the inner gears in the ecliptic ring and lunar-path ring can be rotated in the opposite direction to the rotation of Samsin-ui and then the solar and lunar miniatures can simulate their revolution over the period of a year and a month, respectively. In order to indicate the change of the moon phases, 27 pins were arranged in a uniform circle around the lunar-path ring, and the 29-toothed wheel is fixed under the solar miniature. At the center of the armillary sphere, an earth plate representing a world map is fixed horizontally. Tongcheon-ui is the armillary sphere clock developed by Confucian scholars in the late Joseon Dynasty, and the technical level at which astronomical clocks could be produced at the time is of a high standard.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2017

This study examines the scale unique instruments used for astronomical observation during the Joseon dynasty. The Small Simplified Armillary Sphere (小簡儀, So-ganui) and the Sun-and-Stars Time-Determining Instrument (日星定時儀, Ilseong-jeongsi-ui) are minimized astronomical instruments, which can be characterized, respectively, as an observational instrument and a clock, and were influenced by the Simplified Armilla (簡儀, Jianyi) of the Yuan dynasty. These two instruments were equipped with several rings, and the rings of one were similar both in size and in scale to those of the other. Using the classic method of drawing the scale on the circumference of a ring, we analyze the scales of the Small Simplified Armillary Sphere and the Sun-and-Stars Time-Determining Instrument. Like the scale feature of the Simplified Armilla, we find that these two instruments selected the specific circumference which can be drawn by two kinds of scales. If Joseon's astronomical instruments is applied by the dual scale drawing on one circumference, we suggest that 3.14 was used as the ratio of the circumference of circle, not 3 like China, when the ring's size was calculated in that time. From the size of Hundred-interval disk of the extant Simplified Sundial in Korea, we make a conclusion that the three rings' diameter of the Sun-and-Stars Time-Determining Instrument described in the Sejiong Sillok (世宗實錄, Veritable Records of the King Sejong) refers to that of the middle circle of every ring, not the outer circle. As analyzing the degree of 28 lunar lodges (lunar mansions) in the equator written by Chiljeongsan-naepyeon (七政算內篇, the Inner Volume of Calculation of the Motions of the Seven Celestial Determinants), we also obtain the result that the scale of the Celestial-circumference-degree in the Small Simplified Armillary Sphere was made with a scale error about 0.1 du in root mean square (RMS).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.40.1-40.1
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• 2018

외계행성 탐색시스템 18k 모자이크 CCD 카메라는 4개의 9k CCD로 구성되며 총 32개 채널의 영상영역과 리드아웃 회로를 가진다. 관측 영상에는 각 영상영역에 대한 오버스캔(overscan) 영역이 포함되는데, 영상 신호에 의한 오버스캔 영역의 바이어스(bias) 교란을 최소화하기 위해 리드아웃 회로의 인버팅 앰프에 대한 Common Mode Rejection Ratio(CMRR)를 미세 조정하였다. 그 결과 세 사이트의 평균 CMRR이 55 dB에서 73 dB로 향상되었고, 기존에는 영상 신호에 따른 오버스캔 바이어스 레벨의 선형적 관계가 약 2/1,000의 기울기를 가졌으나 조정 후에는 약 2/10,000로 바이어스 오차가 줄어들었다. CCD 리드아웃 회로의 미세조정과 클락(clock) 개선을 통해 물결무늬 잡음 제거 및 읽기 잡음 감소가 이루어졌으며, 향후의 추가적인 바이어스 안정화와 크로스톡 개선 방안이 검토되고 있다. 카메라 전자부 조정 과정 및 결과와 더불어, 카메라 듀어와 부대장비 유지보수, Polycold CryoTiger 냉각기 운영 및 개선 관련 노하우도 함께 발표한다.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.61.3-62
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• 2016

An asteroid family is a group of asteroidal objects in the proper orbital element space (a, e, and i), considered to have been produced by a disruption of a large parent body through a catastrophic collision. Family members usually have similar surface properties such as spectral taxonomy types, colors, and visible geometric albedo with a same dynamical age. Therefore an asteroid family could be called as a natural Solar System laboratory and is also regarded as a powerful tool to investigate space weathering and non-gravitational phenomena such as the Yarkovsky/YORP effects. We carry out time series photometric observations for a number of asteroid families to obtain their physical properties, including sizes, shapes, rotational periods, spin axes, colors, and H-G parameters based on nearly round-the-clock observations, using several 0.5-2 meter class telescopes in the Northern hemisphere, including BOAO 1.8 m, LOAO 1.0 m, SOAO 0.6 m facilities in KASI, McDonald Observatory 2.1 m instrument, NARIT 2.4 m and TUG 1.0 m telescopes. This study is expected to find, for the first time, some important clues on the collisional history in our Solar System and the mechanisms where the family members are being transported from the resonance regions in the Main-belt to the near Earth space.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.207-213
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• 2022

The Seoul Radio Astronomy Observatory (SRAO) operates a 6.1-meter radio telescope on the Gwanak campus of Seoul National University. We present the efforts to reform SRAO to a Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) station, motivated by recent achievements by millimeter interferometer networks such as Event Horizon Telescope, East Asia VLBI Network, and Korean VLBI Network (KVN). For this goal, we installed a receiver that had been used in the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy and a digital backend, including an H-maser clock. The existing hardware and software were also revised, which had been dedicated only to single-dish operations. After several years of preparations and test observations in 1 and 3-millimeter bands, a fringe was successfully detected toward 3C 84 in 86 GHz in June 2022 for a baseline between SRAO and KVN Ulsan station separated by 300 km. Thanks to the dual frequency operation of the receiver, the VLBI observations will soon be extended to the 1 mm band and verify the frequency phase referencing technique between 1 and 3-millimeter bands.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.53.2-53.2
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• 2021

