KODAIKANAL

Kodaikanal Solar Observatory

This Observatory is located in the southern tip of the beautiful Palani range of hills and is the highest location near Kodai. It is about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the bus-stand on Observatory Road, at 2,343 metres (7,690 ft). This is a quiet location within a forested compus. It was established in 1899 as a Solar Physics Observatory and all the activities of the Madras Observatory were shifted to Kodaikanal. The first observations were commenced here in 1901. It is owned and operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and is the India’s oldest astrophysical observatory. The Kodaikanal Terrestrial Telescope can view a grand panorama including: Sothupparai Dam, Vaigai Dam, Periyakulam and Varaha river.

Solar data collected by the lab is the oldest continuous series of its kind in India. Precise observations of the equatorial electrojet are made here due to the unique geographic location of Kodaikanal. Ionospheric soundings, geomagnetic, F region vertical drift and surface observations are made here regularly and summaries of the data obtained are sent to national IMD and global WMO GAW data centers. The Former Director of this Observatory, John Evershed, discovered the phenomenon of radial motion in sunspots in 1909, now known as the Evershed effect.

The Observatory has a comprehensive Astronomical Science museum with organized public tours, access to the astronomy library, and scheduled night-time telescopic sky viewing. The displays are mainly pictorial, supported by a few models. A live solar image and the Fraunhofer spectrum are also presented.
It is open daily to the public during peak season, and a few hours each Friday the rest of the year.