• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.379-388
• /
• 2007

Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) of satellite image is an important performance index in satellite image applications. Therefore MTF performance is assessed using satellite image for the ground target during LEOP phase after launch. But the MTF performance assessment using the ground target can be affected by imaging conditions such as cloud and weather. In this paper system requirements and satellite operation for assessing MTF performance of satellite image using stellar sources are proposed. Satellite capability in collecting stellar sources using the satellite which is designed for earth observation and satellite image usefulness for assessing MTF performances were analyzed. The proposed approach will be useful to assess MTF performance of earth observation satellite in lower earth orbit.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.44 no.1
• /
• pp.67.4-67.4
• /
• 2019

We present preliminary results of our long-term (2009-2017) observing campaign using the NASA IRTF at Mauna Kea, to obtain $2-5{\mu}m$ spectroscopy of ~200 red point sources in the line of sight to the Galactic center. Point sources in our sample were selected from the mid-infrared images of the Spitzer Space telescope, and include candidate massive young stellar objects, which have previously been identified from our Spitzer/IRS spectroscopy. We show high foreground extinction of these sources from deep $3.1{\mu}m$ H2O ice and aliphatic hydrocarbon absorption features, suggesting that they are likely located in the central 300 pc region of the Galactic center. While many sources reveal photospheric $2.3{\mu}m$ gas CO absorption, few of them clearly indicate $3.54{\mu}m$ CH3OH ice absorption, possibly indicating a large dust column density intrinsic to a massive young stellar object.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.114-114
• /
• 2014

We present our activities linking to planning of possible forms of large program to study on circumstellar H2O and SiO maser sources with KaVA. A great advantage of KaVA for the stellar maser observations is the combination of the unique capability of the multi-frequency phase referencing technique of KVN and the dual-beam astrometry of VERA with the KaVA's relative dense antenna configuration. We have demonstrated this advantage through the test observations conducted by the KaVA Evolved Stars Sub-working Group since 2012 March. Snapshot KaVA imaging is confirmed to be possible in integration time of 0.5 hour at the 22 GHz band and 1.0 hour at the 43 GHz band in typical cases. This implies that large snapshot imaging surveys towards many H2O and SiO stellar masers are possible within a reasonable machine time (e.g., scans on ~100 maser sources within 200 hours). This possibility enables us to select the maser sources, which are suitable for future long-term (10 years) intensive (biweekly-monthly) monitoring observations, from 1000 potential target candidates selected from dual-frequency band (K/Q-bands) KVN single-dish observations. The output of the survey programs will be used for statistical analysis of the structures of individual stellar maser clumps and the spatio-kinematical structures of circumstellar envelopes with accelerating outflows. The combination of astrometry in milliarcsecond(mas) level and the multi-phase referencing technique yields not only trigonometric parallax distances to the masers but also precise position reference for registration of different maser lines. The accuracy of the map registration affects interpretation of the excitation mechanism of the SiO maser lines and the origin of the variety of the maser actions, which are expected to reflect periodic behaviors of the circumstellar envelope with stellar pulsation. Currently we are checking the technical feasibility of KaVA operations for this combination. After this feasibility test, the long-term monitoring campaign program will run as one of KaVA's legacy projects.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.236.1-236.1
• /
• 2012

We conducted simultaneous 22GHz water maser and 44GHz class I methanol maser surveys of newly-identified 282 H2 emission features from the $2.122{\mu}m$ H2 narrowband image survey in the Galactic plane (UWISH2 project) using Korea VLBI Network (KVN) 21-m radio telescopes. We detected 16 and 13 new water and methanol maser sources, respectively. This result indicates that at least ~5% of the H2 emission features originate from young stellar objects (YSOs) that are in the right physical condition to produce the water and methanol masers. The masers are closely related to the current outflow activities in the Galactic plane. The power sources of these 23 diffused/collimated H2 emission features (six sources are detected for both masers) are likely to be intermediate-to high-mass YSOs, based on a comparison with the maser luminosities of other well-studied YSOs. Both maser velocities are mostly close to their own systemic velocities within 5 km/s, even though water masers generally show larger variabilities in the line intensities, velocities, and shapes than methanol masers. We also discovered three new water maser sources with high-velocity components: ~25 km/s red-shifted CMHO019, ~50 km/s blue-shifted CMHO132, and ~120 km/s blue-shifted CMHO182. In particular, we propose that the dominant blue-shifted water maser of CHMO182 could become a unique laboratory for the study of high-mass stellar jet and their accelerations.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.273-284
• /
• 2011

A method of stellar source selection for validating the quality of image is investigated for a low Earth orbit optical remote sensing satellite. Image performance of the optical payload needs to be validated after its launch into orbit. The stellar sources are ideal source points that can be used to validate the quality of optical images. For the image validation, stellar sources should be the brightest as possible in the charge-coupled device dynamic range. The time delayed and integration technique, which is used to observe the ground, is also performed to observe the selected stars. The relations between the incident radiance at aperture and V magnitude of a star are established using Gunn & Stryker's star catalogue of spectrum. Applying this result, an appropriate image performance index is determined, and suitable stars and areas of the sky scene are selected for the optical payload on a remote sensing satellite to observe. The result of this research can be utilized to validate the quality of optical payload of a satellite in orbit.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.44 no.2
• /
• pp.51.1-51.1
• /
• 2019

