• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.699-701
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• 2015

The high plateaus in west China may provide suitable sites for astronomical observations with the institute's middle-range telescopes and possibly with larger telescopes. Under China-Japan collaborations for site survey in west China, we have been conducting searches for good sites and monitoring their characteristics over several years. As recent results of our site survey show, sites in west Tibet are revealed with a high possibility of good astronomical observations. Weather characteristics at Gar in Ali, Tibet, show its high clear-sky ratios, especially in winter, comparable to Mauna Kea, Hawaii. But it has some wind problem in winter, where stronger wind speeds, over 20m/sec, occur frequently even though the sky is clear. To find calmer sites, we have conducted numerical simulations for the Ali area using the Japan Meteorological Agency NonHydrostatic Model. We have found another site, named ZoZo Hill, near Gar. We will continue to monitor the Gar site to clarify weather characteristics over the whole year and hopefully start to negotiate for site monitoring at ZoZo Hill this year.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.113-116
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• 2005

The program of site survey in western China has been initiated by the National Astronomical Observatories of China(NAOC) toward large telescope facilities. The program is carried out in aspects of remote studies and local surveys. The preliminary results show that the eastern Pamirs and Ali area in Tibet may be the best candidates for further monitoring. The site survey group of NAOC will proceed to set up site testing stations on the selected sites and perform monitoring and campaign in 2005.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.20
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• pp.6.1-6.1
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• 1995

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.70-70
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• 2003

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.139-143
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• 2015

We describe a survey of nearby core-collapse supernova (SN) explosion sites using integral field spectroscopy (IFS) techniques, which is an extension of the work described in Kuncarayakti et al. (2013). The project aims to constrain SN progenitor properties based on the study of the immediate environment of the SN. The stellar populations present at the SN explosion sites are studied by means of integral field spectroscopy, which enables the acquisition of both spatial and spectral information of the object simultaneously. The spectrum of the SN parent stellar population gives an estimate of its age and metallicity. With this information, the initial mass and metallicity of the once coeval SN progenitor star are derived. While the survey is mostly done in optical, the additional utilization of near-infrared integral field spectroscopy assisted with adaptive optics (AO) enables us to examine the explosion sites in high spatial detail, down to a few parsecs. This work is being carried out using multiple 2-8 m class telescopes equipped with integral field spectrographs in Chile and Hawaii.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.35.3-35.3
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• 2017

Neutrinos play an important role in astronomy and therefore they need to be observed as well as other astronomical messengers. The first observation of astronomical neutrinos is from the SN1987a by the Kamiokande neutrino telescope in Japan. Unlike other astronomical messengers neutrinos can cover all energy range of astronomical phenomena due to their weak interactions and neutrality. Multi messenger astronomy including optical, neutrino, and cosmic ray observations, provides more information on astronomical phenomena and thus such collaborational works are ongoing worldwide. A future Korean neutrino telescope consisting of huge (260 kiloton) water Cherenkov detector under a mountain was proposed in 2016 and the sensitivity studies on various topics are in progress with international collaborators. In this talk I will introduce the future Korean neutrino telescope and its science as well as the potential candidate sites in Korea. We invite all of you to work together for the future Korean neutrino telescope that will operate more than 30 years.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.101.1-101.1
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• 2014

The fluctuation of VLBI visibility phase can be occurred, predominantly caused by the irregular distribution and motion of water vapor in the atmosphere at high frequencies (>1GHz). This radio-seeing effect shows up on filled-aperture telescopes as an anomalous refraction (AR). This can be shown as if the antenna pointing-offset increases, in other words the apparent displacement of radio sources from its nominal position happens. We carried out the single-dish observations on KVN sites in order to check the effect of AR from 2010 to 2014. Orion KL, U Her, and R Leo were observed with 1second sampling time at 22.235GHz and 43.122GHz simultaneously. Each source was observed with the tracking mode for 30 minutes per a source. We analyzed the structure function, power spectrum and Allan variance of the data according to a day and a night, a season and observatories. Finally, we can infer that the AR effect depends on the atmospheric environment, especially tropospheric turbulence.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.105.1-105.1
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• 2012

Moon and Mars have been explored by landers and rovers. Apollo missions landed five times on Lunar surface, and various rovers, including Curiosity landed and explored Mars. The selection of landing site have to be considered engineering and scientific side: the landing site to be available to land stably? the obstacle is not around the rover such as rocks and pothole? the landing site is valuable with scientific? And then landing site have to be the place which is satisfied two objects. We search the information about landing sites of Moon and Mars, and compile the conditions of landing sites. We expect that these data are useful when the landing site of Moon or Mars for Korean mission is selected.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.26-26
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• 2013

The high Antarctic plateau is the driest and coldest environment on the surface of the Earth and offers superlative conditions for the conduct of a wide range of astronomical observations, from optical to millimetre wavebands. This includes, especially, the infrared - where the sky background is greatly reduced from temperate sites - and the sub-millimetre / THz bands - where new or cleaner atmospheric windows can be viewed through. Astronomical observations have now been conducted from five locations on the Antarctic plateau - the South Pole, Domes A, C and F, and Ridge A. Ambitious plans for the construction of observatories there have been announced. An IAU Symposium on "Astrophysics from Antarctica" featured as part of last year's IAU General Assembly in Beijing. This talk will provide an overview of astronomy in Antarctica, describing the special conditions that make some forms of observation particularly favourable there, and discuss the development of observatories on the Antarctic plateau and the plans for their future development.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.245-253
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• 1996

We have analyzed infrared (IR) images of Jupiter which was observed at the McDonald Observatory, Texas, U.S.A., during the P/SHoemaker-LEvy 9 (SL9) impact period and about one week after the last impact. The IR images were obtained on the 2.7m telescope using a NICMOS array with filters to isolate the $1.5{\mu}m\;NH_3\; band,\;the\;2.3{\mu}m\;CH_4\;band,\;the\;2.12{\mu}m\;H_2\;S(0)$ pressure-induced absorption, and the continua at $1.58{\mu}m\;and\;2.0{\mu}m$ (short K-band). All images except those with the $1.58{\mu}m$ continuum filter show bright impact sites against the relatively dark Jovian disk near the impact latitude of about $45^{\circ}$ S. This implies that dusts originated from the impacts reflect the solar radiation at high altitudes before absorbed by stratospheric $CH_4,\;NH_3 \;or\;H_2$. The impact sites observed with the $2.3{\mu}m$ filter are conspicuously bright against a very dark background. The morphology of impact sites, G, L, and H at 2.3 and $2.12{\mu}m$ filters shows clearly an asymmetric structure toward the incident direction of the comet fragments, in agreement with the studies of visible impact images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. Comparisons of reflectances of G, L, and H sites with simple radiative transfer models suggest that optically thick dust layers were formed at high altitudes at which methane absorption attenuates incoming sunlight only by about $1\%$. The dust layers in these sites seem to form at about the same altitude regardless of the magnitude of the impacts, but they appear to descend gradually after the impacts. The dust layers have optical depths of 2-5, according to the models.