For a long time, Indians were fascinated by the universe and other things related to it. So many structures and figures had been constructed in the past to know about the space.
Now with the advancing technologies, observatories are made with high-tech instruments and equipment to learn several types of phenomena that are going on in the macrocosm.
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India contains several observatories and high-powered telescopes that help to explore and understand the cosmos.
In this article, you will get to know about the following observatories and telescopes in India,
- Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope
- 3.6 m Devasthal Optical Telescope
- Indian Astronomical Observatory
- Ooty Radio Telescope
- Udaipur Solar Observatory
- Kodaikanal Solar Observatory
Let’s see each of these in detail.
List of observatories in India
1. Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope
| State | Maharashtra |
National Centre for Radio Astrophysics operates the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). It is situated close to Narayangaon, Pune, and consists of completely steerable thirty parabolic radio telescopes.
It was built between 1984 and 1996 under Late Professor Govind Swarup. It was constructed to search the redshift that resulted in 21 cm line radiation from the neutral hydrogen clouds. This was to determine the formation of the epoxy of galaxies in the universe.
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So many other astronomical objects are observed by the astronomers from all over the world, such as the HII region, solar winds, supernovae, etc. The Ophiuchus Supercluster explosion, the biggest in the history of the cosmos, was observed from GMRT in 2020.
The most recent discovery was made in January 2023, when the telescope picked up a radio signal that originated from 8.8 billion light years away.
The telescope had the world’s largest interferometric array offering up to 25 kilometers of the baseline when it was constructed.
2. 3.6 m Devasthal Optical Telescope
| State | Uttarakhand |
Located in Nainital, it is the largest telescope in the country and stretches for 4.17 ha. The telescope is a custom-built instrument that consists of great complexity.
It aids in studying celestial objects at optical wavelengths. It is maintained and operated by ARIES (Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences). The optical telescope is a clear aperture Ritchey Chrétien telescope, a specialized version of the Cassegrain telescope.
It was activated by Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, in 2016, with Charles Michel, the Belgian Prime Minister from Brussels. The Devasthal Optical Telescope was built synergistically with AMOS (Advanced Mechanical and Optical System), a Belgian firm.
It is elevated at 2450 meters, and a solar telescope installation is also being done near the park. Plans are being made to commission a Spectro polarimeter, high spectral resolution spectrograph, and many other complex instruments.
3. Indian Astronomical Observatory
| State | Jammu and Kashmir |
Located at an altitude of 4500 meters, The Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) is in Hanle, southeastern Ladakh. The astronomical station is amongst the highest-located sites in the globe for Infrared, Optical, and Gamma-Ray Telescopes.
On August 2001, the observatory was dedicated to India. It became the nation’s first Dark Sky Preserve (DSP) in 2022. DSP is the restriction of artificial light pollution in the area where the observatory is located.
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The observatory yields around 255 spectroscopic nights per year and 190 photometric nights per year. IAO is one of the most favorable observatories in a region as dry as the Atacama desert. Due to this, it has 270 clear nights, background aerosol concentration, the least light pollution, and uninterrupted monsoon.
If you want to visit the IAO, you will have to travel to the villages near the China border. To get in, you will need permission in advance.
4. Ooty Radio Telescope
| State | Tamil Nadu |
The ORT or Ooty Radio Telescope is located and is a part of the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) and is funded by the country’s government through the Department of Atomic energy. Situated in Muthorai close to Ooty, the Radio telescope elevates up to 530 meters.
It is operated at 326.5 Mhz frequency and has a maximum bandwidth of 15 MHz at the front end. With the help of Indian technological resources, the radio telescope was designed and created. Being one of the most sensitive telescopes of its kind, many significant discoveries were made.
Several phenomena related to the solar system and other celestial bodies are explained using ORT. The recent projects being carried out here are Pulsar timing observations, IPS (Interplanetary Scintillation) observations, and Spectral line observations.
5. Udaipur Solar Observatory
| State | Rajasthan |
The Solar Observatory is situated on an island in the Fateh Sagar Lake in Udaipur. It was built in 1976, following the Solar Observatory at Big Bear Lake, Southern California.
USO (Udaipur Solar Observatory) utilizes different types of telescopes for solar observation and includes magnetic field, velocity, resolution solar chromosphere, spectral observations, mass ejections, etc.
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Due to the favorable sky conditions in the city, and the large water body surrounding the observatory, the air turbulence due to ground heating is decreased and hence improves image quality and accuracy.
USO also plugs the stretched longitudinal gap between Spain and Australia. USO furnishes a connection for regular solar coverage in several international collaborative programs and is a site of International and National significance.
6. Kodaikanal Solar Observatory
| State | Tamil Nadu |
Located in the southern part of the Palani Hills, the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory is operated and owned by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. A decision was taken to establish a solar observatory at Kodaikanal after the famine in the year 1893.
The first was the detection of the Evershed effect was done in 1909. Ionospheric surroundings, F region vertical drift, and geomagnetic and surface observations are often made here. Summaries of all the data are sent to data centers nationally (Indian Meteorological Department) and globally (Global Atmosphere Watch, World meteorological conditions).
Different types of telescopes and other instruments are used here. The recent activities that are going on are vector magnetic field measurement, the study of structure and dynamics of the equatorial ionosphere, and the study of morphological changes in active regions and their role in the transition, such as solar flares.
Various studies and observations are there that are performed here. Pressure, rainfall, surface temperature, etc. are observed hourly at this observatory. Seminars, workshops, nighttime telescoping sky viewing, and more are done for public education.
These are some of the observatories situated in India. Study more about all these and engross yourself in the vastness of the cosmos.
Each of these observatories is of great importance in the county and globally, and you can research more about what they do and how.
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