• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.84.1-84.1
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• 2013

We present a python-based data reduction pipeline for the Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrograph (IGRINS). IGRINS covers the complete H- and K-bands in a single exposure with a spectral resolving power of greater than 40,000. IGRINS is designed to be compatible with telescopes of diameters ranging from 2.7-m (the Harlan J. Smith telescope at McDonald Observatory) to 8-10m. Commissioning and initial operation will be on the 2.7-m telescope from late 2013. The pipeline package is a part of the IGRINS software and designed to be compatible with other package that maneuvers the spectrograph during the observation. This package provides high-quality spectra with minimal human intervention and the processes of order extraction, distortion correction, and wavelength calibration can be automatically carried out using the predefined functions (e.g. echellogram mapping and 2D transform). Since the IGRINS is a prototype of the Giant Magellan Telescope Near-Infrared Spectrometer (GMTNIRS), this pipeline will be extended to the GMTNIRS software.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.63.1-63.1
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• 2013

We present the results of time monitoring observations of $^{28}SiO$ v = 1, 2, J = 1-0, $^{29}SiO$ v = 0, J = 1-0 and $H_2O$ $6_{16}-5_{23}$ maser lines toward radio Source I in Orion KL. The observations have been performed from 2009 June to 2013 April using the 21m single dish radio telescopes of the Korean VLBI Network. Both SiO and $H_2O$ maser lines were simultaneously obtained at 20 epochs. In particular, the third outburst of $H_2O$ maser emission (the first: 1985, the second: 1998) was detected and the flux density variation curve was obtained. The maximum flux density flared up to an order of $10^5$ Jy during 2012 May-July at peak velocity of 7.33 km $s^{-1}$. Hirota et al. (2011) reported that the bursting maser features are located at 8" from Source I and coincident with the interacting region between the outflow from Source I and a dense ambient gas, Orion Compact Ridge. In the case of SiO masers arising from close to the Source I, the peak emission of the v = 1, J = 1-0 maser line appeared in 2010 April. We are investigating the possible relation between this SiO maser peak emission and the third $H_2O$ maser flaring.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.95-100
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• 2013

A fiber-optic reference signal transmission system, which transmits the 1.4 GHz reference signal from H-maser to receiver cabin in radio telescopes, was adopted for compensating the phase changes due to temperature variation and antenna movement. At the first experiment, the remote signal's phase changed more than 15 degrees at 1.4 GHz. We found unstable components in sub-system experiments and replaced them. The main cause of unstable phase stability was the unaligned polarization axis between Laser Diode and Mach-Zehnder Modulator (MZM). The improved system stability showed $1{\times}10^{-16}$ allan standard deviation at 1,000 sec integration time with the antenna fixed. When the antenna moves in the azimuth axis, the 1.4 GHz remote signal showed the phase change smaller than 0.2 degrees.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.177-185
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• 2015

We develop a new auto-guiding system for the Camera for QUasars in the EArly uNiverse (CQUEAN). CQUEAN is an optical CCD camera system attached to the 2.1-m Otto-Struve Telescope (OST) at McDonald Observatory, USA. The new auto-guiding system differs from the original one in the following: instead of the cassegrain focus of the OST, it is attached to the finder scope; it has its own filter system for observation of bright targets; and it is controlled with the CQUEAN Auto-guiding Package, a newly developed auto-guiding program. Finder scope commands a very wide field of view at the expense of poorer light gathering power than that of the OST. Based on the star count data and the limiting magnitude of the system, we estimate there are more than 5.9 observable stars with a single FOV using the new auto-guiding CCD camera. An adapter is made to attach the system to the finder scope. The new auto-guiding system successfully guided the OST to obtain science data with CQUEAN during the test run in 2014 February. The FWHM and ellipticity distributions of stellar profiles on CQUEAN, images guided with the new auto-guiding system, indicate similar guiding capabilities with the original auto-guiding system but with slightly poorer guiding performance at longer exposures, as indicated by the position angle distribution. We conclude that the new auto-guiding system has overall similar guiding performance to the original system. The new auto-guiding system will be used for the second generation CQUEAN, but it can be used for other cassegrain instruments of the OST.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.225-234
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• 2013

We develop a radio receiver system operating at ${\lambda}{\sim}1.3$ mm for the 6 m telescope of Seoul Radio Astronomy Observatory. It consists of a dual polarization receiver, a couple of IF processing units, two FFT spectrometers, and associated software. By adopting sideband-separating superconductor mixers with image band terminated to waveguide load at 4.2 K, we achieve $T_{RX}{\leq}100$ K and $T_{sys}$ less than 150 K at best weather condition over 210-250 GHz frequency range. The intermediate frequency signal of 3.5-4.5 GHz is down converted to 0-1 GHz and fed into the FFT spectrometers. The spectrometer covers 1 GHz bandwidth with a spectral resolution of 61 KHz. Test observations are conducted toward several radio sources to evaluate the performance of the system. Aperture and beam efficiencies measured by observing planets are found to be typically 44 ~ 59% and 47 ~ 61%, respectively over the RF band, which are consistent with those measured at 3 mm band previously.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.49.2-49.2
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• 2016

