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.

Reverberation mapping (RM) is an ecient method to investigate the physical sizes of the broad line region (BLR) and dusty torus in an active galactic nucleus (AGN). The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission will provide multi-epoch spectroscopic data at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. These data can be used for RM experiments with bright AGNs. We present results of a feasibility test using SPHEREx data in the SPHEREx deep regions for torus RM measurements. We investigate the physical properties of bright AGNs in the SPHEREx deep eld. Based on this information, we compute the eciency of detecting torus time lags in simulated light curves. We demonstrate that, in combination with complementary optical data with a depth of  20 mag in B􀀀band, lags of  750 days for tori can be measured for more than  200 bright AGNs. If high signal-to-noise ratio photometric data with a depth of  21{22 mag are available, RM measurements are possible for up to  900 objects. When complemented by well-designed early optical observations, SPHEREx can provide a unique dataset for studies of the physical properties of dusty tori in bright AGNs.

We analyze the spatially resolved kinematics of gas and stars for a sample of ten hidden type 1 AGNs in order to investigate the nature of their central sources and the scaling relation with host galaxy stellar velocity dispersion. We select our sample from a large number of hidden type 1 AGNs, which are identified based on the presence of a broad (full width at half maximum ≳1000 kms-1) component in the Hα line profile and which are frequently mis-classified as type 2 AGNs because AGN continuum and broad emission lines are weak or obscured in the optical spectral range. We used the Blue Channel Spectrograph at the 6.5-m Multiple Mirror Telescope to obtain long-slit data with a spatial scale of 0.3 arcsec pixel-1. We detected broad Hβ lines for only two targets; however, the presence of strong broad Hα lines indicates that the AGNs we selected are all low-luminosity type 1 AGNs. We measured the velocity, velocity dispersion, and ux of stellar continuum and gas emission lines (i.e., Hβ and [OIII]) as a function of distance from the center. The spatially resolved gas kinematics traced by Hβ or [OIII] are generally similar to the stellar kinematics except for the inner center, where signatures of gas out ows are detected. We compare the luminosity-weighted effective stellar velocity dispersions with the black hole masses and find that our hidden type 1 AGNs, which have relatively low back hole masses, follow the same scaling relation as reverberation-mapped type 1 AGN and more massive inactive galaxies.

While the reverberation mapping technique is the best available method for measuring black hole mass in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) beyond the local volume, this method has been mainly applied to relatively low-to-moderate luminosity AGNs at low redshift. We present the strategy of the Seoul National University AGN Monitoring Project, which aims at measuring the time delay of the Hβ line emission with respect to AGN continuum, using a sample of relatively high luminosity AGNs out to redshift z ∼ 0.5. We present simulated cross correlation results based on a number of mock light curves, in order to optimally determine monitoring duration and cadence. We describe our campaign strategy based on the simulation results and the availability of observing facilities. We present the sample selection, and the properties of the selected 100 AGNs, including the optical luminosity, expected time lag, black hole mass, and Eddington ratio.