운량은 천체 관측을 지속하는 데에 중요한 요소 중 하나이다. 과거에는 관측자가 날씨를 직접 판단할 수밖에 없 었으나, 원격 및 자동 관측 시스템의 개발로 관측자의 역할이 상대적으로 줄어들었다. 또한 구름의 다양한 형태와 빠른 이동 때문에 자동으로 운량을 판단하는 것은 쉽지 않다. 이 연구에서는 기계학습 기반의 파이썬 모듈인 “cloudynight” 을 밀양아리랑우주천문대의 전천 영상에 적용하여 운량을 모니터링하는 프로그램을 개발하였다. 전천 영상을 하위 영역 으로 나누어 각 39,996개 영역의 16개의 특징을 학습하여 기계학습 모델을 생성하였다. 검증 표본에서 얻은 F1 점수는 0.97로, 기계학습 모델이 우수한 성능을 가짐을 보여준다. 운량(“Cloudiness”)은 전체 하위 영역 개수 중 구름으로 식별 된 하위 영역 개수의 비율로 계산하며, 운량이 지난 30분 동안 0.6을 초과할 때 관측을 중단하도록 자동 관측 프로그 램 규칙을 정하였다. 이 규칙을 따를 때, 기계학습 모델이 운량을 오판하여 관측에 영향을 미치는 경우는 거의 발생하 지 않았다. 본 기계학습 모델을 통하여, 밀양아리랑우주천문대 0.7 m 망원경의 성공적인 자동 관측을 기대한다.

In the merger-driven galaxy evolution scenario, dust-obscured quasars are considered to be an intermediate population between merger-driven star-forming galaxies and unobscured quasars; however, this scenario is still controversial. To verify this, it is necessary to investigate whether dust-obscured quasars have higher Eddington ratio (λEdd) values than those of unobscured quasars, as expected in the merger-driven galaxy evolution scenario. In this study, we derive black hole (BH) masses of 10 dust-obscured quasars at z ∼ 2, during the peak period of star-formation and BH growth in the Universe, using a newly derived mid-infrared (MIR) continuum luminosity (LMIR)-based estimator that is highly resistant to dust extinction. Then, we compare the λEdd values of these dust-obscured quasars to those of unobscured type-1 quasars at similar redshifts. We find that the measured log (λEdd) values of the dust-obscured quasars, −0.06 ± 0.10, are significantly higher than those of the unobscured quasars, −0.86 ± 0.01. This result remains consistent across the redshift range from 1.5 to 2.5. Our results show that the dust-obscured quasars are at their maximal growth, consistent with the expectation from the merger-driven galaxy evolution scenario at the epoch quasar activities were most prominent in the cosmic history.

The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) will provide all-sky spectral survey data covering optical to mid-infrared wavelengths with a spatial resolution of 6.′′2, which can be widely used to study galaxy formation and evolution. We investigate the galaxy-galaxy blending in SPHEREx datasets using the mock galaxy catalogs generated from cosmological simulations and observational data. Only ∼0.7% of the galaxies will be blended with other galaxies in all-sky survey data with a limiting magnitude of 19 AB mag. However, the fraction of blended galaxies dramatically increases to ∼7–9% in the deep survey area around the ecliptic poles, where the depth reaches ∼22 AB mag. We examine the impact of the blending in the number count and luminosity function analyses using the SPHEREx data. We find that the number count can be overestimated by up to 10–20% in the deep regions due to the flux boosting, suggesting that the impact of galaxy-galaxy blending on the number count is moderate. However, galaxy-galaxy blending can marginally change the luminosity function by up to 50% over a wide range of redshifts. As we only employ the magnitude limit at Ks-band for the source detection, the blending fractions determined in this study should be regarded as lower limits.

Even in an era where 8-meter class telescopes are common, small telescopes are considered very valuable research facilities since they are available for rapid follow-up or long term monitoring observations. To maximize the usefulness of small telescopes in Korea, we established the SomangNet, a network of 0.4{1.0 m class optical telescopes operated by Korean institutions, in 2020. Here, we give an overview of the project, describing the current participating telescopes, its scientic scope and operation mode, and the prospects for future activities. SomangNet currently includes 10 telescopes that are located in Australia, USA, and Chile as well as in Korea. The operation of many of these telescopes currently relies on operators, and we plan to upgrade them for remote or robotic operation. The latest SomangNet science projects include monitoring and follow-up observational studies of galaxies, supernovae, active galactic nuclei, symbiotic stars, solar system objects, neutrino/gravitational-wave sources, and exoplanets.

Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) variability can be used to study the physics of the region in the vicinity of the central black hole. In this paper, we investigated intra-night optical variability of AGN in the COSMOS field in order to understand the AGN instability at the smallest scale. Observations were performed using the KMTNet on three separate nights for 2.5 to 5 hours at a cadence of 20 to 30 min. We find that the observation enables the detection of short-term variability as small as ∼ 0.02 and 0.1 mag for R ∼ 18 and 20 mag sources, respectively. Using four selection methods (X-rays, mid-infrared, radio, and matching with SDSS quasars), 394 AGN are detected in the 4 deg2 field of view. After differential photometry and X2−test, we classify intra-night variable AGN. The fraction of variable AGN (0–8%) is statistically consistent with a null result. Eight out of 394 AGN are found to be intra-night variable in two filters or two nights with a variability level of 0.1 mag, suggesting that they are strong candidates for intra-night variable AGN. Still they represent a small population (2%). There is no sub-category of AGN that shows a statistically significant intra-night variability.