Studying a Korean Star Catalogue From 1396 AD

Study of the star catalogue (epoch AD 1396.0) recorded in ancient Korean astronomical almanac

Authors:

Jeon et al

Abstract:

The study of old star catalogues provides important astrometric data. Most of the researches based on the old star catalogues were manuscript published in Europe and from Arabic/Islam. However, the old star catalogues published in East Asia did not get attention. Therefore, among the East Asian star catalogues we focus on a particular catalogue recorded in a Korean almanac. Its catalogue contains 277 stars that are positioned in a region within 10° of the ecliptic plane. The stars in the catalogue were identified using the modern Hipparcos catalogue. We identified 274 among 277 stars, which is a rate of 98.9 per cent. The catalogue records the epoch of the stars’ positions as AD 1396.0. However, by using all of the identified stars we found that the initial epoch of the catalogue is AD 1363.1 ± 3.2. In conclusion, the star catalogue was compiled and edited from various older star catalogues. We assume a correlation with the Almagest by Ptolemaios. This study presents newly analysed results from the historically important astronomical data discovered in East Asia. Therefore, this star catalogue will become important data for comparison with the star catalogues published in Europe and from Arabic/Islam.

Is it REALLY a Good Idea for Korea to Build the KF-X Stealth Fighter?

Are programs for manufacturing fighter planes “a blessing” or “a curse” for countries eager to join the elite circle of five advanced nations capable of producing them for profit?

That’s the question as South Korea weighs the odds on plunging into a program for manufacturing the Korean Fighter Experimental — the KFX — with stealth capabilities and the ability to retaliate against North Korean missile and nuclear facilities.

Marc DeVore, a lecturer from the University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland, notes the extremes in meetings with experts and defense officials in Seoul while South Korean engineers begin the arduous process of designing the plane at a projected R&D cost of $8 billion. That’s far below the tens of billions of dollars that Lockheed-Martin has spent developing the F35 — about 60 of which South Korea is considering buying for a cool $100 million apiece.

The fact is that manufacturers in only five countries, the United States, the Soviet Union/Russia, France, Sweden and Britain, have had the background, skills and expertise to develop, make and market a fighter that can operate effectively and sell enough on global markets to justify the enormous costs at every stage of the process.

DeVore offers a disturbing picture of the perils and pitfalls that have forced others to abandon dreams of producing their own fighter planes over the past 40 or so years.

“There have been 20 distinct attempts at market entry,” he says. While countries ranging from Argentina to Israel to Yugoslavia to India and Canada and even Japan have jettisoned multi-billion-dollar programs, only China “seems to have been a success.” China can produce an imitation of the Russian Sukhoi, more or less the equivalent of the American F15, he believes, but he’s still not sure about its quality and durability.

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The Robopocalypse Will be Dinosaurian in Korea

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Evidence From Orosirian PaleoProterozoic Hongcheon, Korea Links to Orogeny in North China Craton

Paleoproterozoic magmatic and metamorphic events in the Hongcheon area, southern margin of the Northern Gyeonggi Massif in the Korean Peninsula, and their links to the Paleoproterozoic orogeny in the North China Craton

Authors:

Lee et al

Abstract:

The Hongcheon area is located at the northern part of Gyeonggi Massif (NGM) in the Korean Peninsula. The metamorphic rocks of the NGM at the Hongcheon area are composed of the Paleoproterozoic Yongduri Gneiss Complex (YGC), Euiam Group (EG) and the Euiam Gneiss Complex (EGC). The quartz-feldspathic gneisses in the northeastern part of the YGC record peak metamorphic temperature–pressure condition of 790–840 °C and 7.2–8.9 kbar, whereas the granitic and garnet gneisses in the western part of the YGC record peak metamorphic temperature–pressure conditions of 690–720 °C and 6.1–6.9 kbar, and 640–660 °C and 5.0–5.4 kbar, respectively. The peak metamorphic conditions represent a regional low-P/T metamorphic event (M2) in which metamorphic temperature and pressures increased towards the east. SHRIMP zircon U–Pb age dating indicates that the M2 metamorphic stage occurred at ca. 1886–1870 Ma. The presence of relict kyanite in the gneisses within the YGC suggests that the intermediate-P/T metamorphic stage (M1) occurred in ca. 1925 Ma. Whole-rock geochemistry of the metagranitoid in the EGC indicates that they are originally post-collision granitoid. SHRIMP zircon U–Pb age dating indicates that the metagranitoid formed at ca. 1885–1869 Ma. Considering the similarity in age between the Paleoproterozoic intrusion and the M2 low-P/T metamorphism, the M2 metamorphism also occurred in a post-collision tectonic setting and the M1 intermediate-P/T metamorphism with kyanite represents collision event. Further, we suggest that the Paleoproterozoic orogeny in the Hongcheon area is closely linked to the Paleoproterozoic orogeny in North Korea and the Jiao-Liao-Ji belt in the North China Craton.