The number of discovery of asteroids with peculiar rotational states has recently increased, and hence a novel approach for lightcurve analysis is considered to be critical. In order to investigate objects such as Non-Principal Axis (NPA) rotator, we selected a NPA candidate, (5247) Kryolv as our target considering its Principal Axis Rotation (PAR) code and the visibility in early 2016. The observations of Krylov were made using Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) 1.6 m telescopes installed at the three southern sites with TO (Target of Opportunity) observation mode. We conducted R-band time-series photometry over a total of 51 nights from January to April 2016 with several exposures during each allocated run. The ensemble normalization photometry was employed using the AAVSO Photomtric All-Sky Survey (APASS) catalog for the standardization. We successfully confirmed its NPA spin state based on the deviation from the reduced lightcurve, and thus Krylov is recorded as the first NPA rotator of its kind in the main-belt, with its precession and rotation periods, $P{\varphi}=81.18h$ and $P_{\Psi}=67.17h$, respectively. In this paper, we present the spin direction, the 3D shape model and taxonomy of the newly confirmed NPA asteroid (5247) Krylov.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.65-71
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• 2018

The near real-time speckle masking reconstruction technique has been developed to accelerate the processing of solar images to achieve high resolutions for ground-based solar telescopes. However, the reconstruction of solar subimages in such a speckle reconstruction is very time-consuming. We design and implement a new parallel speckle masking reconstruction algorithm based on the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) on General Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU). Tests are performed to validate the correctness of our program on NVIDIA GPGPU. Details of several parallel reconstruction steps are presented, and the parallel implementation between various modules shows a significant speed increase compared to the previous serial implementations. In addition, we present a comparison of runtimes across serial programs, the OpenMP-based method, and the new parallel method. The new parallel method shows a clear advantage for large scale data processing, and a speedup of around 9 to 10 is achieved in reconstructing one solar subimage of $256{\times}256pixels$. The speedup performance of the new parallel method exceeds that of OpenMP-based method overall. We conclude that the new parallel method would be of value, and contribute to real-time reconstruction of an entire solar image.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.293-302
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• 2014

Simultaneous time monitoring observations of $H_2O$ $6_{16}-5_{23}$, SiO J = 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, and $^{29}SiO$ ${\upsilon}=0$, J = 1-0 lines are carried out in the direction of the Mira variable star TX Cam with the Korean VLBI Network single dish radio telescopes. For the first time, the $H_2O$ maser emission from TX Cam is detected near the stellar velocity at five epochs from April 10, 2013 (${\phi}=3.13$) to June 4, 2014 (${\phi}=3.89$) including minimum optical phases. The intensities of $H_2O$ masers are very weak compared to SiO masers. The variation of peak antenna temperature ratios among SiO ${\upsilon}=1$, J = 1-0, J = 2-1, and J = 3-2 masers is investigated according to their phases. The shift of peak velocities of $H_2O$ and SiO masers with respect to the stellar velocity is also investigated according to observed optical phases. The $H_2O$ maser emission occurs around the stellar velocity during our monitoring interval. On the other hand, the peak velocities of SiO masers show a spread compared to the stellar velocity. The peak velocities of SiO J = 2-1, and J = 3-2 masers show a smaller spread with respect to the stellar velocity than those of SiO J = 1-0 masers. These simultaneous observations of multi-frequencies will provide a good constraint for maser pumping models and a good probe for investigating the stellar atmosphere and envelope according to their different excitation conditions.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.50.1-50.1
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• 2017

The Non-Principal Axis (NPA) rotators can be clues to spin evolutionary processes of asteroids because their excited spin states evolve due to either internal or external forces. The NPA rotation of (5247) Krylov was confirmed by Lee et al. (2017) based on KMTNet photometric observations during the 2016 apparition. We conducted follow-up observations in 2017 apparition using the 0.6-2.1m telescopes in the northern hemisphere to determine the spin state and shape model of this asteroid. We found that it is rotating in the Short Axis Mode (SAM) based on the determined rotation period ($P_{\psi}=374.6hr$) and precession period ($P_{\phi}=67.48hr$). The greatest and intermediate principal inertia moments are nearly the same as $I_b/I_c=0.94$, but the smallest principal inertia moments are nearly half that of the others, $I_a/I_c=0.43$. This ratio of principal inertia moments suggests that dynamically equivalent shape of this asteroid is close to that of a prolate ellipsoid. In this presentation, we will provide the physical model of (5247) Krylov to discuss its possible spin evolutionary processes that acted on its spin.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.257-265
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• 2015

We present results of long-term multi-wavelength polarization observations of the powerful blazar 3C 279 after its γ-ray flare on 2013 December 20. We followed up this flare with single-dish polarization observations using two 21-m telescopes of the Korean VLBI Network. Observations carried out weekly from 2013 December 25 to 2015 January 11, at 22 GHz, 43 GHz, 86 GHz simultaneously, as part of the Monitoring Of GAmma-ray Bright AGN (MOGABA) program. We measured 3C 279 total flux densities of 22–34 Jy at 22 GHz, 15–28 Jy (43 GHz), and 10–21 Jy (86 GHz), showing mild variability of ≤ 50 % over the period of our observations. The spectral index between 22 GHz and 86 GHz ranged from −0.13 to −0.36. Linear polarization angles were 27°–38°, 30°–42°, and 33°–50° at 22 GHz, 43 GHz, and 86 GHz, respectively. The degree of linear polarization was in the range of 6–12 %, and slightly decreased with time at all frequencies. We investigated Faraday rotation and depolarization of the polarized emission at 22–86 GHz, and found Faraday rotation measures (RM) of −300 to −1200 rad m⁻² between 22 GHz and 43 GHz, and −800 to −5100 rad m⁻² between 43 GHz and 86 GHz. The RM values follow a power law with a mean power law index a of 2.2, implying that the polarized emission at these frequencies travels through a Faraday screen in or near the jet. We conclude that the regions emitting polarized radio emission may be different from the region responsible for the 2013 December γ-ray flare and are maintained by the dominant magnetic field perpendicular to the direction of the radio jet at milliarcsecond scales.