• 천문학회보
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• 제44권2호
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• pp.74.1-74.1
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• 2019

We present the distance measurements of two spiral galaxies NGC 4517, NGC 4592, and neighboring dwarf galaxies found in Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) wide field survey data. Distances to NGC 4517 and NGC 4592 are measured by the Tip of the Red Giant Branch method from archival Hubble Space Telescope data; 9.00^+0.094_-0.260 Mpc for NGC 4517 and 8.90^+0.256_-0.060 Mpc for NGC 4592. The spatial distance between NGC 4517 and NGC 4592 is 300 kpc, which is close enough for them to be considered as a group (NGC 4517 group). Using resolved stellar photometry and Surface Brightness Fluctuation (SBF) method with HSC-SSP data, we estimate the distances to three other dwarf galaxies and confirm that they are members of the group. Velocities of three of the galaxies in the NGC 4517 group show that this group is one of the galaxy groups in the near side of the Virgo Cluster infall region.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제33권2호
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• pp.127-135
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• 2016

Inactive space objects are usually rotating and tumbling as a result of internal or external forces. KOREASAT 1 has been inactive since 2005, and its drift trajectory has been monitored with the optical wide-field patrol network (OWL-Net). However, a quantitative analysis of KOREASAT 1 in regard to the attitude evolution has never been performed. Here, two optical tracking systems were used to acquire raw measurements to analyze the rotation period of two inactive satellites. During the optical campaign in 2013, KOREASAT 1 was observed by a 0.6 m class optical telescope operated by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). The rotation period of KOREASAT 1 was analyzed with the light curves from the photometry results. The rotation periods of the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite ASTRO-H after break-up were detected by OWL-Net on April 7, 2016. We analyzed the magnitude variation of each satellite by differential photometry and made comparisons with the star catalog. The illumination effect caused by the phase angle between the Sun and the target satellite was corrected with the system tool kit (STK) and two line element (TLE) technique. Finally, we determined the rotation period of two inactive satellites on LEO and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) with light curves from the photometry. The main rotation periods were determined to be 5.2 sec for ASTRO-H and 74 sec for KOREASAT 1.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.349-355
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• 2015

As a governmentally approved domestic entity for Space Situational Awareness, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) is developing and operating an optical telescopes system, Optical Wide-field PatroL (OWL) Network. During the test phase of this system, it is necessary to determine the range of brightness of the observable satellites. We have defined standard magnitude for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to calibrate their luminosity in terms of standard parameters such as distance, phase angle, and angular rate. In this work, we report the optical brightness range of five LEO Satellites using OWL-Net.

• 천문학회보
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.37.1-37.1
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• 2013

We present our study of analyzing the photometric properties of the globular cluster (GC) system which resides in the extended halo of the central bright Coma cluster galaxy NGC 4874. The core of the Coma cluster of galaxies (Abell 1656) was observed with both the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in the F475W (g475) and F814W (I814) and Wide Field Camera 3 IR Channel (WFC3/IR) in the F160W (H160) filters. The data analysis procedure and GC candidate selection criteria are briefly described. We investigate the interesting "tilt" features in color-magnitude diagrams for this GC system and their link to the nonlinear color-metallicity relation for GCs. The NGC 4874's GC system exhibits a bimodal distribution in the optical g475-I814 color and much more than half the GCs fall in the red side at g475-I814 ~ 1.1. This bimodality is weakened in the optical-IR I814-H160 color; the quantitative analysis on the features of both color distributions using the Gaussian Mixture Modeling code proves the bimodalities are different. Both colors, thus, cannot linearly reflect the bimodality of an underlying metallicity, supporting the suggestion that observed bimodalities in extragalactic GC colors are the metallicity-to-color projection effect.

