• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.49.3-49.3
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• 2021

The 76 cm telescope in Kyung Hee Astronomical Observatory is participating in the small telescope network of the SomangNet project, which started in 2020. Since the installation of the telescope in 1992, the system configuration has been changed several times. The optical system of this telescope has a Ritchey-Chrétien configuration with 76 cm in diameter and the focal ratio is f/7. The mount is a single fork equatorial type and its control system is operated by TheSkyX software. We use a science camera with a 4k × 4k CCD and standard Johnson-Cousins UBVRI filters, which cover a field of view of 23.7 × 23.7 arcmin. We are also developing the Kyung Hee Automatic Observing Software for the 76 cm telescope (KAOS76) for efficient operations. In this work, we present the standard star calibration results, the current status of the system, and the expected science capabilities.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.47.2-47.2
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• 2012

Using deep images taken at Maidanak 1.5m telescope, at McDonald 2.1m telescope and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Dupont 2.5m telescope we investigated the fraction of merging galaxies in hosts of 39 AGN which are brighter than M = -22 mag and nearer than z = 0.3. We found that 16 to 17 of 39 AGN host galaxies show the evidence of mergers like tidal tail, shell via careful visual inspection. We also studied with the merging fraction of a control sample, SDSS Stripe82 early type galaxies of which surface brightness limit and bulge magnitude are similar to that of the AGN sample. We found that merging fraction of the AGN sample is higher than that of early type galaxy samples in the whole range of bulge magnitude. This result implies that AGN activity may be correlated with merging. We also investigated the detailed morphology of merging feature. At least - 1/4 of control samples classified as a tidal and tidal+dust are shell structures. On the other hand only one (5.9%) of AGN sample classified as merger shows shell structures, and almost all merging AGNs show tidal tail features. From point of view that tidal tail may be at the early stage of merging, and shell may be at the late stage of mergers, this result suggests that AGN might be evolved into early-type galaxies after merging.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.40.1-40.1
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• 2021

Gwacheon National Science Museum(GNSM) has a 7.2m radio telescope, which is only one possessed by a science museum in Korea. In 2020, performance of the telescope had been improved in the way of a new antenna control system, receiver system, control and analysis software. New AC motors, limiters and encoders was installed and the new receive system can observe L-band(1.4GHz) and S-band(2.8GHz), L-band and Ka-band(33GHz) equipped previously. Using theses upgraded system we have developed educational programs, which are 'The Sun seen in radio' and 'The Universe seen in radio'. In the former, the sun is observed with several methods and show analysed data to participants. In the latter, various radio sources, the moon, supernova remnants and HI gas, and even signal from artificial satellites are observed. In addition, SETI demo data can be shown and demonstrates how to find artificial signal extraterrestrial intelligence could send.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.57.2-57.2
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• 2017

Remote and robotic telescopes are the most effective instrument for astronomical survey projects. The system is based on the dynamic operation of all astronomical instruments such as dome and telescope control system (TCS), focuser, filter wheel and data taking camera. We adopt the ASCOM driver platform to control the instruments through the integrated software. It can convert different interface libraries from various manufacturers into a uniform standard library. This allows us to effectively control astronomical instruments without modifying codes. We suggest a conceptual design of software for automation of a small telescope such as the new wide-field 0.25m telescope at McDonald Observatory. It can also be applied to operation of multi-telescopes in future projects.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.72.3-72.3
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• 2019

The observation of transient objects such as supernovae or variable stars requires a survey of the wide sky and quickly extracting the results. In accordance with this purpose, we have been developing an automatic observing software, KAOS (Kyung Hee University Automatic Observing Software) as a series. KAOS30 was the first series of KAOS and it was applied to the 30-inch platform at the McDonald Observatory in the United States of America. KAOS76 controls the 76-cm telescope at Kyung Hee Astronomical Observatory. In this poster, we introduce KAOS10 for controlling a portable telescope with a small aperture size attaching a guiding camera as QHY-5L II. Kyung Hee University auto-guiding package which includes the auto-guiding function for small aperture size telescope was also developed. Additionally, the Telescope Control Package(TCP) can communicate with the main server to do astrometry for pointing and identifying targets efficiently. KAOS10 has a universal interface that will be useful for the research of both amateurs and professionals.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.163-175
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• 1996

