The First Generation Digitized Sky Survey (DSS-I) is a collection of digitized photographic atlases of the night sky taken from the Palomar Observatory (northen sky) and the Anglo-Australian Observatory (southern sky). DSS-I is widely used by the astronomical community for a number of applications including object cross-identification and astrometry. However, accessing and retrieving the actual images are nontrivial owing to the huge size (> 60 GB) of the dataset. To facilitate retrieval process of DSS-I data for the public, Korean Astronomical Data Center (KADC) developed a web application that provides not only data retrieval but also visualization functions. The web application consists of several modules developed using Java Applet, Jave Servlet, and JaveServer Pages (JSP) technologies. It allows users to retrieve images efficiently in various formats such as FITS, JPEG, GIF, and TIFF, and also offers an interactive visulization tool, ImgViewer, for displaying/analyzing FITS images. To use the web application, users require a Java-enabled web browser.

We have constructed a database of Korean historical astronomical records. The database contains observational data recorded from BC 2183 to AD 1910. We have also built a webpage for searching through the database based on the following criteria: (1) dynasties (2) astronomical phenomena (3) reigning kings (4) references (5) keywords. Users may select two or more dynasties to search through the database for a certain phenomena, and compare data with those of other dynasties. The queried data can be primarily sorted by one critetion, and secondarily sorted by another, each in ascending or descending order. The search results give dates both in Solar and Lunisolar calendars, years and dates in Sexagenary cycle, dynasties, reigning kings, astronomical phenomena, and references. The database and webpage were constructed under the research project of the Korean Astronomical Data Center (KADC, http://kadc.kao.re.kr) in Korea Astronomy Observatory (KAO).

As a core project of the Korean Astronomical Data Center (KADC) in Korea Astronomy Observatory (KAO), we have constructed a framework of astronomical database using MySQL and JSP. MySQL database server is a powerful open source database management system, and JSP technology provides a simplified, fast way to create dynamic web content. Combined together, MySQL and JSP enable us to develop server-independent web-based applications efficiently in a short amount of time. The MySQL tables and JSP programs embedded in our database are built/written in a way to benefit both users and managers. We plan to expand our database by supplementing additional data in the near future. Our newly constructed database is expected to be the prototype of the Korean Virtual Observatory (KVO).

We arranged ancient Korean calendar during Koryo dynasty (A.D. 918-1392) according to Julian calendar. We used two representative history books, Koryo-sa (高麗史) and Koryo-sa Jeolyo (高麗史節要), which contain thea stronomical and the historical records chronologically. We found all 19,727 ganji dates(日辰) and 102 misrecoreded ganji dates in two books. Most of the data are arranged based on those two books, and doubtful data are identified using the eclipse, historical events and lunar phase calculations etc. Although Korea, China, and Japan were using basically the same calendar since ancient times, their calendars show some significant disagreement. We found that arranged chronological tables during Koryo dynasty were, in some cases, different from those of China and Japan.

We have analyzed the sunspot and aurora data recorded in Go-Ryer-Sa. We have collected 35 records of sunspot observations for 46 days, and 232 records of auroral observations. To objectively estimate the periods of the solar activity appearing in these records a method of calculating the one-dimensional power spectrum from inhomogeneous data is developed, and applied to the sunspot and auroral data. We have found statistically significant 10.5 and 10 year periodicities in the distributions of sunspot and aurora records, respectively. These periods are consistent with the well-known solar activity cycle. There are indications of the long-term variations, but the period is not certain. We have also calculated the cross-correlations between the sunspot and auroral data. In particular, we have divided the aurora data into several subgroups to study their nature. We conclude that the historical records of strong auroral activity correspond to non-recurrent magnetic storms related to the sunspots. On the other hand, the records of weak auroral activity are thought to be related with the recurrent magnetic storms which occur frequently due to the coronal hole near the sunspot minimum.

한국의 전통 천문학은 과거 중국의 영향을 받아 여러 면에서 중국과 비슷하지만 별자리 모양이나 별이름 등에서 중국과 구별되는 특징을 가지고 있다. 이 연구에서는 규장각에 보관중인 조선 초기의 보천가와 중국 수대(581~618) 왕희명이 저술한 보천가를 비교하여 분석하였다. 두 보천가에 그려진 천문도 별자리 모양과 연결선 그리고 본문 설명에 대하여 각각 비교하였다. 두 책을 비교·분석한 결과 별자리 설명의 여러 부분에서 전반적인 차이가 있음을 확인하였다. 첫째 두 서적의 구성에서 서문과 삼원 별자리, 은하수 설명은 확연한 차이를 보여 준다. 둘째, 보천가에 그려진 전반적 별자리 그림은 비슷하지만 별자리의 연결선과 별의 개수가 여러 곳에서 다르게 그려져 있다. 셋째, 조선의 보천가는 중국 왕희명 보천가와 달리 별자리 설명에서 별의 색깔을 표현하고 있다. 이러한 두 나라 보천가의 차이점과 조선 보천가의 고유한 특징을 찾아 논문에 정리하였다. 조선 보천가와 중국 보천가의 여러 차이점은 우리 고유의 천문지식과 체계가 고려시대 이전부터 꾸준히 전해져 왔음을 짐작케 한다.