The inscription of Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido (天象列次分野之圖) has the sun’s locations at the equinoxes, which must have been copied from the astronomical treatises in Chinese historical annals, Songshu (宋書) and Jinshu (晉書). According to the treatises, an astronomer Wang Fan (王蕃, 228–266 CE) referred those values from a calendrical system called Qianxiangli (乾象 曆, 223 CE), from which it is confirmed that it adopted the sun’s location at the winter solstice of the (211 4 )th du of the 8th lunar lodge Dou (斗) as the reference direction for equatorial lodge angles. This indicates that the sun’s locations at equinoxes and solstices in the calendrical system are the same as those in Jingchuli (景初曆, 237 CE). Hence, we propose that the sun’s location at the autumnal equinox in Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido should be corrected from ‘wu du shao ruo’ (五度少弱), meaning the (51 6 )th du, to ‘wu du ruo’ (五度弱), meaning the (411 12 )th du, of the first lunar lodge Jiao (角), as seen in Jingchuli. We reconstruct the polar coordinate system used in circular star charts, assuming that the mean motion rule was applied and its reference direction was the sun’s location at the winter solstice. Considering the precession, we determined the observational epoch of the sun’s location at the winter solstice to be 𝑡o = −18.3 ± 43.0 adopting the observational error of the so-called archaic determinatives (古度). It is noteworthy that the sun’s locations at equinoxes inscribed in Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido originated from Houhan Sifenli (後漢四分曆) of the Latter Han dynasty (85 CE), while the coordinate origin in the star chart is related to Taichuli (太初 曆) of the Former Han dynasty (104 BCE).

Shoushili was the official calendrical method promulgated in 1280 CE by the Yuan dynasty. It contains a list of the angular spans in right ascensions for the 28 lunar lodges. They are known to have been measured by Guo Shoujing with his advanced instruments with an unprecedented precision or reading error of 5′. Such precise data are useful to determine their observational epoch with an error range which is narrow enough to pinpoint on which historical occasion they were observed. Using the precise SIMBAD data based on eDR3 of GAIA and carefully identified determinative stars and considering the precession of equinoxes and proper motions, we apply linear regression methods to those data and obtain the observational epoch of 1271 ± 16 CE and the measurement error of 4.1′. We also have polar distances corresponding to declinations written in another manuscript of the Ming dynasty. Since the two data sets have similar significant digits, they were suggested to have the same origin. However, we obtain their observational epoch of 1364±5 CE and the measurement error of 5.7′. They must have been measured with different instruments and on a different occasion from the observations related to Shoushili. We review the history of the calendrical reform during the 13th century in the Yuan dynasty. We conclude that the observational epoch obtained from lodge spans in Shoushili agrees with the period of observations led by Guo Shoujing or 1276–1279 CE, which is also supported by the fact that the ecliptic lodge span values listed in Shoushili were calculated from the equatorial lodge spans.

We determine the observing sites for eclipses of large magnitude recorded in ancient Chinese chronicles from 200 BCE to 900 CE, by adopting the difference between terrestrial time and universal time, ΔT, given by Morrison & Stephenson (2004). The records of solar eclipses with large magnitude are divided into four groups in accordance with the historical variations of the capital cities of ancient Chinese dynasties. We determine areas in which all the eclipses in each group, with an eclipse magnitude larger than a certain threshold value, could be observed. We find that these areas coincide with the historical capitals, which agrees with the general idea that the solar eclipses were observed at the capital of each dynasty. This result also veries the ΔT values during the period from 100 BCE to 400 CE, during which historical records of eclipses are so rare that the ΔT values can only be obtained by interpolating the long-term data. Moreover, we show that the eclipses described by the term Ji in East-Asian history are not all total eclipses; their mean magnitude is 0:96 ± 0:04. We find that complementary expressions, such as dark daytime and appearance of stars during the eclipse, strengthen the possibility that eclipses described by the term Ji were total. We also provide quantitative definitions for expressions such as `being not complete and like a hook', `being almost complete', `visibility of stars during the eclipse', and `darkness during an eclipse.' The literal meanings of these expressions are in agreement with the recent physical modeling of sky brightness during total eclipses provided by K¨onnen & Hinz (2008).

It is known that the number of astronomers of a country registered to the International As- tronomical Union (IAU) is correlated with that country’s gross domestic product (GDP). However, the robustness of this relationship could be doubted, as the fraction of astronomers joining the IAU differs from country to country. Here we revisit this correlation by using more recent data, updated as of 2017. We find a similar correlation by using the total number of astronomers and astrophysicists with PhD degrees that are working in each country, instead of adopting the number of IAU members. We confirm the existence of the correlation. We also confirm the existence of two subgroups within this correlation. One group consists of advanced European countries having a long history of modern astronomy, while the other group consists of countries having experienced recent rapid economic development. In order to determine the cause for the correlation, we obtained the long-term variations of the number of as- tronomers, population, and the GDP for a number of countries. We find that the number of astronomers per capita for recently developing countries has increased more rapidly as GDP per capita increased, than that for fully developed countries. We collected demographic data of the Korean astronomical community and find that it has experienced recent rapid growth. From these findings we estimate the proper size of the Korean astronomical community by considering Korea economic power and population. The current number of PhD astronomers working in Korea is approximately 310, but it should be 550 in order for it to be comparable and competitive to the sizes of the Spanish, Canadian, and Japanese astronomical communities. If current trends continue, this number will be reached by 2030. In order to be comparable to the German, French, and Italian communities, there should be 800 PhD astronomers in Korea. We discuss ways to overcome the vulnerability of the Korean astronomical community, based on the statistics of national R&D expenditure structure in comparison with that of other major advanced countries.

