I review the current status of understanding when, how long, and how giant elliptical galaxies formed, focusing on the globular clusters. Several observational evidences show that massive elliptical galaxies formed at z > 2 (> 10 Gyr ago). Giant elliptical galaxies show mostly a bimodal color distribution of globular clusters, indicating a factor of ≈ 20 metallicity difference between the two peaks. The red globular clusters (RGCs) are closely related with the stellar halo in color and spatial distribution, while the blue globular clusters (BGCs) are not. The ratio of the number of the RGCs and that of the BGCs varies depending on galaxies. It is concluded that the BGCs might have formed 12-13 Gyr ago, while the RGCs and giant elliptical galaxies might have formed similarly 10-11 Gyr ago. It remains now to explain the existence of a gap between the RGC formation epoch and the BGC formation epoch, and the rapid metallicity increase during the gap (Δt ≈ 2 Gyr). If hierarchical merging can form a significant number of giant elliptical galaxies > 10 Gyr ago, several observational constraints from stars and globular clusters in elliptical galaxies can be explained.

We present B VRI CCD surface photometry for the central (6'.35 ×6'.35) regions of the dwarf elliptical galaxies NGC 185 and NGC 205 in the Local Group. Surface brightness profiles of NGC 185 (R<225") and NGC 205 (R<186") show excess components in the central regions. The colors of NGC 185 get bluer inward at R<25", while they remain constant at R ≥ 25". The colors of NGC 205 get bluer inward at 1"<R<50", and remain flat outside. Our photometry, supplemented by the photometry based on the far-ultraviolet and visual images of the HST archive data, shows that there is an inversion of color at the very nucleus region (at about 1"). The implications of the redder color of the core part of the nucleus compared with neighboring regions are discussed. The amount of the excess components in the central regions of these galaxies is estimated to be ≈10 5 L⊙. Distributions of dust clouds in the central regions of the two galaxies are also investigated.

The brightest stars in galaxies have been used as distance indicators since Hubble. However, the accuracy of the brightest stars for distance estimates has been controversial. Recently, Rozanski & Rowan-Robinson [1994 : MNRAS, 271, 530] argued large errors of this method for the distance determination : 0.58 mag and 0.90 mag, respectively, for the brightest red stars and the brightest blue stars, while Karachentsev & Tikhonov [1994 : A&A, 286, 718] suggested much smaller errors in the distance determination than the former: 0.37 mag for the brightest red stars and 0.46 mag for the brightest blue stars. The reasons for these conflicting results are not yet known. In this study we have investigated the accuracy of this method using a sample of 17 galaxies for which Cepheid distances are known and reliable photometry of the brightest stars are available. We have obtained the calibrations of the relations between the mean luminosities of the three blue and red brightest supergiants (BSGs and RSGs, respectively) and the total luminosities of the parent galaxies: < Mv(3)RSG >= 0.21MBT- 3.84, σ(Mv) = 0.37 mag, and δμ0 = 0.47 mag for the brightest red supergiants, and < MB(3)BSG >= 0.30MBT -3.02, σ(MB) = 0.55 mag, and δμ0 = 0.79 mag for the brightest blue supergiants. Also it is found that the errors in the distance determination are reduced by a factor of two, as the observing wavelengths increase from B-band to K-band. In conclusion, the brightest red supergiants are considered to be useful for determining the distances to resolved late-type galaxies.

We present the color-magnitude diagrams (CMD) of more than 24,000 stars in the field of an intermediate age open cluster M11, based on wide field CCD imaging. The morphology of the CMDs varies strikingly as the distance from the center of the cluster increases. From the surface number density analysis, we confirm the mass segregation effect in this cluster: the bright, massive stars are centrally more concetrated than the faint, low mass stars. The slope of the field-corrected surface density with respect to magnitude progressively increases as the radius increases, up to r = 5'. Most of the field stars in or near the cluster main sequence band and in the bright part of the red stars in the CMDs appear to be nearly at the same distance as M11, and they are considered to be the major component of disk stars in the Sagittarius-Carina arm.

