• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.55-57
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• 2017

Presently, the number of known asteroids is more than 710,000. Knowledge of size and albedo is essential in many aspects of asteroid research, such as the chemical composition and mineralogy, the size-frequency distribution of dynamical families, and the relationship between small bodies in the outer solar system or comets. Recently, based on the infrared all-sky survey data obtained by IRAS, AKARI, and WISE, the large asteroid catalogs containing size and albedo data have been constructed. In this paper, we discuss the compositional distribution in the main belt regions based on the compiled data on size, albedo, and separately obtained taxonomic type information.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.181-182
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• 2012

Using the AKARI mid-infrared all-sky survey catalogue, we are searching for debris disks which are important objects as an observational clue to on-going planetary system formation. Debris disk candidates are selected through a significant excess of the measured flux over the predicted flux for the stellar photospheric emission at $18{\mu}m$. The fluxes were originally estimated based on the near-infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of central stars constructed from the 2MASS J-, H-, and Ks-band fluxes. However, we found that in many cases the 2MASS photometry has large errors due to saturation in the central part of a star image. Therefore we performed follow-up observations with the IRSF 1.4m near-infrared telescope in South Africa to obtain accurate fluxes in the J-, H-, and Ks-bands. As a result, we have succeeded in improving the SEDs of the central stars. This improvement of the SEDs allows us to make more reliable selection of the candidates.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.73-75
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• 2017

Debris disks are important observational clues to understanding on-going planetary system formation. They are usually identified by significant mid-infrared excess on top of the photospheric emission of a central star on the basis of prediction from J-, H-, and Ks-band fluxes and the stellar model spectra. For bright stars, 2MASS near-infrared fluxes suffer large uncertainties due to the near-infrared camera saturation. Therefore we have performed follow-up observations with the IRSF 1.4 m near-infrared telescope located in South Africa to obtain accurate J-, H-, and Ks-band fluxes of the central stars. Among 754 main-sequence stars which are detected in the AKARI $18{\mu}m$ band, we have performed photometry for 325 stars with IRSF. As a result, we have successfully improved the flux accuracy of the central stars from 9.2 % to 0.5 % on average. Using this dataset, we have detected $18{\mu}m$ excess emission from 57 stars in our samples with a $3{\sigma}$ level. We find that some of them have high ratios of the excess to the photospheric emission even around very old stars, which cannot be explained by the current planet-formation theories.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.161-164
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• 2012

We performed a spectroscopic survey for cometary volatiles with the Infrared Camera onboard the Japanese infrared satellite AKARI. The observations were carried out in the near-infrared wavelength range in the period from 2008 June to 2010 January. In this paper, we summarize the observations and results of the AKARI survey for the mixing ratios of major volatiles in comets. We derived the $2.5-5{\mu}m$ spectra of 18 comets including both Oort cloud comets and Jupiter-family comets. Prominent emission bands in the observed spectra are the fundamental vibrational bands of water ($H_2O$) at $2.7{\mu}m$ and carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) at $4.3{\mu}m$. The fundamental vibrational band of carbon monoxide (CO) at $4.7{\mu}m$ and the broad emission feature probably related to C-H bearing molecules can also be recognized around the $3.4-3.5{\mu}m$ region in some comets. We detect $CO_2$ in 17 out of 18 comets, and derived gas production rate ratios of $CO_2$ with respect to $H_2O$ in 17 comets. We detect a reliable CO emission band only in three of the comets. Our data set provides the largest homogeneous database of $CO_2/H_2O$ ratios in comets obtained so far.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.331-335
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• 2017

We present project updates of the next-generation infrared space mission SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) as of November 2015. SPICA is optimized for mid- and far-infrared astronomy with unprecedented sensitivity, which will be achieved with a cryogenically cooled (below 8 K), large (2.5 m) telescope. SPICA is expected to address a number of key questions in various fields of astrophysics, ranging from studies of the star-formation history in the universe to the formation and evolution of planetary systems. The international collaboration framework of SPICA has been revisited. SPICA under the new framework passed the Mission Definition Review by JAXA in 2015. A proposal under the new framework to ESA is being prepared. The target launch year in the new framework is 2027/28.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.35.4-36
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• 2015

