• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.37.2-37.2
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• 2010

The IMS (Infrared or Intermediate-wide, Medium-deep Survey) program for the search of z~7 quasars has been running since last year. In order to discover enough number of quasars at z~7, a strategy sufficing both survey area (~150 square deg.) and image depth (23 AB mag in J filter), together with using existing multi-wavelength data is chosen. We have been carrying imaging observations with the UKIRT 4m telescope, now covering ~50 square deg. (including UKIDSS survey area) of J-band data. We then used selection in color-color space to choose high-z quasar candidates having the rest-frame Ly-alpha break, and to exclude contamination from stars and galaxies at low-z. We show quasar candidates of redshift z~7 and z~6, out of 25 square deg. data analyzed, and note implications and future plans.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.56.1-56.1
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• 2010

We present JHK photometry of star clusters in the dwarf irregular/dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 1569. Adopting several criteria to exclude other sources like foreground stars, background galaxies, etc., ~150 star cluster candidates are identified in the near-infrared images of NGC 1569, which include very young star clusters. From analysis based on theoretical background, we find ten very young star clusters near the center of this galaxy. The total reddening values toward these clusters are estimated from comparison with the theoretical estimates given by star cluster mode.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.261-262
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• 2012

The aim of this research is to reveal the spatial distribution of the star formation activity of nearby galaxies by comparing CO molecular emission lines with the large area observation in far-infrared (FIR) lines. We report the imaging observations of NGC 253 by FIR forbidden lines via FIS-FTS and CO molecular lines from low to high excitation levels with ASTE, which are good tracers of star forming regions or photo-dissociation regions, especially spiral galaxies, in order to derive the information of the physical conditions of the ambient interstellar radiation fields. The combination of spatially resolved FIR and sub-mm data leads to the star formation efficiency within galaxy. The ratio between the FIR luminosity and molecular gas mass, $L_{FIR}/M_{H_2}$, is expected to be proportional to the number of stars formed in the galaxy per unit molecular gas mass and time. Moreover the FIR line ux shows current star formation activity directly. Furthermore these can be systematic and statistical data for star formation history and evolution of spiral galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.50.2-50.2
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• 2021

There is increasing evidence that the convective mixing length (α) in stellar evolution models depends on metallicity of stars. In order to confirm a more precise metallicity-dependent mixing length trend, we investigate the effective temperature and metallicity of 14 red supergiant stars (RSGs) in the irregular dwarf galaxy IC 1613 using the near-infrared spectra observed with the MMIRS on the MMT telescope. From the synthetic spectral fitting to the observed spectra, we find that the mean metallicity is about [Fe/H]=0.69 with a weak bimodal distribution. We also find that the effective temperature of RSGs in IC 1613 is higher by about 250 K than that of the SMC on average. We compare the RSG position with stellar evolutionary tracks on the HR diagram, finding that models with α = 2.2-2.4 H_p can best reproduce the effective temperatures of the RSGs in IC 1613. It is evident that the mixing length values for IC 1613 is lower than that of the Milky Way. This result supports our previous study on a metallicity-dependent mixing length: mixing length decreases with decreasing metallicity of host galaxies. However, this dependency becomes relatively weak for RSGs having a metallicity equal to or less than the SMC metallicity.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.327-329
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• 2017

We report a spatial fluctuation analysis of the sky brightness in the near-infrared from observations towards the north ecliptic pole (NEP) by AKARI at 2.4 and $3.2{\mu}m$. As a follow up study of our previous work on the Monitor field of AKARI, we used NEP deep survey data, which covered a circular area of about 0.4 square degrees, in order to extend fluctuation analysis at angular scales up to 1000". After pre-processing, additional correction procedures were done to correct time varying components and instrumental effects such as MUXbleed. To remove resolved objects, we applied $2{\sigma}$ clipping and point spread function (PSF) subtraction. We finally obtained mosaicked images which can be used for the study of various diffuse emissions in the near-infrared sky and found that there are spatial structures in the mosaicked images using a power spectrum analysis.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.36.2-36.2
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• 2013

