• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.155-166
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• 2007

We have designed a high resolution proton and electron telescope for the detection of high energy particles, which constitute a major part of the space environment. The flux of the particles, in the satellite orbits, can vary abruptly according to the position and solar activities. In this study, a conceptual design of the detector, for adapting these variations with a high energy resolution, was made and the performance was estimated. In addition, a parallel processing algorithm was devised and embodied using FPGA for the high speed data processing, capable of detecting high flux without losing energy resolution, on board a satellite.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.61-69
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• 2009

Transverse velocity vectors can be determined from a pair of images successively taken with a time interval using an optical flow technique. We have tested the performance of the new technique called NAVE (non-linear affine velocity estimator) recently implemented by Chae & Sakurai using real image data taken by the Narrowband Filter Imager (NFI) of the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) aboard the Hinode satellite. We have developed two methods of estimating the errors in the determination of velocity vectors, one resulting from the non-linear fitting ${\sigma}_{\upsilon}$ and the other ${\epsilon}_u$ resulting from the statistics of the determined velocity vectors. The real error is expected to be somewhere between ${\sigma}_{\upsilon}$ and ${\epsilon}_u$. We have investigated the dependence of the determined velocity vectors and their errors on the different parameters such as the critical speed for the subsonic filtering, the width of the localizing window, the time interval between two successive images, and the signal-to-noise ratio of the feature. With the choice of $v_{crit}$ = 2 pixel/step for the subsonic filtering, and the window FWHM of 16 pixels, and the time interval of one step (2 minutes), we find that the errors of velocity vectors determined using the NAVE range from around 0.04 pixel/step in high signal-to-noise ratio features (S/N $\sim$ 10), to 0.1 pixel/step in low signa-to-noise ratio features (S/N $\sim$ 3) with the mean of about 0.06 pixel/step where 1 pixel/step corresponds roughly to 1 km/s in our case.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.319-325
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• 2014

We map two molecular clouds located in the exact anticenter region emitting in the (J = 1-0) transition of $^{12}CO$ and $^{13}CO$ using the 3-mm SIS mixer receiver on the 14-m radio telescope at Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory. The target clouds with anomalous velocities of $V_{LSR}{\sim}-20km\;s^{-1}$ are distinguished from other clouds in this direction. In addition, they are located in the interarm region between the Orion Arm and the Perseus Arm. Sizes of the clouds are estimated to be about 8.6 and 10.8 pc, respectively. The total mass is estimated to be about $4{\times}10^3$ $M_{\odot}$ using CO luminosity of the clouds. Several cores are detected, but no sign of star formation is found according to the IRAS point sources. Their larger linewidths, anomalous velocities, and their location at the interarm region make these clouds more distinguished, though their physical properties are similar to the dark clouds in the solar neighborhood in terms of mass and size.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.49.1-49.1
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• 2010

The study of pores, small penumbraless sunspots, can give us a chance to understand how strong magnetic fields interact with convective motions in the photosphere. For a better understanding of this interaction, we investigate the temporal variation of several tiny pores smaller than 2". These pores were observed by the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard Hinode on 2006 December 29. We have analyzed the high resolution spectropolarimetric (SP) data and the G-band filtergrams taken during the observation. Magnetic flux density and Doppler velocities of the pores are estimated by applying the center of gravity (COG) method to the SP data. The horizontal motions in and around the pores are tracked by adopting the Nonlinear Affine Velocity Estimator (NAVE) method to the G-band filter images. As results, we found the followings. (1) Darkness of pores is positively correlated with magnetic flux density. (2) Downflows always exist inside and around the pores. (3) The speed of downflows inside the pores is negatively correlated with their darkness. (4) The pores are surrounded by strong downflows. (5) Brightness changes of the pores are correlated with the divergence of mass flow (correlation coefficient > 0.9). (6) The pores in the growing phase are associated with the converging flow pattern and the pores in the decay phase with the diverging flow pattern. Our results support the idea that a pore grows as magnetic flux density increases due to the convergence of ambient mass flow and it decays with the decrease of the flux density due to the diverging mass flow.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.75.4-76
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• 2016

