• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.57.2-57.2
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• 2019

The NISS (Near-infrared Imaging Spectrometer for Star formation history) onboard NEXTSat-1 was successfully launched on last December and is now under the operation phase. The capability of both imaging and spectroscopy is a unique function of the NISS. It has realized the imaging spectroscopy (R~20) with a wide field of view of $2{\times}2deg$. in a wide near-infrared range from 0.95 to $2.5{\mu}m$. The major scientific mission is to study the cosmic star formation history in the local and distant universe. It also demonstrated the space technologies related to the infrared spectro-photometry in space. The NISS is performing the imaging spectroscopic survey for local star-forming galaxies, clusters of galaxies, star-forming regions, ecliptic deep fields and so on. As an extension of the NISS, the SPEHREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) was selected as the NASA MIDEX (Medium-class Explorer) mission (PI Institute: Caltech). As an international partner, KASI will participate in the development and the science for SPHEREx. It will perform the first all-sky infrared spectro-photometric survey to probe the origin of our Universe, to explore the origin and evolution of galaxies, and to explore whether planets around other stars could harbor life. Compared to the NISS, the SPHEREx is designed to have a much wider FoV of $3.5{\times}11.3deg$. as well as wider spectral range from 0.75 to $5.0{\mu}m$. Here, we introduce the status of the two space missions.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.111-118
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• 1996

We review observational evidence bearing on the formation of a prototypical large spiral galaxy, the Milky Way. New ground- and space-based studies of globular star clusters and dwarf spheroidal galaxies provide a wealth of information to constrain theories of galaxy formation. It appears likely that the Milky Way formed by an combination of rapid, dissipative collapse and mergers, but the relative contributions of these two mechanisms remain controversial. New evidence, however, indicates that initial star and star cluster formation occurred simultaneously over a volume that presently extends to twice the distance of the Magellanic Clouds.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.55.2-55.2
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• 2010

We present a photometric and spectroscopic study of the globular clusters (GCs) in the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4636 in the Virgo cluster. The photometry of the GCs is based on HST/WFPC2 images for the inner region and deep, wide field Washington $CT_1$ CCD images for the outer region. We investigated the color distribution, the radial number density profile, the spatial distribution, and the mean color of the bright blue GCs about the GCs in NGC 4636. We obtained spectra of the GC candidates in NGC 4636 using the Multi-Object Spectroscopy (MOS) mode of Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) on the SUBARU 8.2m Telescope. We measured the velocities for 105 GCs in NGC 4636. Using the 238 GCs obtained from combining our results with data in the literature, we investigated the kinematics of the GC system of NGC 4636: the rotation, the velocity dispersion, the radial variation, and the orbit. We also investigated the distribution and the radial variation of the metallicities, ages, and alpha-elements of the GCs in NGC 4636 derived using the absorption lines. We compared the GC kinematics of NGC 4636 with those of other six gEs, finding that the kinematic properties of the GCs are diverse among gEs. We found several correlations between the kinematics of the GCs and the global parameters of their host galaxies. Finally we discuss the implication of the results for the formation models of the GC system in gEs, and suggest a mixture scenario for the origin of the GCs in gEs.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.46.1-46.1
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• 2015

M85 is a merger remnant galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, showing complex merging features. Globular clusters in M85 are a good tracer of its merging history. To investigate globular cluster system of M85, we obtain deep and wide field images of M85 in ugi filters covering one square degree using CFHT/MegaCam. We discover about 1,000 globular cluster candidates in these images. The color distribution of the globular cluster candidates within r < 5' from M85 does not show a clear bimodality and blue globular cluster candidates are more than red ones. These features are different from those in massive early-type galaxies. The spatial distribution of the globular cluster candidates is elongated along the faint stellar light of M85. We also investigate the spatial distribution of sub-populations of the globular cluster candidates with different color and brightness and estimate their ages based on their color. We discuss these results in relation with the formation history of M85.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.84.2-84.2
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• 2012

We present wide-field multiband photometry of globular cluster (GC) systems toward the central region of the Fornax cluster of galaxies, including NGC 1399, NGC 1404, and NGC 1387. Observation was carried out through four optical passbands (U, B, V, and I) with the Mosaic II CCD imager mounted on the 4-m Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). This marks one of the widest U-band photometric studies on GC systems. GC candidates are selected among point sources based on their two color diagrams together with a magnitude cut. We investigate the radial variation of color distributions for the GC systems, focusing on the fundamental parameters that characterize bimodal distributions; the number ratio between blue and red GCs, the mean colors of the groups, and their color dispersions. We discuss the implication of our result regarding the origin of GC color bimodality.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.58.2-58.2
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• 2013

