• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.169-171
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• 2015

NGC147 and NGC185, paired satellites of the Andromeda galaxy, possess the same order of mass and analogous structures, but they show different star formation and different amounts of interstellar gas and dust. Therefore, we present the first reconstruction of the star formation history of NGC147 and NGC185. Asymptotic Giant Branch stars are highly evolved stars that are brightest in K-band. This maximum K-band magnitude is related to the birth mass of stars. As a result, we have found a 9.9 Gyr old single star formation epoch for NGC185 followed by relatively continuous star formation. NGC147, however, has passed through two star formation episodes; one is as old as ~6 Gyr and the other is as recent as ~850 Myr. Asymptotic Giant Branch stars are also important dust factories; by fitting Spectral Energy Distributions to observed near and mid infrared data for each star, we were able to measure the dust production rates of individual stars; on order of $10^{-5}M_{\odot}yr^{-1}$. Hence, we estimate the total mass entering the interstellar medium to be $1.06{\times}10^{-4}M_{\odot}yr^{-1}$ and $2.89{\times}10^{-4}M_{\odot}yr^{-1}$ for NGC147 and NGC185.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.81.1-81.1
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• 2021

Stellar kinematics is a useful tool to understand the formation and evolution of young stellar systems. Here, we present a kinematic study of the HII region, NGC 821, using the Gaia Early Data Release 3. NGC 281 contains the open cluster IC 1590. This cluster has a core and a low-stellar density halo. We detect a pattern of cluster expansion from the Gaia proper motion vectors. Most stars radially escaping from the cluster are distributed in the halo. We measure the 1-dimensional velocity dispersion of stars in the core. The velocity dispersion (1 km/s) is comparable to the expected virial velocity dispersion of this cluster, and therefore the core is at a virial state. The core has an initial mass function shallower than that of the halo, which is indicative of mass segregation. However, there is no significant correlation between stellar masses and tangential velocities. This result suggests that the mass segregation has a primordial origin. On the other hand, it has been believed that the formation of young stars in NGC 281 West was triggered by feedback from massive stars in IC 1590. We investigate the ages of stars in the two regions, but the age difference between the two regions is not comparable to the timescale of the passage of an ionization front. Also, the proper motion vectors of the NGC 281 West stars relative to IC 1590 do not show any systematic receding motion from the cluster. Our results suggest that stars in NGC 281 West might have been formed spontaneously. In conclusion, the formation of NGC 281 can be understood in the context of hierarchical star formation model.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.54.3-55
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• 2018

We present the physical and environmental properties of nearby dwarf elliptical-like galaxies. The present sample consists of ~ 1,100 dwarf elliptical-like galaxies within redshifts 0.01. The morphological types of the present study were determined by Ann, Seo, and Ha (2015) who classified the dwarf elliptical-like galaxies by the five subtypes of dS0, dE, dSph, dEbc, and dEblue. We examine their star formation history using STARLIGHT. The star formation history of dwarf elliptical-like galaxies depends on their subtypes. The luminosities of dS0, dE, and dSph galaxies are dominated by the extremely old stars (${\geq}10^{10}yr$) with $z{\approx}0.0004$ while those of dEbc and dEblue galaxies are mainly due to the young (${\sim}10^7yr$) stars together with the nearly equal contribution by extremely young stars (${\sim}10^6yr$) and old (${\sim}10^9yr$) stars. Young populations have a variety of metallicity, from z=0.0001 to z = 0.04, while old populations have metallicity of z = 0.0001 and z = 0.0004. While the formation history of stars older than ~1010yr depends mainly on the luminosity of galaxies, the formation history of stars younger than ~108yr is mainly affected by their environment. However, luminosity and environment are equally important for the star formation history if there is no star formation at the early phase of galaxy formation.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.173-174
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• 2005

On behalf of the IRSF/SIRIUS group, I introduce some recent results from our deep near-infrared surveys (J, Hand Ks bands, limiting magnitude of Ks=17) toward star forming regions in the Milky Way Galaxy (MWG) and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with the near-infrared camera SIRIUS. We discovered a rich population of low-mass young stellar objects associated with the W3 and NGC 7538 regions in the MWG based on the near-infrared colors arid magnitudes. The high sensitivity of our survey enables us to detect intermediate-mass pre-main sequence stars, i.e. HAEBE stars, even in the LMC. We detected many HAEBE candidate stars in the N159/N160 complex star forming region in the LMC with the IRSF 1.4-m telescope. Spatial distributions of the young stellar objects indicate the sequential cluster formation in each star forming region in the complex and large scale (a few ${\times}$ 100 pc) sequential cluster formation over the entire complex.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.43.1-43.1
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• 2016

The duration of star formation activity is a key to understanding the formation process of star clusters. Although a number of astronomers have attempted to derive the underlying age spread in photometric diagrams with a variety of stellar evolutionary models, the resultant findings are subject to uncertainties due to intrinsic variability of pre-main sequence (PMS) stars, observational errors, difficulties in reddening correction, and systematic differences in adopted stellar evolutionary models. The distribution of Li abundance for PMS stars in a cluster could, on the other hand, provide an alternative way to estimate the age spread. In this study, a total of 134 PMS stars in NGC 2264 are observed with the high resolution multi-object spectrogragh Hectochelle attached to the 6.5m Multi Mirror Telescope. We have successfully detected Li ${\lambda}6708$ resonance doublet for 86 low-mass PMS stars. The Li abundance of the stars is derived from their equivalent width using a curves of growth method. After correction for non-LTE effects, the underlying age spread of 3 - 4 Myr is inferred from the Li abundance distribution of low-mass PMS stars. We suggest that NGC 2264 formed on a timescale shorter than 5 Myr given the presence of embedded populations.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.355-358
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• 2015