DEEP-South (Deep Ecliptic patrol of the Southern sky) is one of the secondary science projects of KMTNet (Korea Microlensing Telescope Network). The objective of this project is twofold, the physical characterization and the discovery of small Solar System bodies, focused on NEOs (Near Earth objects). In order to achieve the goals, we are implementing a software package to detect and report moving objects in the $18k{\times}18k$ mosaic CCD images of KMTNet. In this paper, we present preliminary results of the moving object detection experiments using the prototype MODP (Moving Object Detection Program). We utilize multiple images that are being taken at three KMTNet sites, towards the same target fields (TFs) obtained at different epochs. This prototype package employs existing softwares such as SExtractor (Source-Extracto) and SCAMP (Software for Calibrating Astrometry and Photometry); SExtractor generates catalogs, while SCAMP conducts precision astrometric calibration, then MODP determines if a point source is moving. We evaluated the astrometric accuracy and efficiency of the current version of MODP. The plan for upgrading MODP will also be mentioned.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.245-253
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• 1995

We have analyzed the time series of Ca II H,K and ${\lambda}8498$ line profiles taken for a sunspot (SPO 5007) with the Echelle spectrograph attached to Vacuum Tower Telescope at Sacramento Peak Solar Observatory. Each set of spectra was taken simultaneously for 20 minutes at a time interval of 30 seconds. A total of 40 photographic films for each line was scanned by a PDS at Korea Astronomy Observatory. The central peak intensity of Ca II H ($I_{max}$), the intensity measured at ${\Delta}{\lambda}=-0.1{\AA}$ from the line center of ${\lambda}8498(I_{{\lambda}8489})$, the radial velocity ($V_r$) and the Doppler width (${\Delta}{\lambda}_D$) estimated from Ca II H have been measured to study the dynamical behaviors of the sunspot chromosphere. Fourier analysis has been carried out for these measured quantities. Our main results are as follows: (1) We have confirmed the 3-minute oscillation being dominant throughout the umbra. The period of oscillations jumps from 180 sec in the umbra to 500 to 1000 sec in the penumbra. (2) The nonlinear character of the umbral oscillation is noted from the observed sawtooth shaped radial velocity fluctuations with amplitudes reaching up to $5{\sim}6\;km/sec$. (3) The spatial distribution of the maximum powers shows that the power of oscillations is stronger in the umbra than in the penumbra. (4) The spatial distributions of the time averaged < $I_{max}$ > and < $V_r$ > across the spot are found to be nearly axially symmetric, implying that the physical quantities derived from the line profiles of Ca II H and ${\lambda}8498$ are inherently associated with the geometry of the magnetic field distribution of the spot. (5) The central peaks of the CaII H emission core lead the upward motions of the umbral atmosphere by $90^{\circ}$, while no phase delay is found in intensities between $I_{max}$ and $I_{{\lambda}8498}$, suggesting that the umbral oscillation is of standing waves.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.167-173
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• 2012

Inter-granular Bright Points (igBPs) are small-scale objects in the Solar photosphere which can be seen within dark inter-granular lanes. We present a new algorithm to automatically detect and extract igBPs. Laplacian and Morphological Dilation (LMD) technique is employed by the algorithm. It involves three basic processing steps: (1) obtaining candidate "seed" regions by Laplacian; (2) determining the boundary and size of igBPs by morphological dilation; (3) discarding brighter granules by a probability criterion. For validating our algorithm, we used the observed samples of the Dutch Open Telescope (DOT), collected on April 12, 2007. They contain 180 high-resolution images, and each has a $85{\times}68\;arcsec^2$ field of view (FOV). Two important results are obtained: first, the identified rate of igBPs reaches 95% and is higher than previous results; second, the diameter distribution is $220{\pm}25km$, which is fully consistent with previously published data. We conclude that the presented algorithm can detect and extract igBPs automatically and effectively.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.133-137
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• 2015