President Park's Dreams of Korean Reunification

THIS seems an odd time for South Korea’s leaders to be talking up the prospects of reunification with their country’s evil twin. The economic gap between the rich south and dirt-poor north of the peninsula grows ever wider, implying mounting reabsorption costs for South Korea. And under its latest Kim-despot, the 30-ish, callow but ruthless Kim Jong Un, the North seems as hostile as ever, threatening new nuclear and missile tests and this week conducting live-fire exercises near the disputed maritime border. In response to Barack Obama’s visit to Seoul in late April an official “Peaceful Reunification” committee thundered that the North “must settle its final scores with the US through an all-out nuclear showdown”. And misogynistic bile was spat at the South’s president, Park Geun-hye: a “dirty comfort woman for the US and despicable prostitute selling off the nation”.

Yet Miss Park herself has been enthusing about the benefits of reunifying her country with this surly belligerent. In a press conference in January she picked “lay[ing] the foundation for unification on the Korean peninsula” as a “key task” for her government this year, and described the prospect as an economic “jackpot”. Then, in February, she announced the formation of a committee to prepare for reunification. In March she visited Germany, long watched by South Koreans as a model of national reintegration between thriving capitalists and struggling communists. In a speech in Dresden, where mass protests in 1989 helped topple the old East German regime, she set out three proposals to ease reunification: a “humanitarian” approach to issues such as reunions between millions of divided families; the building of cross-border infrastructure; and a plan to “reintegrate” the estranged peoples of the two countries through increased contact.

The North’s press dismissed this with predictable scorn, calling it the “daydream of a psychopath”. It did indeed seem fanciful for a number of reasons. The prospect that the North would countenance the proposals was negligible. The idea that reunification will bring an economic bonanza is, to put it mildly, controversial. Her colleagues can point to projections that a united Korea would by 2050 have a bigger economy than Japan or Germany. But that is to ignore the monumental short-term costs.

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Yeongyang-gun Valley Conservation Center: Why Can't San Francisco Get Something as Awesome?

A green, tree-lined valley in Yeongyang-gun, South Korea could soon be turned from a picturesque slice of nature into a scene out of a sci-fi film, complete with giant glass domes encapsulating the landscape. Despite disrupting nature in the short term, the plan is actually a national research and conservation effort, and architect and engineering firm Samoo recently unveiled its winning designs for the project, the National Research Center for Endangered Species, to be built there.

Most eye catching are the giant glass biodomes that will be build along the hillside. According to FastCo Exist, these closed-off ecosystems will be used to breed and raise endangered birds before releasing them back into the wild. The domes' looming height is apparently a necessity to allow the birds to adapt. Another group of buildings will reportedly focus on breeding and studying other endangered species, including certain fish, frogs, tortoises, foxes, and deer.

Beyond that, World Architecture News reports that there will be two additional regions of the center. One will hold a visitor's center and administrative offices, and the other will have guesthouses for select visitors and researchers. The center will also allow for the study of rare plants.

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More Information About the Gyeonggi Massif Emerges From Hongcheon Area, Korea

Tectonic and deformation history of the Gyeonggi Massif in and around the Hongcheon area, and its implications in the tectonic evolution of the North China Craton

Authors:

Yengkhom Kesorjit S, Lee Byung Choon, Oh Chang Whan, Yi Keewook and Ji Hoon Kang

Abstract:

