We will outline the current status of the Seoul
National University Bright Quasar Survey in Optical
(SNUQSO). Bright quasars can serve as useful astrophysical
tool, but not every bright quasars have been discovered to date.
SNUQSO has searched for missing bright quasars in the
northern hemisphere as well as at the low galactic latitude
region also known as the zone of avoidance. Through
our search till June 2006, we have uncovered more than a dozen
new bright quasars using Boyunsan Observatory\/s 1.8m telescope.
Follow-up optical imaging observations have been undertaken
using the SNU\/s newly installed 4k x 4k CCD camera on the
Maidanak Observatory\/s 1.5m telescope at sub-arcsec seeing.
We will also review preliminary results from the optical imaging
observation and the new 4k x 4k CCD camera on the
Maidanak Observatory.

The Anglo-Australian Observatory (jointly funded by the UK and
Australian governments) has an ongoing technology development and
instrumentation program that has yielded forefront astronomical
instruments used around the world (e.g. OzPoz on the VLT, 2dF on the AAT).
An overview of the current instrumentation projects underway will be
presented. This will cover the recently commissioned AAOmega
spectrograph (a bench mounted, dual beam spectrograph fed by the fibers
from the 2dF positioner), Echidna (a new technology fiber positioner for
the FMOS instrument on Subaru), and WFMOS (a very wide-field MOS system
for Subaru that was recently explored in a Feasibility Study for Gemini).
The Instrument Science group at the AAO is actively involved in
exploring and exploiting new technologies applicable to astronomical
instrumentation. Studies including development of autonomous pickup
relays for multi-object instruments (Starbugs), development of OH
suppression in fiber optics, and continued evaluation of other ermging
fiber optic technologies are presently underway. An overview of those
activities will be given.

The presentation will be in three parts. The first part will be on the “origin of Type II radio bursts without the coronal mass ejections (CMEs)”. There are debates on the origin of type II bursts in the solar corona: (i) flare blast-wave driven and (ii) CME-piston driven. We have made an analysis to check whether there are any type II bursts that can be generated without CMEs. The second part will be on the “relation between the X-ray plasma ejections and type IIs”. The plasma eruptions very close to the sun are observed in X-rays using the satellite Yohkoh. We have studied in detail the association between these X-ray plasma ejections and type IIs. The final part of the presentation will be on some of the recent works in progress.

Star clusters are likely to be formed with initial angular momentum.
Dynamical evolution of rotating star clusters has been investigated
by the Fokker-Planck method and N-body integration. The rotation is
found to accelerate the core collapse as well as the post collapse
evolution. The angular momentum is transferred outward through the
relaxation process. The computational details and the astrophysical
implications of our recent findings will be presented.

Solid State Telescope(SST), one of the four space plasma instruments being developed for STSAT-1, is designed specifically to measure the energetic electrons with energies from 25KeV to 600KeV. With three other plasma instruments, Electro-static Analyzer(ESA), Langmuir Probe(LP), and Scientific Magnetometer(SM), SST allows in-situ detection of penetrating auroral electrons in the polar region and thus, the study of microscale physics with high time resolution data of the earth\\/s polar region that has not been previously achieved with other space missions.

As our society increasingly relies on spacecraft operations in the Earth’s magnetosphere, the forecast of the space weather become more significant. Specially, the long-duration (for several days) high intensity fluxes of relativistic electrons (more than MeV energy) have been revealed to affect serious operation failure or damage to spacecrafts and satellites. So many researchers have tried to understand the dynamics of those relativistic electrons: where they come from and how they get so high energy. This work focus on the possibility of substorm injected electrons as seed electrons of relativistic electrons at the inner magnetosphere during magnetic storm time and we tested ULF and whistler chorus wave as one of acceleration mechanisms of relativistic electrons.

남극세종과학기지에서는 1990년부터 3성분 ring core fluxgate 자력계, proton 자력계를 이용하여 지자기장의 변화를 측정해오고 있다. 또한 2006년부터는 절대지자기측정도 병행하고 있다. 현재 세종기지의 지자기 자료는 인공위성과 인터넷을 통해 실시간으로 미국지질조사소로 전송되고 있다. 2007년에는 세계적 지자기 관측망인 INTERMAGNET에도 가입할 예정이다. 세종기지의 지자기 관측은 관측소가 적은 남극에서 그 희소성을 인정받고 있으며, 우주환경변화 연구에도 활용될 수 있을 것이다

Inflation is the most promising candidate to solve various cosmological problems of the big bang cosmology. We start with the motivation of inflation, and briefly review the scenario of cosmological inflation. Then we discuss some incorrectly known subjects on inflation.

Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) are a class of small bodies located beyond 30 AU from the Sun, and Centaur objects are another class of those orbiting mainly between Jupiter and Saturn. With the rapid discovery of growing number each year, over 1,000 KBOs and 60 Centaurs were known to date. Two out of three dwarf planets, which are new class by IAU resolution voted in Prague are the member of KBOs. It is widely believed that they are remnant planetesimals from the early accretion phases of the Solar System and constitute an important reservoir of primitive materials. Centaurs are often speculated to be objects in transition from the Kuiper belt, as their orbits dynamically evolve into Jupiter-family comet orbits or they get ejected from the Solar System.
Photometric observations constrain the size, surface albedo, and rotational properties from its lightcurve. The lightcurve is useful to estimate the shape and lower limit of bulk density of the body. The results of several observations of KBOs and Centaurs with 1-m telescope at Wise Observatory and 200-inch telescope at Palomar Observatory will be presented. In particular, detailed results of new Centaur comet 174P/Echeclus will be given.
In parallel, I will introduce the thermal model, which solves the energy equation and the mass balance equation numerically. The energy sources of young KBOs taken to be the external heat source from the early Sun and the internal heat source from radioactive species (in particular 26Al) are comparable at the typical distance of KBOs from the Sun (~ 40 AU). The models suggest that KBOs are likely to lose the ices of very volatile species during early evolution and the internal structure of KBOs is most probably not uniform but stratified with the outer layers being less altered by evolution. Additionally, cometary activity was not rare for the orbits of Centaurs and some of scattered KBOs even without radiogenic heating.

1986년 3월 천문학 연구의 활성화 및 천문우주과학의 저변확대라는 명분으로 大統領令에 의해 국가기관인 국립천문대가 폐지됨과 동시에, 민간기관 (정부출연연구소)인 천문우주과학연구소 (현, 한국천문연구원)이 창립되었으며, 우리나라의 천문학뿐만 아니라 우주과학의 비약적인 발전 기틀을 마련할 수 있었었다.

돌이켜 보면 연구기관이 설립된 후 20년 동안, 수많은 우여곡절도 있었지만, 그 동안 모든 연구소 직원들의 노력과 희생정신으로 획기적인 발전을 이루었고, 한국의 천문우주과학계의 발전에 크게 기여해 오고 있었음을 알 수 있다.



2006년인 올해가 연구기관 창립된 지 20년이 되는 이 시점에서, 한국천문연구원의 보다 더 지속적인 발전을 위해, 연구원의 지난 20년간의 발달과정과 성과를 재평가해 보고, 한편으로 21세기의 글로벌 과학기술경쟁시대에, 국가가 절대적으로 필요로 하는, 그리고 첨단 과학기술을 선도하는 천문우주과학 연구기관으로 거듭나기 위해 앞으로의 발전방향을 모색하는 것은 매우 의의 있는 일이라 본다.

A transiting extrasolar planet sequentially blocks off the light


coming from the different parts of the disk of the host star in a time


dependent manner. Due to the spin of the star, this produces an


asymmetric distortion in the line profiles of the stellar spectrum,


leading to an apparent anomaly of the radial velocity curves, known as


the Rossiter -- McLaughlin effect. We derive approximate but accurate


analytic formulae for the anomaly of radial velocity curves taking


account of the stellar limb darkening. Then we show the first


discovery of the misalgnment angle between the spin axis of the host


star and the orbital axis of the planet, HD 209458b. We also describe


our recent theoretical modeling of photometric and spectroscopic


signatures of rings around transiting extra-solar planets.

KVN(Koeran VLBI Network) is the first VLBI system in Korea and also the first dedicated millimeter wave VLBI in the world. KVN consists of three stations with 21m radio telescopes, such as Seoul (Yonsei Univ.), Ulsan(Ulsan Univ.) and Jeju(Tamna Univ.).