The SPICA (SPace Infrared Telescope for Cosmology & Astrophysics) project is a next-generation infrared space telescope optimized for mid- and far-infrared observation with a cryogenically cooled 3m-class telescope. The focal plane instruments onboard SPICA will enable us to resolve many astronomical key issues from the formation and evolution of galaxies to the planetary formation. The FPC-S (Focal Plane Camera - Sciecne) is a near-infrared instrument proposed by Korea as an international collaboration. Owing to the capability of both low-resolution imaging spectroscopy and wide-band imaging with a field of view of $5^{\prime}{\times}5^{\prime}$, it has large throughput as well as high sensitivity for diffuse light compared with JWST. In order to strengthen advantages of the FPC-S, we propose the studies of probing population III stars by the measurement of cosmic near-infrared background radiation and the star formation history at high redshift by the discoveries of active star-forming galaxies. In addition to the major scientific targets, to survey large area opens a new parameter space to investigate the deep Universe. The good survey capability in the parallel imaging mode allows us to study the rare, bright objects such as quasars, bright star-forming galaxies in the early Universe as a way to understand the formation of the first objects in the Universe, and ultra-cool brown dwarfs. Observations in the warm mission will give us a unique chance to detect high-z supernovae, ices in young stellar objects (YSOs) even with low mass, the $3.3{\mu}$ feature of shocked circumstance in supernova remnants. Here, we report the current status of SPICA/FPC project and its extragalactic sciences.

• 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.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.129-134
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• 2012

The North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) Wide survey covered about 5.4 $deg^2$, a nearly circular area centered on the NEP, using nine passbands of InfraRed Camera (IRC). We present the photometric properties of the data sets, and the nature of the sources detected in this field. The number of detected sources varied according to the filter band: with about 109,000 sources in the NIR, about 20,000 sources in the MIR-S, and about 16,000 sources seen in the MIR-L channel. The $5{\sigma}$ detection limits are about 21 mag in the NIR and 19.5 - 18.5 mag in the MIR bands in terms of the AB magnitude. 50% completeness levels are about 19.8 mag at $3{\mu}m$, 18.6 mag at $9{\mu}m$, and 18 mag at $18{\mu}m$ band (in AB magnitude), respectively. In order to validate the detected sources, all of them are confirmed by matching tests with those in other bands. The 'star-like' sources, defined by the high stellarity and magnitude cut from the optical ancillary data, appear statistically to have a high probability of being stars. The nature of the various types of extragalactic sources in this field are discussed using the color-color diagrams of the NIR and MIR bands with the redshift tracks of galaxies providing useful guidelines.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.60.2-60.2
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• 2018

We present the near infrared JHK photometric properties and the spatial distribution of red supergiants(RSGs) of NGC 3623, NGC 3627 and NGC 3628 in the Leo Triplet system using the data obtained with 3.8m UKIRT(United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope) at Hawaii. We checked interaction between the three galaxies by making a spatial density map of RSGs. From (J-K,K)0 Color-Magnitude Diagram which include resolved stars in three galaxy and control field with PARSEC isochrone, we figured out the RSG candidates of the Leo triplet are at 0.9<(J-K)0<1.2, mK<17.5 and separated them from background and foreground sources. Using gaussian kernel density estimation, we drew spatial density map of RSGs in the Leo triplet with an assumption that all RSGs are an identical population. The density map shows extended features of NGC 3628 to NGC 3627 along the declination direction. The asymmetries between NGC 3627 and NGC 3628 might be evidence for that the distribution of actual star components(RSGs) follows the neutral hydrogen distribution and also for interaction between two galaxies. And the extended features along the right ascension direction might be a supporting evidence for the existence of a TDG(Tidal Dwarf Galaxy). In case of NGC 3623, we could not see any sign of interaction in density map.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.111-116
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• 2012

Far-infrared observations provide crucial data for the investigation and characterisation of the properties of dusty material in the Interstellar Medium (ISM), since most of its energy is emitted between ~ 100 and $200{\mu}m$. We present the first all-sky image from a sensitive all-sky survey using the Japanese AKARI satellite, in the wavelength range $50-180{\mu}m$. Covering > 99% of the sky in four photometric bands with four filters centred at $65{\mu}m$, $90{\mu}m$, $140{\mu}m$, and $160{\mu}m$ wavelengths, this achieved spatial resolutions from 1 to 2 arcmin and a detection limit of < 10 MJy $sr^{-1}$, with absolute and relative photometric accuracies of < 20%. All-sky images of the Galactic dust continuum emission enable astronomers to map the large-scale distribution of the diffuse ISM cirrus, to study its thermal dust temperature, emissivity and column density, and to measure the interaction of the Galactic radiation field and embedded objects with the surrounding ISM. In addition to the point source population of stars, protostars, star-forming regions, and galaxies, the high Galactic latitude sky is shown to be covered with a diffuse filamentary-web of dusty emission that traces the potential sites of high latitude star formation. We show that the temperature of dust particles in thermal equilibrium with the ambient interstellar radiation field can be estimated by using $90{\mu}m$, $140{\mu}m$, and $160{\mu}m$ data. The FIR AKARI full-sky maps provide a rich new data set within which astronomers can investigate the distribution of interstellar matter throughout our Galaxy, and beyond.