• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.23-36
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• 2022

We present a method to determine nitrogen abundance ratios with respect to iron ([N/Fe]) from molecular CN-band features observed in low-resolution (R ~ 2000) stellar spectra obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST). Various tests are carried out to check the systematic and random errors of our technique, and the impact of signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios of stellar spectra on the determined [N/Fe]. We find that the uncertainty of our derived [N/Fe] is less than 0.3 dex for S/N ratios larger than 10 in the ranges T_eff = [4000, 6000] K, log g = [0.0, 3.5], [Fe/H] = [-3.0, 0.0], [C/Fe] = [-1.0, +4.5], and [N/Fe] = [-1.0, +4.5], the parameter space that we are interested in to identify N-enhanced stars in the Galactic halo. A star-by-star comparison with a sample of stars with [N/Fe] estimates available from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) also suggests a similar level of uncertainty in our measured [N/Fe], after removing its systematic error. Based on these results, we conclude that our method is able to reproduce [N/Fe] from low-resolution spectroscopic data, with an uncertainty sufficiently small to discover N-rich stars that presumably originated from disrupted Galactic globular clusters.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.113-119
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• 2021

It is difficult for observers to conduct an optical alignment at an observatory without the assistance of an optical engineer if optomechanical parts are to be replaced at night. We present a practical tilt correction method to obtain the optimal optical alignment condition using the symmetricity of optical aberrations of a wide-field on-axis telescope at night. We conducted coarse tilt correction by visually examining the symmetry of two representative star shapes obtained at two guide chips facing each other, such as east-west or north-south pairs. After coarse correction, we observed four sets of small stamp images using four guide cameras located at each cardinal position by changing the focus positions in 10-㎛ increments and passing through the optimum focus position in the range of ±200 ㎛. The standard deviation of each image, as a function of the focus position, was fitted with a second-order polynomial function to derive the optimal focus position at each cardinal edge. We derived the tilt angles from the slopes converted by the distance and the focus position difference between two paired guide chip combinations such as east-west and north-south. We used this method to collimate the on-axis wide-field telescope KMTNet in Chile after replacing two old focus actuators. The total optical alignment time was less than 30 min. Our method is practical and straightforward for maintaining the optical performance of wide-field telescopes such as KMTNet.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.53.4-54
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• 2021

Although the era of very large telescopes has come, small telescopes still have advantages for fast follow-up and long-term monitoring observation. Intensive monitoring survey of nearby galaxies (IMSNG) aims to understand the nature of the supernovae (SNe) by catching the early light curve from them with the network of small telescopes from 0.4-m to 1.0-m all around the world. To achieve the scientific goals with heterogeneous facilities, three factors are important. First, automatic processes as soon as data is uploaded will increase efficiency and shorten the time. Second, searching for transients is necessary to deal with newly emerged transients for fast follow-up observation. Finally, the Integrated process for different telescopes gives a homogeneous output, which will eventually make connections with the database easy. Here, we introduce the integrated pipeline, 'gppy' based on Python, for more than 10 facilities having various configurations and its performance. Processes consist of image pre-process, photometry, image align, image combine, photometry, and transient search. In the connected database, homogeneous output is summarized and analyzed additionally to filter transient candidates with light curves. This talk will suggest the future work to improve the performance and usability on the other projects, gravitational wave electromagnetic wave counterpart in Korea Observatory (GECKO), and small telescope network of Korea (SOMANGNET).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.60.1-60.1
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• 2021

The Balloon-borne Investigation of Temperature and Speed of Electrons in the corona (BITSE) is a technology demonstration mission launched in 2019 to observe the solar corona from ~3 Rs to 15 Rs at four wavelengths (393.5, 405.0, 398.7, and 423.4 nm). Preliminary analysis shows that BITSE imaged the solar minimum corona with the equatorial streamers on the east and west limbs. The narrow streamers observed by BITSE are in good agreement with the geometric properties obtained by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) coronagraphs in the overlapping physical domain. In spite of the small signal-to-noise ratio we were able to obtain the temperature and flow speed of the western steamer. In the heliocentric distance range 4 - 7 Rs on the western streamer, we obtained a temperature of ~ 1.0 ± 0.3 MK and a flow speed of ~ 260 km s^-1 with a large uncertainty interval.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.75.2-76
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• 2021