We investigate the escape of Lyβ from emission nebulae with a significant population of excited hydrogen atoms in the level n = 2, rendering them optically thick in Hα. The transfer of Lyβ line photons in these optically thick regions is complicated by the presence of another scattering channel leading to re-emission of Hα, alternating their identities between Lyβ and Hα. In this work, we develop a Monte Carlo code to simulate the transfer of Lyβ line photons incorporating the scattering channel into Hα. Both Hα and Lyβ lines are formed through diffusion in frequency space, where a line photon enters the wing regime after a fairly large number of resonance scatterings with hydrogen atoms. Various line profiles of Hα and Lyβ emergent from our model nebulae are presented. It is argued that the electron temperature is a critical parameter which controls the flux ratio of emergent Lyβ and Hα. Specifically for T = 3 × 104 K and Hα line center optical depth α = 10, the number flux ratio of emergent Lyβ and Hα is ∼ 49 percent, which is quite significant. We propose that the leaking Lyβ can be an interesting source for the formation of Hα wings observed in many symbiotic stars and active galactic nuclei. Similar broad Hα wings are also expected in Lyα emitting halos found in the early universe, which can be potentially probed by the James Webb Telescope in the future.

We give a detailed description of the installation and operation of a double-station meteor detection system which formed part of a research & education project between Korea Astronomy Space Science Institute (KASI) and Daejeon Science Highschool. A similar system is currently not existing in South Korea. A total of six light-sensitive CCD cameras were installed with three cameras at SOAO and three cameras at BOAO observatory. A double-station observation of a meteor event enables the determination of the three-dimensional heliocentric orbit in space. This project was initiated in response to the Jinju reball event in March 2014. The cameras were installed in October/November 2014. The two stations are identical in hardware as well as software. Each station employes sensitive \Watec-902H2" cameras in combination with relatively fast f/1.2 lenses. Various elds of views were used for measuring dierences in detection rates of meteor events. We employed the SonotaCo UFO software suite for meteor detection and their subsequent analysis. The system setup as well as installation/operation experience is described and rst results are presented. We also give a brief overview of historic as well as recent meteor (fall) detections in South Korea. For more information please consult http://meteor.kasi.re.kr.

In this paper, we study the lunar eclipse records in the Goryeosa (History of the Goryeo Dynasty), an official history book of the Goryeo dynasty (A.D. 918 – 1392). In the history book, a total of 228 lunar eclipse accounts are recorded, covering the period from 1009 to 1392. However, we find that two accounts are duplications and four accounts correspond to no known lunar eclipses around the dates. For the remaining lunar eclipses, we calculate the magnitude and the time of the eclipse at different phases using the DE406 ephemeris. Of the 222 lunar eclipse accounts, we find that the minimum penumbral magnitude was 0.5583. For eclipses which occurred after midnight, we find that some accounts were recorded on the day before the eclipse, like the astronomical records of the Joseonwangjosillok (Annals of the Joseon Dynasty), while others were on the day of the lunar eclipse. We also find that four accounts show a difference in the Julian dates between this study and that of Ahn et al., even though it is assumed that the Goryeo court did not change the dates in the accounts for lunar eclipses that occurred after midnight. With regard to the contents of the lunar eclipse accounts, we confirm that the accounts recorded as total eclipses are accurate, except for two accounts. However, both eclipses were very close to the total eclipse. We also confirm that all predicted lunar eclipses did occur, although one eclipse happened two days after the predicted date. In conclusion, we believe that this study is very helpful for investigating the lunar eclipse accounts of other periods in Korea, and furthermore, useful for verifying the calendar dates of the Goryeo dynasty.

Star forming galaxies found in the early universe exhibit asymmetric Lyα emission line that results from multiple scattering in a neutral thick medium surrounding the Lyα emission source. It is expected that emergent Lyα will be significantly polarized through a large number of resonance scattering events followed by a number of successive wing scatterings. In this study we adopt a Monte Carlo method to calculate the polarization of Lyα transferred in a very thick static slab of Hi. Resonantly scattered radiation associated with transitions between 1S1 2 − 2P1 2 , 3 2 is only weakly polarized and therefore linear polarization of the emergent Lyα is mainly dependent on the number of off-resonant wing scattering events. The number of wing scattering events just before escape from the slab is determined by the product of the Doppler parameter a and the line center optical depth τ0, which, in turn, determines the behavior of the linear polarization of Lyα. This result is analogous to the study of polarized radiative transfer of Thomson scattered photons in an electron slab, where the emergent photons are polarized in the direction perpendicular to the slab when the scattering optical depth is small and polarized in the parallel direction when the slab is optically thick. Our simulated spectropolarimetry of Lyα shows that the line center is negligibly polarized, the near wing parts polarized in the direction parallel to the slab and the far wing parts are polarized in the direction perpendicular to the slab. We emphasize that the flip of polarization direction in the wing parts of Lyα naturally reflects the diffusive nature of the Lyα transfer process in thick neutral media.