We present a photometric study of the globular clusters (GCs) in the giant elliptical galaxy M86 in the Virgo Cluster, using the Washington $CT_1$ images taken at the KPNO 4 m telescope. The color distribution of the GCs in M86 is bimodal. The radial number density profile of the blue GCs decreases more slowly as the galactocentric distance increases than that of the red GCs. The density profile of the red GCs is similar to the surface brightness profile of M86 stellar halo. The blue GCs have a roughly circular spatial distribution, while the red GCs have a spatial distribution somewhat elongated, which is consistent with the distribution of the galaxy stellar light. M86 GCs have the negative radial color gradient because the number ratio of the blue GCs to the red GCs increases as galactocentric radius increases. The mean color of the red GCs is similar to that of the stellar halo. The bright blue GCs in the outer region of M86 reveal a blue tilt that the mean colors of the blue GCs get redder as they get brighter. We discuss these results in comparison with other giant elliptical galaxies in the Virgo Cluster.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.135-142
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• 2011

A $200'{\times}200'$ region around 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is observed and analyzed in the near-infrared. We obtain polarimetry data in the J, H, and Ks bands using the SIRIUS polarimeter SIRPOL at the Infrared Survey Facility 1.4 m telescope. We measure the Stokes parameters of 2562 point-like sources to derive the degree of polarization and the polarization position angles. We discuss the statistics of the groups classified by color-magnitude diagram and proper motions of the sources, in order to separate the Galactic foreground sources from those present in the LMC. We notice that groups classified by the proper motion data show a tendency towards different polarimetric properties.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.543-546
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• 2004

The inverse Compton scattering of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation with electrons in the intracluster medium which has a temperature gradient, was examined by the third-order perturbation theory of the Compton scattering. A new type of the spectrum distortion of the CMB was found and named as gradient T Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (gradT SZE). The spectrum has an universal shape. There is a zero distortion point, the cross over frequency, at 326GHz. When the hotter region locates closer to an observer, the intensity becomes brighter than the CMB in the frequency region lower than the cross over frequency and fainter than the CMB in the frequency region higher than the cross over frequency. When the cooler region locates closer to an observer, the distorted part of the spectrum has an opposite sign to the above case. The amplitude of the spectrum distortion does not de-pend on the electron density and depends on the heat conductivity and the total temperature variation along a line of sight. Therefore, the gradT SZE provides an unique opportunity to measure thermally nonequilibrium electron momentum distribution function in the ICM and combined with the X-ray measurements of the electron temperature distribution provides an opportunity of direct measurement of the heat conductivity in the ICM.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.31.3-32
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• 2020

The surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) is one of the most crucial distance indicators for unresolved stellar systems at large distances. Here, we present an evolutionary population synthesis model of the surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) for normal and He-enriched simple stellar populations (SSPs). Our SBF model for the normal-He population agrees well with other existing models, but the He-rich populations bring about a substantial change in the SBF of SSPs. Our normal-He SBF model well reproduces the observed SBFs of the Milky Way globular clusters, but the SBFs of early-type galaxies in the Virgo Cluster are placed between the normal-He and He-rich SBF models. We show that the SBF-based distance estimation would be affected by up to a 10-20% level in I- and near-IR bands at given colors. Finally, we propose that when combined with independent metallicity and age indicators such as Mg2 and H��, the UV and optical SBFs can readily detect underlying He-rich populations in unresolved stellar systems. Given the degree of the SBF variation resulting from the population difference, we suggest that the distance measurement before the proper in-depth analysis of stellar populations should be done with great caution.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.44.3-44.3
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• 2019

Massive stars, supernovae, and kilonovae are among the most luminous radiation sources in the universe. Observations usually show near- to mid-infrared (NIR-MIR, 1-5~micron) emission excess from H II regions around young massive star clusters (YMSCs) and anomalous dust extinction and polarization towards Type Ia supernova (SNe Ia). The popular explanation for such NIR-MIR excess and unusual dust properties is the predominance of small grains (size a<0.05micron) relative to large grains (a>0.1micron) in the local environment of these strong radiation sources. The question of why small grains are predominant in these environments remains a mystery. Here we report a new mechanism of dust destruction based on centrifugal stress within extremely fast rotating grains spun-up by radiative torques, namely the RAdiative Torque Disruption (RATD) mechanism, which can resolve this question. We find that RATD can destroy large grains located within a distance of ~ 1 pc from a massive star of luminosity L~ 10^4L_sun and a supernova. This increases the abundance of small grains relative to large grains and successfully reproduces the observed NIR-MIR excess and anomalous dust extinction/polarization. We show that small grains produced by RATD can also explain the steep far-UV rise in extinction curves toward starburst and high redshift galaxies, as well as the decrease of the escape fraction of Ly-alpha photons observed from HII regions surrounding YMSCs.