• 천문학회보
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• 제35권1호
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• pp.55.2-55.2
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• 2010

We present a photometric and spectroscopic study of the globular clusters (GCs) in the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4636 in the Virgo cluster. The photometry of the GCs is based on HST/WFPC2 images for the inner region and deep, wide field Washington $CT_1$ CCD images for the outer region. We investigated the color distribution, the radial number density profile, the spatial distribution, and the mean color of the bright blue GCs about the GCs in NGC 4636. We obtained spectra of the GC candidates in NGC 4636 using the Multi-Object Spectroscopy (MOS) mode of Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) on the SUBARU 8.2m Telescope. We measured the velocities for 105 GCs in NGC 4636. Using the 238 GCs obtained from combining our results with data in the literature, we investigated the kinematics of the GC system of NGC 4636: the rotation, the velocity dispersion, the radial variation, and the orbit. We also investigated the distribution and the radial variation of the metallicities, ages, and alpha-elements of the GCs in NGC 4636 derived using the absorption lines. We compared the GC kinematics of NGC 4636 with those of other six gEs, finding that the kinematic properties of the GCs are diverse among gEs. We found several correlations between the kinematics of the GCs and the global parameters of their host galaxies. Finally we discuss the implication of the results for the formation models of the GC system in gEs, and suggest a mixture scenario for the origin of the GCs in gEs.

• 천문학회보
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• 제46권1호
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• pp.35.2-35.2
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• 2021

Blue straggler stars (BSs) are "rejuvenated" main sequence stars first recognized by Allan Sandage from his observation of the prominent northern globular cluster M3 in the year of 1953. BSs are now known to be present in diverse stellar environments including open clusters, globular clusters, dwarf galaxies, and even the field populations of the Milky Way. This makes them a very useful tool in a wide range of astrophysical applications: Particularly BSs are considered to have a crucial role in the evolution of stellar clusters because they affect on the dynamics, the binary population, and the history of the stellar evolution of the cluster they belong to. Here we report a part of the preliminary results from our ongoing research on the BSs in the two metal-poor globular clusters (GCs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), Hodge 11 and NGC1466. Using the high precision multi-band images obtained with the Advanced Camera for Survey (ACS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we extract time-series photometry to search for the signal of periodic variations in the luminosity of the BSs. Our preliminary results confirm that several BSs are intrinsic "short period (0.05 < P < 0.25 days)" variable stars with either pulsating or eclipsing types. We will discuss our investigation on the properties of those variable BS candidates in the context of the formation channels of these exotic main sequence stars, and their roles in the dynamical evolution of the host star clusters.

• 천문학회보
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.47.1-47.1
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• 2018

The NISS (Near-infrared Imaging Spectrometer for Star formation history) onboard NEXTSat-1 have successfully developed by KASI. The capability of both imaging and spectroscopy is a unique function of the NISS. At first, it have realized the low-resolution 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 local and distant universe. It will also demonstrate the space technologies related to the infrared spectro-photometry in space. Now, the NISS is ready to launch in late 2018. After the launch, the NISS will be operated during 2 years. As an extension of the NISS, the SPEHREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) is the NASA MIDEX (Medium-class Explorer) mission proposed together with KASI (PI Institute: Caltech). 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 much more wide FoV of $3.5{\times}11.3deg$. as well as wide spectral range from 0.75 to $5.0{\mu}m$. After passing the first selection process, the SPHEREx is under the Phase-A study. The final selection will be made in the end of 2018. Here, we report the status of the NISS and SPHEREx missions.

• 천문학회보
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.44.1-44.1
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• 2016