We present a study of the metallicity of the old open cluster NGC 1245 , based on the Washington CCD photometry obtained using the 0.6 m telescope at the Sobaeksan Observatory, Korea. NGC 1245 has been known to be a unique cluster among the known open clusters in the sense that the previous metallicity estimates for this cluster are much larger (by 3σ) than the value expected from the radial metallicity gradient of the old open clusters in Our galaxy. We have estimated the metallicity of the cluster red giants using the four color-color diagrams, obtaining a value for the mean metallicity of [Fe/H] = -0.04±0.05 dex. The total error including the error of the metallicity calibration, 0.15 dex, is 0.16 dex. The metallicity estimate of NGC 1245 we have obtained in this study is smaller than previous estimates, and is consistent with the radial metallicity gradient of the old open clusters, showing that the mean metallicity of NGC 1245 is not abnormally high. The reddening, distance, and age of the cluster have also been derived using the isochrones based on the convective overshooting models: the reddening E(B-V) = 0.28±0.03; the distance d = 2.5±0.2 kpc (the corresponding galactocentric distance is RGC = 10.7 kpc, and the distance from the galactic plane is z = -0.4 kpc); and the age t = 1.1±0.1 Gyrs.

We have obtained the J K images of the central region of the globular cluster M3 (NGC5272), using the 256×256 InSb array. We present JK photometry of bright red giant branch stars in the central 2'.2×2'.2 region of M3. The infrared color-magnitude diagrams are presented. The comparison of the red giant branch of M3 with that of M13 confirms that both globular clusters have similar metal abundances.

We present UBVRI CCD photometry of the Type Ie supernova SN 19941 in M51 which was discovered on April 2, 1994 (UT). UBVRI CCD photometry of SN 1994 I were obtained for the period of the first two months from April 4, 1994, using the Seoul National University Observatory 60 cm telescope. The light curves of SN 19941 show several interesting features: (a) SN 19941 reaches the maximum brightness at B-band on April 8.23 (B = 13.68 mag), at V-band on April 9.10 (V = 12.89 mag), and at I-band on April 10.32 (I = 12.48 mag); (b) The light curves around the maximum brightness are much narrower than those of other types of supernovae; (c) The light curves after the peak decline more steeply than those of other types of supernovae; and (d) The colors get redder from (V-R) ≈ 0.2 mag ((V - I) ≈ 0.3 mag, (B - V) ≈ 0.7 mag) on April 4 to (V-R)≈ 0.6 mag ((V-1) ≈0.9 mag, (B-V) ≈ 1.3 mag) on April 18. Afterwards (V - R) colors get bluer slightly (by ~0.005 mag/day), while (V-I) colors stay almost constant around (V-1) ≈ 1.0 mag. The color at the maximum brightness is (B-V)=0.9 mag, which is ~1 mag redder than the mean color of typical Type la supernovae at the maximum brightness. The light curves of SN 1994I are similar to those of the Type Ie supernova SN 1962L in NGC 1073. Adopting the distance modulus of (m-M)0 = 29.2 mag and the reddening of E(B - V) = 0.45 mag [Iwamoto et al. 1994, preprint for ApJ], we derive absolute magnitudes at the maximum brightness of SN 1994I, Mv(max) = -17.7 mag and MB(max) = -17.4 mag. This result shows that SN 1994I was ~2 mag fainter at the maximum brightness compared with typical Type Ia supernovae. A narrower peak and faster decline after the maximum in the light curve of SN 1994I compared with other types of supernovae indicate that the progenitor of SN 1994I might be a lower mass star compared with those of other types of supernovae.

Making use of the arbitrary shock theory developed by Ulmschneider (1967, 1971) and Ulmschneider and Kalkofen (1978), we have calculated the dissipation rates of upward-travelling slow-mode acoustic shock waves in umbral chromospheres for two umbral chromosphere models, a plateau model by Avrett (1981) and a gradient model by Yun and Beebe (1984). The computed shock dissipation rates are compared with the radiative cooling rate given by Avrett (1981). The results show that the slow-mode acoustic shock waves with a period of about 20 second can heat the low umbral chromospheres travelling with a mechanical energy flux of 2.6 × 10 6 e r g / c m 2 s at a height of 300 ∼ 400 k m above the temperature minimum region.