Vainu Bappu Observatory, Tiruvannamalai

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About Vainu Bappu Observatory

The Vainu Bappu Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. It is located at Kavalur in the Javadi Hills, near Vaniyambadi in Tirupattur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is 200 km south-west of Chennai and 175 km south-east of Bangalore.

History

The Vainu Bappu Observatory of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics traces its origin back to 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 to Kodaikanal and functioned there as the Kodaikanal Observatory since 1899.However, Kodaikanal had very few nights available for observation and hence astronomers searched for a new site after India's independence. 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 Javadi Hills as a suitable site for establishing optical telescopes for observing celestial objects. This came to be known as Kavalur Observatory.Observations began in 1968 with a 38 cm telescope made in the backyard of the Kodaikanal Observatory.

Vainu Bappu Observatory is located in City of Tiruvannamalai state of Tamil Nadu which has other variety of things to explore

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