We have conducted a near-infrared monitoring campaign at the UK InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT), of the Local Group galaxy M33. The main aim was to identify stars in the very final stage of their evolution, and for which the luminosity is more directly related to the birth mass than the more numerous less-evolved giant stars that continue to increase in luminosity. The pulsating giant stars (AGB and red supergiants) are identified and their distributions are used to derive the star formation rate as a function of age. These stars are also important dust factories; we measure their dust production rates from a combination of our data with Spitzer Space Telescope mid-IR photometry. The mass-loss rates are seen to increase with increasing strength of pulsation and with increasing bolometric luminosity. Low-mass stars lose most of their mass through stellar winds, but even super-AGB stars and red superginats lose ~40% of their mass via a dusty stellar wind. We construct a 2-D map of the mass-return rate, showing a radial decline but also local enhancements due to agglomerations of massive stars. By comparing the current star formation rate with total mass input to the ISM, we conclude that the star formation in the central regions of M33 can only be sustained if gas is accreted from further out in the disc or from circum-galactic regions.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.45-57
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• 2018

Low-mass star-formation studies deal with the birth of individual solar-type stars as it occurs in nearby molecular clouds. While this isolated mode of star formation may not represent the most common form of stellar birth, its study often provides first evidence for the general ingredients of star formation, such as gravitational infall, disk formation, or outflow acceleration. Here I briefly review the current status and the main challenges in our understanding of low-mass star formation, with emphasis in the still mysterious pre-stellar phase. In addition to presenting by-now classical work, I also show how ALMA is starting to play a decisive role driving progress in this field.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.54.1-54.1
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• 2016

Stellar wind and radiation pressure from massive stars can trigger the formation of new generation of stars. The sequential age distribution of stars, the morphology of cometary globules, and bright-rimmed clouds have been accepted as evidence of triggered star formation. However, these characteristics do not necessarily suggest that new generation of stars are formed by the feedback of massive stars. In order to search for any physical connection between star forming events, we have initiated a study of gas and stellar kinematics in NGC 1893, where two prominent cometary nebulae are facing toward O-type stars. The spectra of gas and stars in optical and near-infrared (NIR) wavelength are obtained with Hectochelle on the 6.5m MMT and Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrograph on the 2.7m Harlan J. Smith Telescope at McDonald observatory. In this study, the radial velocity field of gas across the cluster is investigated using $H{\alpha}$ and [N II] ${\lambda}$ 6584 emission lines, and that of the cometary nebula Sim 130 is also probed using 1-0 S(1) transition line of $H_2$. We report a distinctive velocity field of the cometary nebulae and many ro-vibrational transitions of $H_2$ even at high energy levels in the NIR spectra. These properties indicate the interaction between the cometary nebulae and O-type stars, and this fact can be a clue to triggered star formation in NGC 1893.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.35.3-36
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• 2009

To investigate properties of the stellar contents of the resolved asymptotic giant branch stars in the nearby dwarf galaxies, we obtained wide-field JHKs images of the dwarf irregular galaxies NGC 6822, IC 1613 and the dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 205, using the WIRCam near-infrared imager of the CFHT. The obtained (J-Ks, Ks) and (H-Ks, Ks) color-magnitude diagrams for the resolved stars in the galaxies contain populations of foreground stars, super giant stars, red giant stars and the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. Using corollary photometric data in the visible bands, AGB stars were selected in the color-magnitude diagrams with a wide wavelength baseline in color indices. In color-color diagrams of the resolved AGB stars, we identified C stars from M giant stars for each galaxies, i.e., 726 C stars in NGC 6822, 126 C stars in IC 1613 and 593 C stars in NGC 205. The number ratios of C stars to M-giants were estimated to be $0.59\pm0.03$ in NGC 6822, $0.30\pm0.03$ in IC 1613 and $0.14\pm0.01$ in NGC 205. From analyses of the correlations of the spatial distribution of the C/M ratios with the HI properties and dynamical structures of the target galaxies, we discuss environmental effects of the star formation in the galaxies. We also discuss the epochs of the AGB star formation in the galaxies by comparing theoretical isochrones with the color distributions and luminosity functions of the AGB stars.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.28.1-28.1
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• 2015

Open clusters are one of stellar systems consisting of a few hundreds to thousands of stars. The cluster members are, in general, believed to be a coeval stellar population at the same distance, and therefore they have almost the same properties in chemical composition and kinematics. Owing to these advantages, the clusters are utilized in many astronomy studies, such as the calibrations of distance and stellar age scales, assessments of stellar evolution theories, and the chemical evolution of the Galactic disk. Young open clusters are, inter alia, superb objects to study star formation process as most of stars are known to be formed in clusters. In this talk, I will review the uses of these young open clusters in star formation studies based on the ongoing work of our research group on the stellar initial mass function, an age spread problem, mass accretion rate of pre-main sequence stars, and a feedback of high-mass stars on surroundings.