Unravelling mysteries of Space and beyond
The Indian Institute of Astrophysics has over a century long legacy… the institution is pioneer in unravelling the mysteries of Space and beyond….
The journey of India’s premier astronomy and astrophysics research institution – The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) dates back to 1786. An officer of the East India Company, William Petrie went about setting up a private observatory over his 11 acres residence in Egmore, Chennai. Back then, the observatory was used for navigational purpose. Petrie closely observed the position of the Moon’s eclipse and satellites of Jupiter to guide ships in the high sea. In 1790, the East India Company formally took over the observatory and shifting the centre to Nungambakkam, Chennai expanded its scope of work.
Around 1881-82, in addition to photography and spectrography of the Sun and the stars using its 20-inch telescope, the observatory was being used to measure the Sun’s heating up of the earth’s surface and its periodic variation.
A decade later, in the aftermath of a severe famine in the Madras Presidency region around July 1893 in the U.K. Secretary meeting chaired by Lord Kelvin, it was decided to establish a solar physics observatory at Kodaikanal. Thereafter the Madras Observatory served as the only astronomical observatory of India for over a century making significant contributions in the area of astronomical science.
Achievements of the Observatory
Indian astronomer, C. Raghunathachary’s discovery of the light variations of variable star R. Reticuli in 1867; use of spectroscope to discover gaseous nature of the prominences during solar eclipse on August 18, 1868; British astronomer, Taylor’s completion of his ‘catalogue of places’ for 11,000 stars in 1884; Norman R. Pogson, Director of the Madras Observatory for over 30 years in 1891 catalogue of over 3000 stars; John Evershed’s discovery of the phenomenon of ‘radial motion in sunspots’ in 1909 and so on.
While Kodaikanal Observatory continued to serve as the nodal Observatory for over a century working in the area of solar and atmospheric physics, under its shadow the country saw rise of several elite and specialised space observatory centres.
The Vainu Bappu Observatory at Kavalur housing a 2.34 metre telescope was established in 1968 for night time astronomy, spectroscopy and photometry. The Gauribidanur Radio Observatory, equipped with a 6-meter radio telescope – a radio heliograph facility to obtain two-dimensional pictures of outer solar corona, was established in 1976 to study the Sun, galaxies and pulsars. The high-altitude Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle in Ladake saw installation of a 2-metre Himalayan Chandra Telescope in 2001 and later setting-up of a seven-unit High Altitude Gamma Ray (HAGAR) telescope.
Indian Institute of Astrophysics
As the country continues its onward journey of over two centuries (i.e. since 1786) dedicatedly working in the area of astronomy and astrophysics through its network of observatories at Kodaikanal, Kavalur, Gauribidanur and Hanle, in 1971 the Indian government decided to form the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), bringing all the observatories under a single autonomous research institute headquartered at Koramangala in Bengaluru.
-Manoj Mahanta
Team, ScienceNow