In millimeter and sub-millimeter wave observation for VLBI, it is very crucial to correctly calibrate the phase variations of the electromagnetic waves propagating through the troposphere. To overcome this issue, KVN employs unique the multi- frequency bands receiver system which is able to perform the simultaneous observation up to four frequency bands, 22GHz, 43GHz, 86GHz and 129GHz.



The phase calibration by using multi-frequency bands receiver system is based on that the phase fluctuations from a given amount of water vapor increase linearly with frequency, that is, the troposphere is non-dispersive in terms of phase fluctuations.



The multi-frequency bands receiver system and the current status of KVN will be described.

It is believed that relativistic jets from several kinds of objects in the universe are all formed by violent phenomena near the black holes. Among the proposed mechanisms, the magnetic mechanism of the jet formation becomes most promising because it may explain not only the acceleration but also the collimation of the jets. However, the distinct mechanism has not yet been shown. Here we report numerical results of jet formation driven by magnetic field due to the current loop near a rapidly rotating black hole, based on the general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD). In such magnetic configuration, there are magnetic flux tubes which bridge the region between the ergosphere and the disk around the black hole. We call the magnetic flux tubes `magnetic bridges’. The result clearly shows that the `magnetic bridges\/ between the ergosphere and the disk are not stationary and expand explosively to form a relativistic jet. Furthermore, it suggests that the magnetic reconnection is caused in the expanding magnetic bridges frequently. To study the magnetic reconnection near the black hole, we have to take account of the electric resistivity. The basic method, tests, and the applications of the GRMHD with resistivity are shown.

Main-sequence fitting, also known as the photometric parallax method,

has long been used to estimate distances to individual stars and star

clusters beyond the limits of parallax studies. However, this approach

has been ultimately limited by the accuracy of the isochrones and

the availability of the cluster parameters like metallicity and

foreground reddening. In this talk I will report the recent effort to

improve the accuracy of isochrones by employing empirical corrections

to the color-temperature relations. I will show that the distances can

be estimated with 2-3% error using the empirically calibrated isochrones,

and metallicities with better than 0.1 dex.

High Mass X-ray Binary Pulsars (HMXBP), in which the companion star is a

source of supersonic stellar wind, provide a laboratory to probe the

velocity profile of such winds. Here, my talk will consist of three parts.

In the first part, I will present our measurements of the X-ray spectral

evolution over the binary orbit for four HMXBP observed with the Rossi

X-ray Timing Explorer and the BeppoSAX satellites.

In one pulsar 4U 1538-52, we find the spherically symmetric stellar wind

model corroborating the observations, whereas in the other three, the

stellar wind seems to be very clumpy. Moreover, in GX 301-2, neither the

presence of a disk nor a gas stream from the companion was validated.



In the second part, I will present the timing and spectral properties of

the transient Be/X-ray binary pulsar 3A 0535+262 during quiescence using

three observations with BeppoSAX. We report the detection of pulsations at

a very low luminosity of 2 $\\\\times$ 10$^{33}$ erg s$^{-1}$ during one of

the three observations, though at this accretion rate the system is

expected to be in the centrifugally inhibited regime. The X-ray spectra

for the unpulsed observations are best modeled as power law type while a

combined model of power law and black-body is required to fit the pulsed

spectrum.



Lastly, I will report our results on the study of the spectral properties

of the HMXBP Cen X-3 and 4U 0114+650 in their high and low states.

Thereafter, I will conclude by stating my future research plans.

The high ionization state of the intergalactic medium is maintained by theintergalactic UV background radiation. This ionizing radiation field is

supposed to be the integrated radiation of quasars and young star-forming

galaxies, which is reprocessed and attenuated by the intergalactic gas.

Though the UV background is inaccessible to direct observations,

constraints of its spectral energy distribution can be derived from

studies of metal absorption systems, the HI Lyman alpha opacity, or the

HeII Lyman alpha forest, respectively. Observations of the HeII/HI column

density ratio particularly probe the variations of the UV background at

redshifts z ~ 2 - 3.

