Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, oldest in India, justcelebrated its 125th anniversary!-FORWARD
TIMESOFINDIA.COM/ Updated : Apr 3, 2024, 16:43 IST Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, oldest in India, justcelebrated its 125th anniversary! Synopsis The Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, with its richhistory and significant discoveries, is a top destination for tourists andresearchers, offering breath taking views and cutting-edge researchopportunities. Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KSO) is an iconiclandmark in South India. Forthose who don’t know, KSO is India’s oldest and one of the world’s oldest solarobservatories. On 1st April, the observatory celebrated its 125thbirth anniversary. For the celebrations, A.S. Kiran Kumar, former Chairman ofISRO and Chairperson of the Governing Council of IIA uncovered the 125 logo. On this note, let’s find out more about this iconicobservatory: Location The observatory, started in the year 1899, is set atan altitude of 2100 m on top of the pretty hills of Kodaikanal in the lap ofthe Western Ghats. Being India's scientific legacy, KSO has become a primetourist attraction in the region. With a rich history in scientific world andcelestial observation, the observatory is an important astronomical researchspace. World’s oldest man-madestructures that are still standing >From here, visitors can enjoy unparalleled vistas ofthe sunrise and sunset >across the sky. It was established by the Britishcolonial administration to >study the activities of the sun and soon became acentre for solar physics >research. Scientists and astronomers from all over theworld visit here. The telescope The Solar Tower Telescope here stands tall in themiddle of the greens. The whole place is replete with modern instruments thatallows researchers to dig deeper into solving mysteries of the universe! Home ofresearchers Over the years now, the observatory has played acrucial role in understanding of solar physics. Its ground breaking researchhas contributed to numerous scientific discoveries and has helped shape ourknowledge of the sun. One of the interesting facts about the observatory isthat it has a continuous daily record of the Sun, with over 1.2 lakh digitisedsolar images! This placeis a hub of unique database which is publicly available to astronomers acrossthe globe. Another prime feature of the KSO’s work has been itsdiscovery of the Evershed Effect in 1909. This discoveryallowed scientists to see sun spots that is caused due to the radial flow ofgas. With so many interesting discoveries and milestones, the Kodaikanal SolarObservatory remains one of the most interesting places to visit in Kodaikanal. My Nostalgicmemories- Kodaikkanal had a seasonal Trunk telephone exchange andautomatic exchange. I was posted there as first Junior Engineer in 1974. I wasworking there till 1976, during which period I passed my TES class II examination in 1974end. I had friends from the observatory, situated uphill about 4 KMs from town. On those days only taxies, forgoing up and we used them to go up and meet friends. Coming down was by walk unless taxies were available. Thestaff there on those days received payas cheque and they had to come all the waydown to en-cash them in banks. In Southern zone, the Indian railways had their firstmicrowave station at Kodaikkanal, from where I had occasion to talk to stationmasters familiar to me at Coimbatore etc. Telecommunication microwave stationat Kodaikkanal commissioned still later. The information about the observatory forwarded is from yahooopening page today. R. Gopalakrishnan 7-4-24 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/829400252.3853781.1712454446497%40mail.yahoo.com.