The Galactic center uniquely provides opportunities to resolve how star clusters form in neutral gas overdensities engulfed in a large-scale accretion flow. We have performed sensitive Green Bank 100m Telescope (GBT), Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA), and Submillimeter Array (SMA) mapping observations of molecular gas and thermal dust emission surrounding the Galaxy's supermassive black hole (SMBH) Sgr $A^{\ast}$. We resolved several molecular gas streams orbiting the center on ${\gtrsim}10$ pc scales. Some of these gas streams appear connected to the well-known 2-4 pc scale molecular circumnuclear disk (CND). The CND may be the tidally trapped inner part of the large-scale accretion flow, which incorporates inflow via exterior gas filaments/arms, and ultimately feeds gas toward Sgr $A^{\ast}$. Our high resolution GBT+JVLA $NH_3$ images and SMA+JCMT 0.86 mm dust continuum image consistently reveal abundant dense molecular clumps in this region. These gas clumps are characterized by ${\gtrsim}100$ times higher virial masses than the derived molecular gas masses based on 0.86 mm dust continuum emission. In addition, Class I $CH_3OH$ masers and some $H_2O$ masers are observed to be well associated with the dense clumps. We propose that the resolved gas clumps may be pressurized gas reservoirs for feeding the formation of 1-10 solar-mass stars. These sources may be the most promising candidates for ALMA to probe the process of high-mass star-formation in the Galactic center.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.120.1-120.1
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• 2012

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) launched on June 16, 2009 has six experiments including of the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) onboard. The CRaTER instrument characterizes the radiation environment to be experienced by humans during future lunar missions. The CRaTER instrument measures the effects of ionizing energy loss in matter specifically in silicon solid-state detectors due to penetrating solar energetic protons (SEP) and galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) after interactions with tissue-equivalent plastic (TEP), a synthetic analog of human tissue. The CRaTER instrument houses a compact and highly precise microdosimeter. It measures dose rates below one micro-Rad/sec in silicon in lunar radiation environment. Forbush decrease (FD) event is the sudden decrease of GCR flux. We use the data of cosmic ray and dose rates observed by the CRaTER instrument. We also use the CME list of STEREO SECCHI inner, outer coronagraph and the interplanetary CME data of the ACE/MAG instrument.We examine the origins and the characteristics of the FD-like events in lunar radiation environment. We also compare these events with the FD events on the Earth. We find that whenever the FD events are recorded at ground Neutron Monitor stations, the FD-like events also occur on the lunar environments. The flux variation amplitude of FD-like events on the Moon is approximately two times larger than that of FD events on the Earth. We compare time profiles of GCR flux with of the dose rate of FD-like events in the lunar environment. We figure out that the distinct FD-like events correspond to dose rate events in the CRaTER on lunar environment during the event period.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.129-137
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• 2021

It has been established that the acoustic mode parameters of the Sun and Sun-like stars vary over activity cycles. Since the observed variations are not consistent with an activity-related origin, even Sun-like stars showing out-of-phase changes of mode frequencies and amplitudes need to be carefully studied using other observational quantities. In order to test whether the presumed relations between the global seismic parameters are a signature of the stellar activity cycle, we analyze the photometric light curve of HD 49933 for which the first direct detection of an asteroseismic signature for activity-induced variations in a Sun-like star was made, using observations by the CoRoT space telescope. We find that the amplitude of the envelope significantly anti-correlates with both the maximum frequency of the envelope and the width of the envelope unless superflare-like events completely contaminate the light curve. However, even though the photometric proxy for stellar magnetic activity appears to show relations with the global asteroseismic parameters, they are statistically insignificant. Therefore, we conclude that the global asteroseismic parameters can be utilized in cross-checking asteroseismic detections of activity-related variations in Sun-like stars, and that it is probably less secure and effective to construct a photometric magnetic activity proxy to indirectly correlate the global asteroseismic parameters. Finally, we seismically estimate the mass of HD 49933 based on our determination of the large separation of HD 49933 with evolutionary tracks computed by the MESA code and find a value of about 1.2M_☉ and a sub-solar metallicity of Z = 0.008, which agrees with the current consensus and with asteroseismic and non-asteroseismic data.