At the commissioning phase of KVN from 2009 to 2013, single-dish survey and monitoring observations were performed toward about 1000 evolved stars and about 60 relatively strong SiO and H2O maser sources respectively. Based on these single-dish results and VLBI feasibility test observations at K/Q/W/D bands in 2014, KVN Key Science Project (KSP) has started from 2015 and will be completed in 2019 as KSP phase I. Here we present the overview of observational studies on evolved stars using KVN. In KSP phase I, we have focused on nine KSP sources which show a successful astrometrically registered maps of SiO and H2O masers using the source frequency phase referencing method. We aim at investigating the spatial structure and dynamical effect from 43/42/86/129 GHz SiO to 22 GHz H2O maser regions associated with a stellar pulsation and development of asymmetry in circumstellar envelopes. Using the combined network KaVA (KVN+Japanese VLBI network VERA), KaVA Large Program titled on "Expanded Study on Stellar Masers: ESTEMA Phase I" was performed from 2015 to 2016. Based on ESTEMA Phase I, EAVN Large Program titled on "EAVN Synthesis of Stellar Maser Animations: ESTEMA Phase II" was also performed from 2018. The ESTEMA II project aims to publish composite animations of circumstellar H2O and SiO masers, which taken from up to 6 long-period variable stars with a variety of the pulsation periods (333-1000 days). The animations will exhibit the three-dimensional kinematics of the maser gas clumps with complexity caused by stellar pulsation-driven shock waves and anisotropy of clump ejections from the stellar surface. Adding three EAVN telescopes (Tianma 65m, Nanshan 26m and NRO 45m telescopes) with KaVA always secures the high quality of the maser image frames through the monitoring program.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.51.2-51.2
• /
• 2010

We have carried out an extensive statistical analysis based on the results of simultaneous observations of SiO and $H_2O$ masers toward 166 known SiO and $H_2O$ maser sources using KVN_Yonsei radio telescope (Kim et al.2010, ApJS submitted). We investigate the distributions of the mean velocities and the intensity ratios between SiO and $H_2O$ maser emission including those between SiO v=1 and v=2,J=1-0 transitions according to type of evolved stars. We also investigate mutual relations between SiO and $H_2O$ maser properties(total flux densities and velocity structures etc.) according to stellar pulsation phases. Most of SiO masers appear around the stellar velocity (80 % within ${\pm}5km\;s^{-1}$), while $H_2O$ masers show a different characteristic compared with SiO masers (69% within ${\pm}5km\;s^{-1}$). In addition, we investigate a correlation between $SiO/H_2O$ maser emission and AKARIFIS flux density as well as the AKARI color characteristics of SiO and $H_2O$ observational results in the AKARIFIS two-color diagram.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.31.2-31.2
• /
• 2012

We present the Yonsei Evolutionary Population Synthesis (YEPS) models for spectroscopic and photometric evolutions of simple and composite stellar populations. The models are based on the most up-to-date Yonsei-Yale stellar evolutionary tracks and BaSel 3.1 flux libraries, and provide integrated spectroscopic quantities of Lick/IDS system including high-order Balmer absorption-lines. Special care has been taken to incorporate the systematic variation of horizontal branch (HB) morphology as functions of metallicity, age, alpha-element mixture, and helium abundance of simple stellar populations. Our models for normal-helium stellar populations indicate that the realistic modeling of HB and alpha-element brings about 5 Gyr and 0.1 dex differences in age and metallicity estimations, respectively, compared to those without these effects. The HB effect does not depend on the specific choice of stellar libraries and alpha-element enhancements, and this effect is non-negligible even in the metal sensitive absorption indices, such as Mg2 and Mg b. Comparison of the models to observations reveals that the HB and alpha-element effects are critical in understanding otherwise inexplicable phenomena found in globular cluster systems in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, including the observed bimodality of the line strengths of globular clusters in massive galaxies. In addition, we found that helium-enhanced stellar populations, which are the major sources of extreme HB stars, bring about increased FUV, NUV fluxes, and thus the model colors of those filters become extremely blue. Age dating based on the YEPS model with normal-helium stellar populations reveals that the evidence for 'downsizing' of elliptical galaxies is found not only in the local field but also in Coma cluster, and that the mean age of elliptical galaxies in Coma cluster is about 1.4 Gyr younger than the mean age of those in the local field. We also find that our models with helium-enhanced subpopulations can naturally reproduce the strong UV-upturns observed in giant elliptical galaxies assuming an age similar to that of old GCs in the Milky Way.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.72.1-72.1
• /
• 2010

We present infrared and millimeter observations of the active star-forming complex W51. A $1.25\;deg\times1.00\;deg$ region that includes the W51 complex was covered in the J = 2 - 1 transition of the $^{12}CO$ and $^{13}CO$ molecules with the University of Arizona Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope. We use a statistical equilibrium code to estimate physical properties of the molecular gas. Using Spitzer data we identify young stellar objects (YSOs) and fit model spectral energy distributions to these sources and constrain their physical properties. We compare the molecular cloud morphology with the distribution of infrared and radio continuum sources and find associations between molecular clouds and YSOs. We estimate that about 1% of the cloud mass is currently in YSOs.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.83.2-83.2
• /
• 2011

I present results from the Spitzer/IRS study to identify massive young stellar objects (YSOs) in the Galactic Center (GC). Our sample of 107 YSO candidates was selected based on Spitzer/IRAC colors in the central 300 pc region of the Milky Way Galaxy. We obtained IRS spectra over $5{\mu}m$ to $35{\mu}m$, and identified massive YSOs by the presence of a $15.4{\mu}m$ shoulder on the absorption profile of $15{\mu}m$ $CO_2$ ice, suggestive of high $CH_3OH$ abundance on $CO_2$ ice grains. This $15.4{\mu}m$ shoulder is clearly observed in 16 sources and possibly observed in an additional 19 sources. We further show that 9 massive YSOs reveal molecular gas-phase absorption from $CO_2$, $C_2H_2$, and/or HCN, which traces warm and dense gas in YSOs. Our results provide the first spectroscopic census of the massive YSO population in the GC.