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Why to visit Vainu Bappu Observatory
The observatory traces its origin back to the year 1786 when William Petrie set up his private observatory at his garden house at Egmore, Madras, which eventually came to be known as the Madras Observatory. Later it was moved over to Kodaikanal and functioned there as the Kodaikanal Observatory since 1899. M.K. Vainu Bappu who took over as the Director of the Kodaikanal Observatory in 1960, found a sleepy little hamlet called Kavalur in the Javadu Hills as a suitable site for establishing optical telescopes for observing the celestial objects. This came to be known as Kavalur Observatory. Later, the name was changed to Indian Institute of Astrophysics.
The Indian Institute of Astrophysics owns and administers the Vainu Bappu Observatory, which is located 77 kilometres from Vellore and 54 kilometres from Yelagiri.
A 100-acre forest preserve surrounds the Kavalur Observatory. The observatory houses several optical telescopes, including the 2.3 metre Vainu Bappu telescope, the 1.3 metre J.C Bhattacharya telescope, the 1 metre Carl Zeiss Telescope, and several smaller ones. In addition to the telescopes, a Fabry-Perot Interferometer is being utilised to track airglow emissions from the Earth's thermosphere. At a height of 725 metres, the observatory is situated. A great diversity of vegetation, as well as fauna and birds, can be seen on campus.