MESSIER is a science satellite project to observe the Low Surface Brightness (LSB) sky at UV and optical wavelengths. The wide-field, optical system of MESSIER is optimized minimizing optical aberrations through the use of a Linear Astigmatism Free - Three Mirror System (LAF-TMS) combined with freeform mirrors. One of the key factors in observations of the LSB is the shape and spatial variability of the Point Spread Function (PSF) produced by scatterings and diffraction effects within the optical system and beyond (baffle). To assess the various factors affecting the PSF in this design, we use PhoSim, the Photon simulator, which is a fast photon Monte Carlo code designed to include all these effects, and also atmospheric effects (for ground-based telescopes) and phenomena occurring inside of the sensor. PhoSim provides very realistic simulations results and is suitable for simulations of very weak signals. Before the application to the MESSIER optics system, PhoSim had not been validated for confocal off-axis reflective optics (LAF-TMS). As a verification study for the LAF-TMS design, we apply Phosim sequentially. First, we use a single parabolic mirror system and compare the PSF results of the central field with the results from Zemax, CODE V, and the theoretical Airy pattern. We then test a confocal off-axis Cassegrain system and check PhoSim through cross-validation with CODE V. At the same time, we describe the shapes of the freeform mirrors with XY and Zernike polynomials. Finally, we will analyze the LAF-TMS design for the MESSIER optical system.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.60.2-60.2
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• 2021

In this study, we determinate the differential emission measure(DEM) of solar corona using three SDO/AIA EUV channel images and three AI-generated ones. To generate the AI-generated images, we apply a deep learning model based on multi-layer perceptrons by assuming that all pixels in solar EUV images are independent of one another. For the input data, we use three SDO/AIA EUV channels (171, 193, and 211). For the target data, we use other three SDO/AIA EUV channels (94, 131, and 335). We train the model using 358 pairs of SDO/AIA EUV images at every 00:00 UT in 2011. We use SDO/AIA pixels within 1.2 solar radii to consider not only the solar disk but also above the limb. We apply our model to several brightening patches and loops in SDO/AIA images for the determination of DEMs. Our main results from this study are as follows. First, our model successfully generates three solar EUV channel images using the other three channel images. Second, the noises in the AI-generated EUV channel images are greatly reduced compared to the original target ones. Third, the estimated DEMs using three SDO/AIA images and three AI-generated ones are similar to those using three SDO/AIA images and three stacked (50 frames) ones. These results imply that our deep learning model is able to analyze temperature response functions of SDO/AIA channel images, showing a sufficient possibility that AI-generated data can be used for multi-wavelength studies of various scientific fields. SDO: Solar Dynamics Observatory AIA: Atmospheric Imaging Assembly EUV: Extreme Ultra Violet DEM: Diffrential Emission Measure

• Wind and Structures
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.315-330
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• 2006

Flow and scalar dispersion around Cheomseongdae are numerically investigated using a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model with the renormalization group (RNG) $k-{\varepsilon}$ turbulence closure scheme. Cheomseongdae is an ancient astronomical observatory in Gyeongju, Korea, and is chosen as a model obstacle because of its unique shape, that is, a cylinder-shaped architectural structure with its radius varying with height. An interesting feature found is a mid-height saddle point behind Cheomseongdae. Different obstacle shapes and corresponding flow convergences help to explain the presence of the saddle point. The predicted size of recirculation zone formed behind Cheomseongdae increases with increasing ambient wind speed and decreases with increasing ambient turbulence intensity. The relative roles of inertial and eddy forces in producing cavity flow zones around an obstacle are conceptually presented. An increase in inertial force promotes flow separation. Consequently, cavity flow zones around the obstacle expand and flow reattachment occurs farther downwind. An increase in eddy force weakens flow separation by mixing momentum there. This results in the contraction of cavity flow zones and flow reattachment occurs less far downwind. An increase in ambient wind speed lowers predicted scalar concentration. An increase in ambient turbulence intensity lowers predicted maximum scalar concentration and acts to distribute scalars evenly.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.171-185
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• 2020

