We present JHK-band near-infrared photometry of the star clusters in the dwarf irregular galaxy IC 5152. After excluding possible foreground stars, a number of candidate star clusters are identified in the near-infrared images of IC 5152, which include young populations. Especially, five young star clusters are identified in the(J-H, H-K) two color diagram and the total extinction values toward these clusters are estimated to be Av=2-6 from the comparison with the theoretical values given by the Leitherer et al.(1999)'s theoretical star cluster model.

[ δ ] Scuti형 변광성 HR 2707에 대해 한국교원대학교 청람천문대의 40 cm 카세그레인식 반사 망원경과 1K CCD(AP8p)를 사용하여 2001년 11월 13일부터 2002년 2월 20일까지 45일간 시계열 관측을 수행하였다. B, V필터를 이용한 측광 관측으로부터 3,011장의 V필터 영상과 6,562장의 B 필터 영상을 획득하였다. 이들 자료 중 2002년 1월의 7일간 V 필터 관측 자료는 국제공동 관측에 사용되었다(Lopez de Coca et al., 2003). 변광성의 맥동 주파수를 검출하기 위하여 이산 푸리에 변환(DFT)과 선형 최소자승법을 이용하여 8개의 맥동 주파수를 찾았으며, 이전 관측 자료에서 얻어진 주파수와 비교하여 HR 2707의 진짜 맥동 주기는 Lopez de Coca et at.(2003)의 연구에서 얻은 f1, f2, f3, f4, f5의 5개의 주기와 우리의 연구로부터 얻은 f4까지 6개로 결정하였다.

구상성단 M30의 20'.5×20'.5 영역에 대한 CCD UBVI 측광 관측을 수행하여 색-등급도로부터 주계열 전향점과 색지수 VTO=18.63±0.05, (B-V)TO=0.44±0.05, (V-I)TO=0.63±0.05를 얻었으며, 색-색도로부터 E(B-V)=0.05±0.01과 중원소 함량의 지표인 UV 색 초과량 δ(U-B)=0.27±0.01을 얻었다. 측광학적인 방법과 분광 관측 자료를 이용하여 중원소 함량 [Fe/H]=-2.05±0.09를 구하였다. 관측된 M30의 광도 함수는 이론적 모델에 비하여 전향점 부근에 비하여 적색 거성열의 초과 현상을 보였다. Hipparcos 위성에서 측정된 삼각 시차로부터 거리가 알려진 준왜성을 이용하여 주계열 맞추기를 하여 거리 지수 (m-M)o=14.75±0.12를 구하였다. 헬륨 함량을 구하기 위하여 R과 R' 방법을 사용하여 Y(R)=0.23±0.02, Y(R')=0.29±0.02를 얻었다. 성단의 나이는 적용하는 방법과 모델에 따라서 10.7 Gyr에서 17 Gyr까지 분산을 보인다.

We developed an algorithm to identify and determine periods of variable sources. With its robustness and high speed, it is expected to become an useful tool for surveys with large volume of data. This new scheme consists of an initial coarse. process of finding several candidate periods followed by a secondary process of much finer period search. With this multi-step approach, best candidates among statistically possible periods are produced without human supervision and also without any prior assumption on the nature of the variable star in question. We tested our algorithm with 381 stars taken from the ASAS survey and the result is encouraging. In about 76% cases, our results are nearly identical as their published periods. Our algorithm failed to provide convincing periods for only about 10% cases. For the remaining 14%, our results significantly differ from their periods. We show that, in many of these cases, our periods are superior and much closer to the true periods. However, the existence of failures, and also periods sometimes worse than manually controlled results, indicates that this algorithm needs further improvement. Nevertheless, the present experiment shows that this is a positive step toward a fully automated period analysis for future variability surveys.

We have conducted a V-band CCD surface photometry of 68 disk galaxies to analyze the bulge morphology of nearby spirals. We classify bulges into four types according to their ellipticities and the misalignments between the major axis of the bulge and those of the disk and the bar: spherical, oblate, pseudo triaxial, and triaxial. We found that one third of the bulges are triaxial and they are preponderant in barred galaxies. The presence of the triaxial bulges in a significant fraction of unbarred galaxies as well as in barred galaxies might support the secular evolution hypothesis which postulates that the bar driven mass inflow leads to the formation of triaxial bulges and the destruction of bars when sufficient mass is accumulated in the central regions.

We present Near-IR photometry of the Arches cluster, a young and massive stellar cluster near the Galactic center. We have analyzed the high resolution (FWHM ~ 0.2") H and K" band images in the Galactic Center Demonstration Science Data Set, which were obtained with the Gemini/Hokupa's adaptive optics (AO) system. We present the color-magnitude diagram, the luminosity function and the initial mass function (IMF) of the stars in the Arches cluster in comparison with the HST/NICMOS data. The IMF slope for the range of 1.0 < log (M/M⊙) < 2.1 is estimated to be Γ = -0.79 ± 0.16, in good agreements with the earlier result based on the HST/NICMOS data [Figer et al. 1999, ApJ, 525, 750]. These results strengthen the evidence that the IMF of the bright. stars close to the Galactic center is much flatter than that for the solar neighborhood. This is also consistent with a recent finding that the IMFs of the bright stars in young clusters in M33 get flatter as the galactocentric distance decreases [Lee et al. 2001, astro-ph 0109258]. It is found that the power of the Gemini/ AO system is comparable, with some limits, to that of the HST/NICMOS.