Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore

The Indian Institute of Astrophysics is a premier institute devoted to research in astronomy, astrophysics and related physics. The main campus of the Institute is in Koramangala, Bangalore, whereas the Hosakote campus, near Bangalore houses the Centre for Research and Education in Science and Technology (CREST). The main observing facilities of the Institute are located at Gauribidanur, Hanle, Kavalur and Kodaikanal The Indian Institute of Astrophysics is a premier institute devoted to research in astronomy, astrophysics and related physics. It traces its origins back to an observatory set up in 1786 at Madras which from the year 1792 began to formally function at its Nungambakkam premises as the Madras Observatory. In 1899, the observatory moved to Kodaikanal. In the year 1971, the Kodaikanal Observatory became an autonomoussociety, the Indian Institute ofAstrophysics. The headquarters were shifted to Bangalore into its present campus in Koramangala in 1975. Today, funded by the Department of Science and Technology, the Institute ranks as a premier institution devoted to research and education of astronomy and physics in the country. The main observing facilities of the Institute are located aKodaikanal, Kavalur,Gauribidanur and Hanle. The Kodaikanal Observatory has for over a century been the principal centre of activity in observational solar and atmospheric physics. The Vainu Bappu Observatory at Kavalur has been the main optical observatory of the Institute for nighttime astronomy since the late 1960s. There are several telescopes in operation here, the foremost among these being the 2.34 metre Vainu Bappu Telescope. The Gauribidanur Radio Observatory has a decametre wave radio telescope array and a radioheliograph. The new high altitude Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) at Hanle in south-eastern Ladakh has augmented the facilities for nighttime astronomy. Here, a 2 metre Himalayan Chandra Telescope has been in operation since 2001 . A seven-unit High Altitude Gamma Ray (HAGAR) telescope is fast coming up at the Hanle site. The Bangalore campus has an extensive library, a computer centre, physics laboratories and electronics, photonics and mechanical laboratories supporting an active instruments development programme.