Observations of the HeII Lyman alpha forest towards the quasars

HE2347-4342 and HS1700+6416 will be presented. The main results indicate

that the UV background is strongly fluctuating on 1 Mpc scales and the

hardness of the ionizing radiation seems to be correlated with the density

of the absorbing material. However, it can be shown that these results may

be affected, at least partly, by the applied analysis method. The caveats

of the standard procedures will be discussed and an alternative approach

is suggested which takes into account the thermal state of the

intergalactic medium.

The basic principles underlying the fabrication, at the
Arizona Mirror Lab, of large lightweight honeycomb mirrors for
ground--based telescopes will be described in the context of the MMT
conversion and the Magellan project. The current status of the Large
Binocular Telescope project will then be reviewed and will be
followed by a discussion of the 21m Giant Magellan Telescope project,
the San Pedro Martir Twin telescopes and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

Millimeter and sub-millimeter astronomy plays an important role in the study
of star formation, Galactic and extragalactic structure, stellar evolution, and
astrochemistry.
The Arizona Radio Observatory, which consists of two telescope facilities
(Kitt Peak 12 m and the Sub-millimeter Telescope (SMT)), is an active contributor to these
fields. Recent technical upgrades have been made to these instruments in the areas of
receivers, spectrometer backends, and computer/system control. For example, an ALMA Band 6 mixer has been tested for the first time on the SMT. These upgrades will be described, as well as recent scientific results obtained as a result of such improvements.

The initial mass function (IMF) is one of the key parameters in astronomy. Since Salpeter\/s work, there have been many studies and most of them show the universality of the IMF. In order to study IMF of massive stars and the star formation history, we perform a BVR photometric survey of the SMC, chosen for its proximity and low metallicity. Together with spectroscopic data, we investigate the basic parameters of the SMC. Based on these parameters, we study the IMF and star formation history using the population synthesis techniques and Baysian statistics. According to model calculations, a continuous star formation model with an IMF slope of -1.6 offers the best representation of the SMC star.

Thomas Gold was the first to suggest in the 1950s the presence of
interplanetary shock waves as part of the physical mechanism involved in the
modulation of galactic cosmic rays. Rapid progress followed in theoretical
understanding in the US (Eugene Parker) and in the USSR (Leonid Sedov) to
name just a few workers in solar physics and astrophysics. I will review
(based on a subjective interpretation of shocks that is independent of their
genesis) basic self-similarity theory for the classical one-dimensional
geometries and their support by the results from non-symmetrical numerical
simulations. Spacecraft in situ and remote observational measurements will
be noted in conjunction with some theoretical predictions.
When \"real life\" situations exceed theoretical assumptions, numerical
simulations can point the way to improved understanding of shocks\/ formation
at the Sun and their propagation throughout the heliosphere. This procedure
is not without controversy. For example, one may justifiably, ask, \"What
initialization inputs should we use from the available observations?\" I
will conclude by demonstrating how many of the above ideas have been
incorporated into a real-time space weather scheme (the Hakamada-Akasofu-Fry
solar wind model, HAFv.2) that has been used during Solar Cycle 23 in
collaboration with the US Air Force Weather Agency and NOAA\/s Space
Environment Center.

We present 12CO (2-1) observations towards the central region
of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC~4258 with the Submillimeter Array
(SMA). Our interferometric maps show two arm-like elongated
components along the major axis of the galaxy, with no strong
nuclear concentration. The CO (2-1) morphology and kinematics
are similar to previous CO (1-0) results. The velocity field of the
components agrees with the general galactic rotation, except for
the east elongated component, which shows a significant velocity
gradient along the east-west direction. In order to account for the
velocity field, the warped rotating disk is necessary. We propose
the kinematical models where the warped rotating disk is also
expanding. The line ratio of CO(2-1)/CO(1-0) reveals that the
eastern component with the anomalous velocity gradient appears
to be warmer and denser. This is consistent with the gas in this
component being closer to the center, being heated by the central
engine, and possibly excited by expanding motions from the nuclear
region.

Kinematic distances of Galactic sources in the outer Galaxy

have still uncertainty because of a poor Galactic rotation

curve. Actually the kinematic distance of Galactic star

forming region of W3(OH) was thought to be about 4 kpc from the sun.

We carried out an annual parallax measurement for water

masers in W3(OH) by the phase-referencing VLBI astrometry.

