We have carried out a follow-up study on the students who have participated or are going to participate in either the International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO), the Asia Pacific Astronomy Olympiad (APAO) or the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) from 2002 to 2011. The survey questionnaires returned from ten high school students including five who are to participate in 2011 as well as fourteen college students have been analyzed in various aspects of their backgrounds and personal characteristics. In family life, their parents tend to have high educational background along with high expectations for their children. In regard to the academic environment, most students express a general satisfaction in school life, including their relationship with teachers and classmates. In personal characteristics, they describe themselves as inquisitive, perseverant, competitive, creative, self-motivated and goal-oriented, in addition to many other traits. Most students have a strong interest in astronomy which usually begins in middle schools through exposure to astronomy books. On top of it, the astronomy olympiad has provided them with an opportunity to strengthen their self-esteem, problem-solving ability and conviction about scientific careers. Accordingly, the experience in astronomy olympiad has led a considerable number of students to continuously studying in astronomy related fields or otherwise in other science and engineering areas. In conclusion, the astronomy olympiad plays such an important role that it can make a significant contribution to astronomy as well as science in general by having positive impact on the potential career path of its participants.

The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) initiated by the Thailand Astronomical Society in 2007 is an annual competition for high school students. One of its aim is to enhance the development of international exchange in the field of school education in astronomy and astrophysics. This paper first provides the overview of the IOAA in terms of key regulations based on its statutes, history and current status. Secondly, the published syllabus of the IOAA is used for content analysis according to subject areas regarding the exam questions of the IOAA in theoretical, observational and data analysis parts from 2007 to 2010. Also, a scientific inquiry framework is applied to the same questions for assessment based on scientific inquiry in the cognitive aspect with two sub-classes of scientific knowledge and scientific reasoning. Among a dozen astronomy subject areas listed on the syllabus, the theoretical part of the IOAA makes more frequent use of the Sun, the solar system, properties of stars, and concept of time. In content knowledge, a factor of scientific knowledge, the IOAA questions, especially in the theoretical part have a lesser degree in difficulty than the IAO (International Astronomy Olympiad) exam questions for the same period whose degree in difficulty is comparable to college level. With regard to scientific reasoning, the IOAA questions tend to involve convergent rather than divergent thinking. Lastly, in light of these findings, discussions are given on the outcome of Korean participation in the previous IOAAs and ways to help better in preparing Korean students for future astronomy Olympiads.

The International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO) was established by the Euro-Asian Astronomical Society in order to disseminate astronomical knowledge, promote international cooperation in astronomical education area and recognize the importance of astronomy in far-reaching field of science and human culture. The first IAO competition was held at the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences located in the north Caucasus of Russia in 1996. Since then, it has been held every year. This paper describes the present status of the IAO main regulations regarding its operation and major results by year, related institutions, and organizations. We created a scientific inquiry framework to analyze past IAO problems in the recognitive aspect in order to measure levels of the scientific knowledges and the scientific thinking abilities. Through this analysis, we can understand the current status of the IAO, and examine the future direction of Korea Astronomy Olympiad. Also, we can make preparation for the IAO competition and the education of delegates.

In this paper, we analyze the scientific inquiries type on Almanac and Historical Astronomy asked through the Q&A service in Korea Astronomy and Science Institute(KASI) webpage with the aid of scientific inquiries analysis methods. We also study the contents of the questions. Specifically, we have created statistics of questions and inquiries, and have developed categories to analyze the characteristics of questions with regard to their cognitive aspects. Each question is categorized as either of the two elements based on their recognitive aspect: science knowledge or science study. Each element also has sub-categories that help the reader understand the characteristics of the questions. For the analysis, we used the sample consisting of questions collected from April, 2005 to June, 2007. Through this study, we achieved a better understanding of the questions in the area of Almanac and Historical Astronomy asked in the Q&A service. Throughout this study, we find that the need of questions in the area of Almanac and Historical Astronomy are increasing with time, and the overall quality of the questions is getting improved. As we expect that the number of people using our Q&A service will increase and that the questions will get more difficult to answer, development of improved contents is required.

We introduce the National Science Curriculum issued by the Education Ministry in Korea. Astronomy should be given and taught as compulsory courses in Nature of elementary school, Science of middle school, General Science of high school, and as elective courses in Earth Science I, II. Astronomy concepts have been designed in sprial pattern. College levels of astronomy have been given as majoring in astronomy course, cultivating one for earth science pre-teacher students and cultural subjects for non-major students

We have solved the radiative transfer problem using a Sobolev approximation with an escape probability method in case of the supersonic expansion of a stellar envelope to an ambient medium. The radiation from the expanding envelope turns out to produce a P-Cygni type profile. In order to investigate the morphology of the theoretical P-Cygni type profile, we have treated V∞,Vsto,β (parameter for the velocity field), M and є (parameter for collisional effect) as model parametrs. We have found that the velocity field and the mass loss rate affect the shapes of the P-Cygni type profiles most effectively. The secondarily important factors are V∞, Vsto. The collisional effect tends to make the total flux increase but not so .much in magnitude. We have infered some physical parameters of 68 Cyg, HD24912, and ℇ persei such as V∞, M from the model calculation, which shows a good agreement with the observational results.

To understand the dynamical structures of stellar wind bubble, one and two-dimensional calculations has been performed. Using FCT Code with cooling effects and assuming constant mass loss rate and ambient medium density, we could divide stellar winds into the regime of slow and fast winds. The slow wind driven bubble shows initially radiative and becomes partially radiative bubble in which shocked stellar wind zone is still adiabatic. In contrast., the fast wind driven bubble shows initially fully adiabatic and becomes adiabatic bubbles with radiative outer shell. We also determine analytically the onset of thin-shell formation time in case of fast wind driven bubble with power-law energy injection and ambient density structure. We solve the line transfer problem with numerical results in order to calculate line profile of [OIII] forbidden line.

NGC 7023 have been observed in ^(12)CO and ^(13)CO (J=1→ 0) molecular line emissions. It possesses bipolar molecular outflows which are moving out both eastward and westward in Right Ascension with a velocity range of ±9 ㎞s^(-1) with an inclination of ∼80° The mass loss rate is ∼10^(-5)M◎_(yr)^(-1) with an assumed stellar wind velocity of ∼100㎞s^(-1); the dynamical age of this outflow is ∼5.5×10⁴ years. The bipolar molecular outflows would be collimated by the molecular disk surrounding HD 200775, which is explained by either the velocity gradient of ∼0.25 ㎞s^(-1) are min^(-1) in the position-velocity map of ^(12)CO along the Declination or the peak temperature maps of both ^(12)CO and ^(12)CO. The outflows also yield high density regions at their ends, producing the region of the low mass star formation.