2030년경에는 현재 '초(second)'를 정의하는 세슘 원자의 마이크로파 주파수를 이용한 원자시계 보다 훨씬 더 정밀한 광주파수시계(이하 광시계)를 이용한 초의 재정의를 앞두고 있다. 전 세계 각국에서 개발된 광주파수 시계의 동등성 확보를 위해서는 10^-17 이상의 정밀도로 시각/주파수를 대륙 간에 비교할 수 있는 기술 개발이 필수적이다. 현재의 대륙 간 시각 비교에 사용되는 위성을 이용한 시각/주파수 비교 방식은 10^-16 수준의 정밀도가 한계이나, 한국천문연구원과 국토지리정보원이 보유한 전파망원경을 이용하여, 10^-17 수준 또는 이보다 나은 광시계 비교가 가능할 것으로 기대되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 천문연과 세종의 전파망원경을 이용하여 세계 최초로 22 GHz 대역에서 광섬유로 전송된 원자시계 신호를 이용한 VLBI 관측에 성공하였다. 이를 통해 고정밀 원자시계 비교 능력을 검증함으로써, 향후 초의 재정의에 가장 큰 당면 과제인 대륙간 고정밀 광시계 비교 연구의 실질적인 기반을 마련하였다. 이후 한-이태리 VLBI 관측을 통하여 표준과학연구원과 이탈리아 INRIM에서 개발한 두 광시계의 동등성 비교를 진행할 계획이다.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-26
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• 1996

We have built a near-infrared imaging camera with a PtSi array detector manufactured by the Mitsubishi Company. The PtSi detector is sensitive in the wavelength range 1 to $5{\mu}m$. Quantum efficiency of PtSi is much lower than that of InSb and HgCdTe types. However, the PtSi array has advantages over the latter ones: (i)The read-out noise is very low; (ii)the characteristics of the array elements arc uniform and stable; (iii)it is not difficult to make a large PtSi array; and (iv) consequently the price is affordably low. The array used consists of $512{\times}512$ pixels and its size is $10.2\;mm{\times}13.3\;mm$. The filter wheel of the camera is equipped with J, H, K filters, and an aluminum plate for measuring the dark noise. The dewar is cooled with liquid nitrogen. We have adopted a method of installing the clock pattern and the observing softwares in the RAM, which Gill he easily used for other systems. We have developed a software with a pull-down menu for operating the camera and data acquisition. The camera has been tested by observing $\delta$ Orionis.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.31-40
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• 2019

We study the internal structure under the artificial mountain of Heumkyeonggak-nu, a Korean water-powered clock in the early Joseon dynasty. All the puppets on the artificial mountain are driven by the rotational force generated by the water wheel at their designated time. We design a model that work with three parts of the artificial mountain. At the upper part of the artificial mountain to the east, west, north and south, there are four puppets called the Four Mystical Animal Divinity and four ladies called the Jade Lady respectively. The former rotates a quarter every double hour and the latter rings the bell every hour. In the middle part of this mountain is the timekeeping platform with four puppets; the Timekeeping Official (Hour Jack), the Bell-, Drum-, and Gong-Warriors. The Hour Jack controls time with three warriors each hitting his own bell, drum, and gong, respectively. In the plain there are 12 Jade Lady puppets (the lower ladies) combined with 12 Oriental Animal Deity puppets. In his own time a lady doll pops out of the hole and her animal doll gets up. Two hours later, the animal deity lies down and his lady hides in the artificial plain. These puppets are regularly moved by the signal such as iron balls, bumps, levers, and so on. We can use balls and bumps to explain the concept of the Jujeon system. Iron balls were used to manipulate puppets of the timekeeping mechanism in Borugak-nu, another Korean water-powered clock in Joseon dynasty, which was developed earlier than Heumgyeonggak-nu. According to the North Korea's previous study (Choi, 1974), it is obvious that bumps were used in the internal structure of Heumgyeonggak-nu. In 1669, The armillary clock made by Song, I-young was also utilized bumps. Finally we presented mock-ups of three timekeeping systems.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.56.3-57
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• 2015

As of early 2015, more than 12,000 Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) have been catalogued by the Minor Planet Center, however their observational properties such as broadband colors and rotational periods are known only for a small fraction of the population. Thanks to time series observations with the KMTNet, orbits, optical sizes (and albedo), spin states and three dimensional shapes of asteroids and comets including NEOs will be systematically investigated and archived for the first time. Based on SDSS and BVRI colors, their approximate surface mineralogy will also be characterized. This so-called DEEP-South (Deep Ecliptic Patrol of the Southern Sky) project will provide a prompt solution to the demand from the scientific community to bridge the gaps in global sky coverage with a coordinated use of the network of ground-based telescopes in the southern hemisphere. We will soon finish implementing dedicated software subsystem consisted of automated observation scheduler and data pipeline for the sake of increased discovery rate, rapid follow-up, timely phase coverage, and efficient data analysis. We will give a brief introduction to test runs conducted at CTIO with the first KMTNet telescope in February and March 2015 and experimental data processing. Preliminary scientific results will also be presented.

• 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.