The Sagittarius-Carina spiral arm in the Galaxy contains several massive young open clusters. We present a deep optical photometric study on the massive young open clusters in the Sagittarius-Carina arm, Westerlund 2 and the young open clusters in the ${\eta}$ Carina nebula. Westerlund 2 is a less studied starburst-type cluster in the Galaxy. An abnormal reddening law for the intracluster medium of the young starburst-type cluster Westerlund 2 is determined to be $R_{V,cl}=4.14{\pm}0.08$. The distance modulus is determined from zero-age main-sequence fitting to the reddening-corrected color-magnitude diagrams of the early-type members to be $V_0-M_V=13.9{\pm}0.14mag$. The pre-main sequence (PMS) members of Westerlund 2 are selected by identifying the optical counterparts of X-ray emission sources from the Chandra X-ray observation and mid-infrared emission sources from the Spitzer/IRAC (the Infrared Array Camera) observation. The initial mass function (IMF) shows a slightly flat slope of ${\Gamma}=-1.1{\pm}0.1$ down to $5M_{\odot}$. The age of Westerlund 2 is estimated to be. 1.5 Myr from the main-sequence turn-on luminosity and the age distribution of PMS stars. The ${\eta}$ Carina nebula is the best laboratory for the investigation of the Galactic massive stars and low-mass star formation under the influence of numerous massive stars. We have performed deep wide-field CCD photometry of stars in the ${\eta}$ Carina nebula to determine the reddening law, distance, and the IMF of the clusters in the nebula. We present VRI and $H{\alpha}$ photometry of 130,571 stars from the images obtained with the 4m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). RV,cl in the η Carina nebula gradually decreases from the southern part (~4.5, around Trumpler 14 and Trumpler 16) to the northern part around Trumpler 15 (~3.5). Distance to the young open clusters in the ${\eta}$ Carina nebula is partly revised based on the zero-age main-sequence fitting to the reddening-corrected color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and the (semi-) reddening-independent CMDs. We select the PMS members and candidates by identifying the optical counterparts of X-ray sources from the Chandra Carina Complex Survey and mid-infrared excess emission stars from the Spitzer Vela-Carina survey. From the evolutionary stage of massive stars and PMS stars, we obtain that the northern young open cluster Trumpler 15 is distinctively older than the southern young open clusters, Trumpler 14 (${\leq}2.5 Myr$) and Trumpler 16 (2.5-3.5 Myr). The slopes of the IMF of Trumpler 14, Trumpler 15, and Trumpler 16 are determined to be $-1.2{\pm}0.1$, $-1.5{\pm}0.3$, and $-1.1{\pm}0.1$, respectively. Based on the RV,cl of several young open clusters determined in this work and the previous studies of our group, We suggest that higher RV,cl values are commonly found for very young open clusters with the age of < 4 Myr. We also confirm the correlation between the slope of the IMF and the surface mass density of massive stars.

• 천문학회지
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• 제46권6호
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• pp.203-224
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• 2013

Wide-field $JHK_s$ images obtained with the SIRIUS near-infrared camera of the IRSF 1.4m telescope are used to examine the tidal structures of the spatial stellar configuration around six metal-poor ([Fe/H]< -1.0) globular clusters located within 3 kpc from the Galactic center. The radial surface density profiles are obtained from the surface photometry of the cluster images and the star counting for the photometric data. For the star counting, candidates of cluster member stars are selected with an filtering algorithm in color-magnitude diagrams. We find that the six target clusters show tidal overdensity features in the radial surface density profiles. There is a break inside the tidal radius for each cluster, and the profile in the outer overdensity region is characterized by a power law. Two-dimensional density maps of all the clusters show distorted asymmetric stellar configurations in the outer region. In five out of the six target clusters, the overdensity features are likely to be associated with the effects of the Galaxy dynamical interaction and the cluster space motions. The observed tidal configurations of stars suggest that several metal-poor clusters in the Galactic bulge are possibly surviving remnants of mergers to build the old stellar system of the Galactic bulge.

• 천문학회보
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.48.2-48.2
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• 2016

The wide-field and the round-the clock operation capabilities of the KMTNet enables the discovery, astrometry and follow-up physical characterization of asteroids and comets in a most efficient way. We collectively refer to the team members, partner organizations, the dedicated software subsystem, the computing facility and research activities as Deep Ecliptic Patrol of the Southern Sky (DEEP-South). Most of the telescope time for DEEP-South is devoted to targeted photometry of Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) to push up the number of the population with known physical properties from several percent to several dozens of percent, in the long run. We primarily adopt Johnson R-band for lightcurve study, while we employ BVI filters for taxonomic classification and detection of any possible color variations of an object at the same time. In this presentation, the progress and new findings since the last KAS meeting will be outlined. We report DEEP-South preliminary lightcurves of several dozens of NEAs obtained at three KMTNet stations during the first year runs. We also present a physical model of asteroid (5247) Krylov, the very first Non principal Axis (NPA) rotator that has been confirmed in the main belt (MB). A new asteroid taxonomic classification scheme will be introduced with an emphasis on its utility in the LSST era. The progress on the current version of automated mover detection software will also be summarized.