Gaseous inner disks are the main controller of the final structure of planetary systems as well as the building place of planets, especially of terrestrial planets. However, the inner disk of <5AU is still difficult to be spatially resolved even at the closest star forming regions. Resolving velocity structure in the disk with high resolution infrared spectroscopic study is the best approach to study the inner disk at this moment. Here, we present the IGRINS (Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrometer) result of the Class I young stellar object, ESO Ha 279a, in the Serpens molecular cloud region. IGRINS has a resolving power of R=40,000, corresponding to the velocity resolution of 7 km/s at K-band, which is perfect to study the hot inner disk structure. We report that NaI and CO overtone emission lines are indeed good tracers of the rotating inner warm disk tracing from ~0.04 to ~7AU of this source. We also report the disk properties using other emission lines.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.123-126
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• 2016

Microlensing is generally thought to probe planetary systems only out to a few Einstein radii. Microlensing events generated by bound planets beyond about 10 Einstein radii generally do not yield any trace of their hosts, and so would be classified as free floating planets (FFPs). I show that it is already possible, using adaptive optics (AO), to constrain the presence of potential hosts to FFP candidates at separations comparable to the Oort Cloud. With next-generation telescopes, planets at Kuiper-Belt separations can be probed. Next generation telescopes will also permit routine vetting for all FFP candidates, simply by obtaining second epochs 4-8 years after the event. At present, the search for such hosts is restricted to within the "confusion limit" of θ_confus ∼ 0.25′′, but future WFIRST (Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope) observations will allow one to probe beyond this confusion limit as well.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.54.3-54.3
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• 2015

To probe the star formation in local and early Universe, the NISS with a capability of imaging spectroscopy in the near-infrared is being developed by KASI. The main scientific targets are nearby galaxies, galaxy clusters, star-forming regions and low background regions. The off-axis optical design of the NISS with 15cm aperture was optimized to obtain a wide field of view (FoV) of $2deg.{\times}2deg.$ as well as a wide spectral coverage from 0.9 to $3.8{\mu}m$. The opto-mechanical structure was designed to be safe enough to endure in both the launching condition and the space environment. The dewar will operate $1k{\times}1k$ infrared sensor at 80K stage. The NISS will be launched in 2017 and explore the large areal near-infrared sky up to $200deg.^2$ in order to get both spatial and spectral information for astronomical objects. As an extension of the NISS, KASI is planning to participate in a new small space mission together with NASA. The promising candidate, SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) is an all-sky survey satellite designed to reveal the origin of the Universe and water in the planetary systems and to explore the evolution of galaxies. Though the survey concept is similar to that of the NISS, the SPHEREx will perform the first near-infrared all-sky imaging spectroscopic survey with the wider spectral range from 0.7 to $5{\mu}m$ and the wider FoV of $3.5deg.{\times}7deg.$ Here, we report the current status of the NISS and introduce new mission for the near-infrared imaging spectroscopic survey.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.37.3-37.3
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• 2016

The SPEHREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) is one of the candidates for the Astrophysical Small Explore mission of the NASA proposed together with KASI (PI Institute: Caltech). It will perform an all-sky near-infrared spectral survey to probe the origin of the Universe and water in the planetary systems and to explore the evolution of galaxies. The SPHEREx is designed to cover wide field of view of $3.5{\times}7deg$. as well as wide spectral range from 0.7 to $4.8{\mu}m$ by using four linear variable filters. The SPHEREx is under the Phase-A study to finalize the conceptual design and test plan of the instrument. The international partner, KASI will contribute to the SPHEREx in the hardware as well as the major science cases. The final selection will be made in the early 2017. Here, we report the current status of the SPHEREx mission.