This paper presents a methodology for Initial Orbit Determination (IOD) based on a modification of the Laplace's geocentric method. The orbital elements for Near-Earth asteroids (1864) Daedalus, 2003 GW, 2019 JA8, a Hungaria-type asteroid (4690) Strasbourg, and the asteroids of the Main Belt (1738) Oosterhoff, (2717) Tellervo, (1568) Aisleen and (2235) Vittore were calculated. Input data observations from the Minor Planet Center MPC database and Astronomical Observatory of the Technological University of Pereira (OAUTP; MPC code W63) were used. These observations cover observation arcs of less than 22 days. The orbital errors, in terms of shape and orientation for the estimated orbits of the asteroids, were calculated. The shape error was less than 53 × 10^-3 AU, except for the asteroid 2019 JA8. On the other hand, errors in orientation were less than 0.1 rad, except for (4690) Strasbourg. Additionally, we estimated ephemerides for all bodies for up to two months. When compared with actual ephemerides, the errors found allowed us to conclude that these bodies can be recovered in a field of vision of 95' × 72' (OAUTP field). This shows that Laplace's method, though simple, may still be useful in the IOD study, especially for observatories that initiate programs of minor bodies observation.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.89-112
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• 2005

We determine the rotation velocities of 108 spiral and irregular galaxies (XV-Sample) from first-order rotation curves from position-velocity maps, based on short 21-cm observations with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT). To test the usual random motion corrections, we compare the global HI linewidths and the rotation velocities, obtained from kinematical fits to two-dimensional velocity fields for a sample of 28 galaxies (RC-Sample), and find that the most frequently used correction formulae (Tully & Fouque 1985) are not very satisfactory. The rotation velocity parameter (the random-motion corrected HI linewidth: W?), derived with these corrections, may be statistically equal to two times the true rotation velocity, but in individual cases the differences can be large. We analyse, for both RC- and XV-Samples, the dependence of the slope of, and scatter in the Tully-Fisher relation on the definition of the rotation velocity parameters- For the RC-Sample, we find that the scatter in the Tully-Fisher relation can be reduced considerably when the rotation velocities derived from rotation curves are used instead of the random-motion corrected global H I linewidths. No such reduction in the scatter is seen for XV-Sample. We conclude that the reduction of the scatter in the Tully-Fisher relation seems to be related to the use of two-dimensional velocity information: accurate rotation velocity and kinematical inclination.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.101-115
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• 1985

Using Brandt model the mess distribution of the late type spiral galaxy NGC 6946 was derived, and the total mass was reestimated to understand the M/L ratio of this galaxy. Two kinds of the rotation curve with shape parameter n=1 and 3.3 were examined. The following are the main results; (1) The total masses of NGC 6946 are $3.1\times$$10^{11}$ M(n=1) AND $2.8\times$$10^{11}$ M(n=3.3) respectively. and the corresponding M/L are about 17 and 16 for both cases. (2) The optical image in the blue light, whose radius is 9.6 kpc, has 8$\times$$10^{10}$ M and 1.4$\times$$10^{11}$ M. These give the value of M/L about 5 and 8 respectively. (3) The masses and M/L of the nuclear region within 1.2 kpc are 4.0$\times$$10^{9}$ M 4.7$\times$$10^9$ M and 3, 4 for both cases. Those of the disk from 1.2 kpc to 9.6 kpc are 7.6$\times$1$10^{10}$M, 1.4$\times$$10^{11}$M, and 5, 8. (4) The masses of the outer halo extended to few hundreds kiloparsecs are 2.3$\times$$10^{11}$ M and 1.4$\times$$10^{11}$M. The corresponding M/L are about 62 and 37.