We propose the development and test result of new optical axis alignment system for the interchangeable F/8 secondary mirror of the BOAO 1.8m telescope system. Since the original system was not equipped with a suitable optical alignment facility, the whole alignment process was performed by hand. It was necessary at least three persons working more than 2 nights and the altitude of the telescope could not exceed 10 degrees, in such altitude the alignment quality was not so good by atmospheric effect. The new system adopts position readable motorized system and remote control operation by the computer installed in observation room, which reduces the number of workers to only one and eliminates the altitude restriction. The defocused CCD image pair obtained at higher altitude makes the aberration estimates more accurately and the number of required alignment loops is reduced from 10 to 4. The system has been installed on September 1, and performed alignment three times. The test results show that the system is stable and accurate, gives better optical performance of the telescope under F/8 focus. We hope to emphasize the fact that the new system will increase observation time of the telescope by about 20 nights per year assuming one alignment in every month.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.95-103
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• 2012

We analyzed the current status of the telescope control system (TCS2) of the 1.8 m telescope in Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO), and suggest a new TCS (TCS3) for the long term development of BOAO. The TCS2 was constructed in 1998 to replace the TCS1 which was installed with the telescope itself at the commencement of BOAO. One of the important parts of TCS is PMAC (Programmable Multi-Axis Controller), which is a general-purpose multi-axis motion controller. PMAC provides the direct interactive communication environment permitting users to command the controller directly with simple operations. This makes the setup, debugging, and diagnostics very easy. The TCS2 was operated stable for a long time, but the hardware and TCS computers have been deteriorated and are out of date now. The new TCS3 needs to be constructed based on a modern computer system. And functions such as pre-calculations of telescope limiting position, interworking with virtual observatory tools, and using GUI, etc should be added. Construction of the TCS3 will be a step creating a better observation environment for the Korean astronomical society.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.13 no.1 s.14
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• pp.75-84
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• 1998

We present the development of a remote observation system runnig on world wide web (WWW). The system consists of a 30cm Schmidt Cassegrain telescope and ST-7 CCD camera. We built the controllers and drivers of the telescope and the control softwares including the network control. The self-developed techniques in the hard wares and softwares can be applied to other projects in Korea. Observers can access the system via WWW home page, to reserve observation times, to send control commands, to retrieve images and various information useful for observation. This system can be widely used by students and amateur astronomers as well as professional astronomers who need a lot of small telescope time.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.69.4-70
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• 2018

KAOS30 is an automatic observing software for the wide-field 10-inch telescope as a piggyback system on the 30-inch telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas, US. The software has four packages in terms of functionality and is divided into communication with Telescope Control System (TCS), controlling of CCD camera and filter wheel, controlling of focuser, and script for automation observing. Each interconnect of those are based on exe-exe communication. The advantage of this distinction is that each package can be independently maintained for further updates. KAOS30 has an integrated control library that combines function library connecting each device and package. This ensures that the software can extensible interface because all packages are access to the control devices independently. Also, the library includes the ASCOM driver platform. ASCOM is a standard general purpose library that supports Application Programming Interface (API) of astronomical devices. We present the software architecture of KAOS30, and structure of interfacing between hardware and package or package and package.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.431-450
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• 2007

In the auto-guiding system for obtaining a long exposure astrophotography, CCD camera is usually used for measuring guide errors which are affected by optical dispersion and mechanical disturbances. In this paper, a discrete time dynamic model and a performance index are proposed for analysing the auto-guiding system. The optimal gain for proportional control is derived considering the optical dispersion and the disturbances. Some experiments are provided to illustrate that the optimal control gain is lower as the optical dispersion is higher.