• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.161-174
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• 2009

Observation of standard stars is of crucial importance in stellar photometry. We have studied the standard transformation relations of the UBV RI CCD photometric system at the Maidanak Astronomical Observatory in Uzbekistan. All observations were made with the AZT-22 1.5m telescope, SITe 2k CCD or Fairchild 486 CCD, and standard Bessell UBV RI filters from 2003 August to 2007 September. We observed many standard stars around the celestial equator observed by SAAO astronomers. The atmospheric extinction coefficients, photometric zero points, and time variation of photometric zero points of each night were determined. Secondary extinction coefficients and photometric zero points were very stable, while primary extinction coefficients showed a distinct seasonal variation. We also determined the transformation coefficients for each filter. For B, V, R, and I filters, the transformation to the SAAO standard system could be achieved with a straight line or a combination of two straight lines. However, in the case of the U filter and Fairchild 486 CCD combination, a significant non-linear correction term - related to the size of Balmer jump or the strength of the Balmer lines - of up to 0:08 mags was required. We found that our data matched well the SAAO photometry in V, B - V, V - I, and R - I. But in U - B, the difference in zero point was about 3.6 mmag and the scatter was about 0.02 mag. We attribute the relatively large scatter in U -B to the larger error in U of the SAAO photometry. We confirm the mostly small differences between the SAAO standard UBV RI system and the Landolt standard system. We also attempted to interpret the seasonal variation of the atmospheric extinction coefficients in the context of scattering sources in the earth's atmosphere.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.67-74
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• 1998

The VI CCD photometry is made for stars in the globular cluster M22 down to $V\approx19^m,\;I\approx18^m$. In the color-magnitude diagram (CMD), red giant branch (RGB), asymtotic giant branch (AGB) and blue horizontal branch (BHB) are well defined. The luminosity functions (LF) of RGB, AGB and BHB stars are derived, discussing deficient gaps and bumps in the CMD. The anomalously wide RGB seen in the BV photometric system is found to disappear in the VI photometric system.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2001

We developed an observation program for a 2K CCD camera, which was newly attached at the SOAO (Sobaeksan Optical Astronomy Observatory) 61cm telescope. The program was designed to control the telescope as well as the CCD camera and to monitor the CCD image quality, with very easy under the window-based graphical user interface (GUI). Furthermore, applying the automated differential photometric algorithm, we can obtain the instrumental magnitudes of several variable and comparison stars in real-time. Simultaneous photometry enables us to get precise differential magnitudes of variable stars even if the weather condition is not photometric. This new observation system has been using for many astronomical observations from September, 2001.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.741-743
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• 2015

We have designed and built three cost effective observatories, in distinct models, which can house Schmidt-Cassegrain type small telescopes having aperture sizes up to 16 inches. Using the available small telescopes, we provided the people of Manipura State in the far north-east corner of India the opportunity to observe directly with their own eyes the rare, spectacular events of the solar eclipse of January 15, 2010, lunar eclipse of December 10, 2011 and the transit of Venus of June 6, 2012. Apart from sharing a platform with the public for astronomy education and popularization through public outreach programs such as workshops, seminars and night watch programs, we have also developed a laboratory infrastructure and gained expertise in observational techniques based on photoelectric photometry, CCD imaging, CCD photometry and spectroscopy. Our team has become a partner in the ongoing international 'Orion project' headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, USA which will be producing high quality photometric and spectroscopic data for five stars in the Orion constellation, namely Betelgeuse (alpha Orionis), Rigel (beta Orionis), Mintaka (delta Orionis), Alnilam (epsilon Orionis) and Alnitak (zeta Orionis). In the present paper, the authors would like to give a detailed report of their activities for the growth of astronomy in the state of Manipur, India.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.205-209
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• 2015

The Eclipsing Binaries Minima (BIMA) Monitoring Project is a CCD-based photometric observational program initiated by Bosscha Observatory - Lembang, Indonesia in June 2012. Since December 2012 the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) has joined the BIMA Project as the main partner. This project aims to build an open-database of eclipsing binary minima and to establish the orbital period of each system and its variations. The project is conducted on the basis of multisite monitoring observations of eclipsing binaries with magnitudes less than 19 mag. Differential photometry methods have been applied throughout the observations. Data reduction was performed using IRAF. The observations were carried out in BVRI bands using three different small telescopes situated in Indonesia, Thailand, and Chile. Computer programs have been developed for calculating the time of minima. To date, more than 140 eclipsing binaries have been observed. From them 71 minima have been determined. We present and discuss the O-C diagrams for some eclipsing binary systems.