The Precambrian rocks of the Gyeonggi Massif (GM) in and around the Hongcheon area, South Korea, consist of the Yongduri Gneiss Complex (YGC), Euiam Group (EG) and Euiam Gneiss Complex (EGC). The YGC and EG composed mainly of partially migmatised metasedimentary rocks and the EGC is Paleoproterozoic intrusive rock that intruded the EG. At least three major folding (F1, F2 & F3) accompanied with the two-stages of ductile shearing and three-stages of metamorphic events (M1, M2 & M3) occurred in the study area. The F1 folds are extremely drawn out, isoclinal, intrafolial folds and have Class 2 to Class 1 C geometry. The F1 folds and regional S1 foliation in the YGC and EG are the results of E-W compression during the D1 deformation. Ductile shearing in the southern part of the EG is marked by the Palbongsan Shear Zone that indicates top-to-the SW sheared movement during syn to post-F1 folding. The F2 folds are open to tight, SW plunging and inclined folds, and have Class 1A to 1 C geometry. The F2 folding and subsequent NNE thrusting along multiple ductile shear zone parallel to S2 planar fabrics, represent the D2 deformation due to N-S progressive shortening. The D3 deformation was coaxial with the D1 deformation, leading to the development of the F3 kink bands in the mylonite zones. The SHRIMP zircon ages form the EG yield M1 metamorphism age of 1917-1925 Ma. However ca. 1867-1883 Ma, M2 metamorphism previously reported from the YGC is absent or weakly preserved in the EG representing that the M2 metamorphism was not strong enough to form new zircon in the EG. The igneous zircons from the augen gneiss in the EGC yield intrusion age of ca. 1867-1881 Ma and the geochemistries of the EGC gneisses show post-collision tectonic origin. The D1 deformation observed in the YGC and EG but not in the EGC. The D1 deformation occurred during M1 metamorphism, and then the M2 metamorphism and 1867-1881 Ma igneous activities could have occurred together during post-collision tectonic stage. The M1 metamorphism and ca. 1867-1881 Ma post collision magmatism in the study area are well matched with the collision related metamorphism at ca. 1.90-1.93 Ga and post collision igneous activities at ca. 1.80-1.86 Ga along the Jiao-Liao-Ji belt in the North China Craton suggesting that M1 metamorphism could have caused by the collision along the Jiao-Liao-Ji belt. The M3 metamorphism occurred at ca. 230-260 Ma and its peak metamorphic conditions were 720-730 °C/13-14.5 kbar. The D2 deformation and the M3 intermediate-P/T metamorphism occurred during the Permo-Triassic collision event between the North China Craton and South China Craton. The study area was not a collision boundary but located in the peripheral areas of the collision belt during the Paleoproterozoic and the Permo-Triassic time. The D3 deformation occurred at a time gap between the Permo-Triassic collision and the subduction related Jurassic intrusion in the Korean Peninsula

Evidence of the Rodinia and Columbia Supercontinents in the Korean Peninsula

Arc magmatism in the Yeongnam Massif, Korean Peninsula: Imprints of Columbia and Rodinia supercontinents

Authors:

Sung Won Kim , Sanghoon Kwon , Keewook Yi, and M. Santosh

Abstract:

Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb zircon ages and whole-rock chemical compositions are reported here from charnockites, anorthosite and metagranite (orthogneisses) from the Jirishan complex in the southwestern part of the Yeongnam massif, Korea. The charnockite and the Kfs-megacryst metagranite yielded zircon U-Pb ages of ca. 1871–1863 Ma. In contrast, the Neoproterozoic porphyritic metagranite and anorthosite yielded a zircon U-Pb age of ca. 908–904 Ma. The geochemical signatures of both Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic rocks display enrichment in LREEs and negative Nb, Ta and Ti anomalies. The geochronological and geochemical data suggest that the Proterozoic Jirishan complex preserves the imprints of arc-related magmatism at different periods associated with formation of the Paleoproterozoic Columbia and the Neoproterozoic Rodinia supercontinents. The ca. 1871–1863 Ma ages from the charnockites and metagranites from the Jirishan complex are coeval with similar events in the North China Craton, which also represent arc magmatism in a convergent margin setting related to the amalgamation of the Columbia supercontinent. In contrast, the Neoproterozoic porphyritic metagranite and anorthosite, together with the Neoproterozoic metagranites reported from the western Gyeonggi massif, provide a temporal link to the Neoproterozoic tonalite-granodiorite plutons recently identified in and around the South China Craton. They represent orogenic-type magmas that can be attributed to the amalgamation of the Rodinia supercontinent. However, the foliated granites in the central to southwestern Yeongnam massif are related to an arc setting associated with the Permo-Triassic paleo-Pacific subduction.

Korea's KFX Plans Two Potential Planforms

If they team with the Americans, they will develop a plane with a planform like that on the lext.  If they team with the Europeans, they will work on a planform on the right.  To my eyes, the one on the left looks like a muscled up JSF.  The one on the right looks like a stealthy Draken.

Cray Gets KMA Contract for $40 Million

Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY) today announced that it has signed a multi-year, multi-phase contract to provide the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) with a next-generation supercomputer. Valued at more than $40 million, the award is one of the largest in the area of operational numerical weather prediction in the world to-date, and will provide KMA with the necessary supercomputing, storage and data management technologies to reinforce its position as one of the world's premier weather forecasting and research centers.

600 teraflops and it's an XT5.

Korean Triceratops Fossil?!

This may only be a Protoceratops, but with the recent announcement of a Chinese neoceratopsian...

Baby Sauropod Trackways