• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.44.3-45
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• 2017

To date, luminous quasars at z ~ 6 have been found to be in maximal accretion with the Eddington ratios, ${\lambda}Edd$ ~ 1, suggesting enhanced nuclear activities in the early universe. However, this may not be the whole picture of supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth since previous studies have not reached on faint quasars that are more likely to harbor SMBHs with low ${\lambda}Edd$. To understand the accretion activities in quasars at high redshift, we obtained the deep near-infrared (NIR) spectrum of a quasar, IMS J2204+0112, one of the few faintest quasars that have been identified at z ~ 6. From the NIR spectrum, we find that IMS J2204+0112 harbors a SMBH with about a billion solar mass, with ${\log}({\lambda}Edd)=-0.91$. This is the lowest accretion rate found so far for quasars at z ~ 6, but a common value among quasars at z ~ 2. The inclusion of this object in the ${\lambda}Edd$ analysis gives the intrinsic ${\lambda}Edd$ distribution of z ~ 6 quasars, which is lower than previous results that are based on bright quasars, but it is still higher than ${\lambda}Edd$ of z ~ 2 quasars. Although the number statistics needs to be improved in future, the low peak ${\lambda}Edd$ value is consistent with the SMBH growth from a massive black hole seed (~ 105 Msun) or from a stellar mass black hole through short-duration super-Eddington accretion events (${\lambda}Edd$ > 10).

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.89-102
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• 2021

Even in an era where 8-meter class telescopes are common, small telescopes are considered very valuable research facilities since they are available for rapid follow-up or long term monitoring observations. To maximize the usefulness of small telescopes in Korea, we established the SomangNet, a network of 0.4-1.0 m class optical telescopes operated by Korean institutions, in 2020. Here, we give an overview of the project, describing the current participating telescopes, its scientific scope and operation mode, and the prospects for future activities. SomangNet currently includes 10 telescopes that are located in Australia, USA, and Chile as well as in Korea. The operation of many of these telescopes currently relies on operators, and we plan to upgrade them for remote or robotic operation. The latest SomangNet science projects include monitoring and follow-up observational studies of galaxies, supernovae, active galactic nuclei, symbiotic stars, solar system objects, neutrino/gravitational-wave sources, and exoplanets.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.174-181
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• 2011

An airborne sensor is developed for remote sensing on an aerial vehicle (UV). The sensor is an optical payload for an eletro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) dual band camera that combines visible and IR imaging capabilities in a compact and lightweight package. It adopts a Ritchey-Chr$\'{e}$tien telescope for the common front end optics with several relay optics that divide and deliver EO and IR bands to a charge-coupled-device (CCD) and an IR detector, respectively. The EO/IR camera for dual bands is mounted on a two-axis gimbal that provides stabilized imaging and precision pointing in both the along and cross-track directions. We first investigate the mechanical deformations, displacements and stress of the EO/IR camera through finite element analysis (FEA) for five cases: three gravitational effects and two thermal conditions. For investigating gravitational effects, one gravitational acceleration (1 g) is given along each of the +x, +y and +z directions. The two thermal conditions are the overall temperature change to $30^{\circ}C$ from $20^{\circ}C$ and the temperature gradient across the primary mirror pupil from $-5^{\circ}C$ to $+5^{\circ}C$. Optical performance, represented by the modulation transfer function (MTF), is then predicted by integrating the FEA results into optics design/analysis software. This analysis shows the IR channel can sustain imaging performance as good as designed, i.e., MTF 38% at 13 line-pairs-per-mm (lpm), with refocus capability. Similarly, the EO channel can keep the designed performance (MTF 73% at 27.3 lpm) except in the case of the overall temperature change, in which the EO channel experiences slight performance degradation (MTF 16% drop) for $20^{\circ}C$ overall temperate change.