We measured non-linear absolute proper motions relative to an

adjacent extragalactic continuum source and determined its

distance of 2.04+/-0.07 kpc by the parallax.

We think that a difference between kinematic and parallax

distance is caused by a peculiar motion of W3(OH), probably

it is a density wave in the Perseus arm.



We also found that the water masers formed a \\\"polar cup\\\"

structure and showed a collimated bipolar outflow with

rotating which predicts by the MHD (Magneto-Hydro-Dynamics) theory.

Unfortunately this was not a polarimetric observation,

however the possibility of the MHD outflow will be discussed.

Space weather has become very important since we were more

dependent on the artificial satellites.

Plasma, which is filled in the outer space of Earth, determines the space weather.

In this talk, I will present how plasma reacts with the magnetic field of the Earth

and what impact plasma causes to the satellites and how it is important to

study the space weather for the development of the space.

A wide and deep CCD photometry has been performed for three old open clusters, NGC 2420, NGC 1245, NGC 2506, using V and I filters. Our photometry covers 30\/x 30\/, 80\/x80\/, and 40\/x80\/ for NGC 2420, NGC 1245, and NGC 2506, respectively, and reaches to Mv≈10 for NGC 2420 and Mv≈9.5 for NGC 1245, NGC 2506, using BOAO SITe 2K CCD (NGC 2420) and CFH12K CCD (NGC 1245 and NGC 2506). Using isochrone fittings to the observed color-magnitude diagrams, we determined physical parameters (distance, age, metallicity and interstellar reddening) of the three clusters. We found clear evidences of mass segregation in the three clusters from the radial variation of LF and MF. We derived a lower limit of cluster mass using M-L relation of the main sequence stars: 1,068M⊙ (NGC 2420), 2,212M⊙ (NGC 1245), and 3,487M⊙ (NGC 2506). The half mass radii and the tidal radii derived from the cluster mass are 2.7pc. 6.1pc, 5.4pc, and 14pc, 18pc, and 21pc. respectively for NGC 2420, NGC 1245, and NGC 2506. The surface number density profiles and surface number density contour map strongly indicate the presence of tidal tails inside the tidal radius as well as the halo components. The contour maps of the surface number density clearly show that all the three clusters are elongated toward the Galactic center with the smallest ellipticity in NGC 2420 and largest ellipticity in NGC 2506.

We analyze the C4 catalog of galaxy clusters from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to investigate the axis-ratio distribution of the projected two dimensional cluster profiles. We consider only those objects in the catalog whose virial mass is close to 10^{14}h^{-1}M_{sun}, with member galaxies within the scale radius 1000 kpc. The total number of such objects turns out to be 336. We also derive a theoretical distribution by incorporating the effect of projection onto the sky into the analytic formalism proposed recently by Lee, Jing, & Suto. The theoretical distribution of the cluster axis-ratios is shown to depend on the amplitude of the linear power spectrum (sigma_8) as well as the density parameter (Omega_{m}). Finally, fitting the observational data to the analytic distribution with Omega_{m} and sigma_{8} as two adjustable free parameters, we find the best-fitting value of sigma_{8}=(1.01 +/- 0.09)(Omega_{m}/0.6)^{(0.07 +/- 0.02) +0.1 Omega_{m}}$. It is a new sigma_{8}-Omega_{m} relation, different from the previous one derived from the local abundance of X-ray clusters. We expect that the axis-ratio distribution of galaxy clusters, if combined with the local abundance of clusters, may put simultaneous constraints on sigma_{8} and Omega_{m}.

The atomic interstellar medium is observed to be highly turbulent, and to

contain structure over a wide range of scales in the form of cold fliamentary

clouds embedded within a warmer medium. Recent observations have suggested

that a significant portion of the warm medium may be out of thermal

equilibrium. I will discuss recent numerical models that have investigated the

dynamics and thermodynamics of the atomic gas, focusing on the role of the

magnetorotational instability. The MRI has been extensively studied in the

context of accretion disks, but this is the first detailed study of MRI in a

strongly inhomogenous medium. I will describe the properties MRI-driven

turbulence in atomic gas under a range of galactic conditions, and discuss

implications for understanding various aspects of galactic structure and

evolution.