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Category of Astronomical Heritage: tangible immovable
Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, India

Format: IAU - Outstanding Astronomical Heritage

Description

Geographical position 
  • InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
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    Date: 2022-04-14 15:42:09
    Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Kodaikanal 624103 INDIA

 

Location 
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Lat. 10° 13′ 56″ N, long. 77° 27′ 53″ E, elevation 2,343m above mean sea level.

 

 

IAU observatory code 
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Description of (scientific/cultural/natural) heritage 
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    Date: 2022-04-15 13:48:49
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In 1899, the Kodaikanal Observatory of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics was established as a Solar Physics Observatory on the Palani Hills in Southern India (2343m). All activities of the Madras Observatory were shifted to Kodaikanal.

Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (© KSO)

Fig. 1a. Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (© KSO)



The first director was John Evershed (1864--1956), 1906 to 1911, and was married to fellow astronomer Mary Acworth Orr Evershed, née Orr (1867--1949).

The Evershed effect (radial motions in sunspots) was first detected at this observatory in January 1909.
Already in 1907, Evershed "discovered the ultraviolet tail bands in Comet Daniel that are now ascribed to CO+. Evershed made numerous studies of planet Venus and of Nova Aquilae 1918" (Bappu 2000).

After his retirement in 1923, Evershed returned to England, and built a private observatory at Ewhurst, Surre, with a large high-dispersion  spectroheliograph in order to study H and K lines in solar prominences.

Kodaikanal, Hall (Photo: R. Kochhar)

Fig. 1b. Kodaikanal, Hall (Photo: R. Kochhar)



After Evershed, in the time until 1960, the highlight in research was the "discovery of the oxygen lines in the chromosphere without the aid of an eclipse, the centre-limb variations of the hydrogen lines and their use to study the solar atmosphere and the detailed study of the properties of the dark markings seen in H-alpha" (Bappu 2000).

In the Hale Observatories, Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu (1927--1982) discovered together with Olin Chaddock Wilson (1909--1994) the Wilson-Bappu-Effect (1957).
The comet C/1949 N1 was named as the Bappu-Bok-Newkirk comet.

Vaina Bappu, president of the International Astronomical Union, started to build an observatory in Kavalur in 1968. The Vainu Bappu Observatory (VBO) and the 2.3-m-Vainu Bappu Telescope (VBT) -- both at Kavalur -- were named for him in 1986.

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 geography of Kodaikanal. It was in the 1960s still the country’s largest.

Kodaikanal, Spectroheliograph (Photo: R. Kochhar)

Fig. 2a. Kodaikanal, Spectroheliograph (Photo: R. Kochhar)


Spectroheliograph of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory

Fig. 2b. Spectroheliograph of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (© KSO)

 

History 
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    Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

Kodaikanal, Dome (Photo: R. Kochhar)

Fig. 3a. Kodaikanal, Dome (Photo: R. Kochhar)

Kodaikanal, Map (©: R. Kochhar)

Fig. 3b. Kodaikanal, Map (©: R. Kochhar)

Instruments of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (Kochar 2002):

  • 4-inch-Photoheliograph, called Dallmeyer No. 4, 1844
  • Spectrograph, Adam Hilger of London (1897), a polar siderostat with an 11-in aperture plane mirror; a 6-inch-lens (40-ft focus),
    Howard Grubb of Dublin, and a concave grating
  • 6-inch-Telescope, T. Cooke & Sons, 1874, with a three-prism solar spectroscope, Adam Hilger of London
  • Transit telescope, T. Cooke & Sons of York, and chronograph, M. Eichens & M. Hardy of Paris
  • 6-inch-Equatorial, Lerebours & Secretan of Paris, 1850, renewed by Grubb of Dublin, 1898
  • Calcium-K Spectroheliograph, Horace Darwin’s Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, 1902
  • 12-inch-Solar telescope (2-ft focus) with a Foucault siderostat - 18-inch-plane silver-on-glass mirror, T. Cooke & Sons of York

In 1912 instruments were received from Poona on the closure of Takhtasinghji’s Observatory.

New Instruments of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory:

  • 20-inch-Refractor, Bavanagar Telescope, Grubb & Parsons of Newcastle upon Tyne (1951)

  • Lyot Hydrogen-alpha Heliograph with a 15-cm-objective (1957)

  • Lyot Coronograph with a 20-cm-objective (3-m focus), REOSC of Paris (1957)

  • Solar Tunnel Telescope (KSO), Coelostat (two fused quartz mirrors), 60-cm-Reflector,
    11m tower, 60m long underground horizontal tunnel,  
    38-cm-achromat (f/90, 36-m focus) produces a solar image of 34cm diameter, or
    20-cm-achromat (f/90) produces a solar image of 17cm diameter,
    Grubb & Parsons of Newcastle upon Tyne (1957).
    During the International Geophysical Year, it was used for monitoring solar effects - in international cooperation with observatories in Madrid, India, and Manila.

  • SPECTRO-Telescope, Littrow-type Spectrograph, achromat 20cm diameter, 18m focal length, 600 lines/mm grating

  • Littrow-type Spectroheliograph, high dispersion, using the 3.43m achromat

  • H-alpha-Telescope with a 20-cm-objective (2014)

  • TWIN Telescope, equatorial mount (2008-2012),
    15-cm-objective lens makes full-disk images of the Sun in Ca-K (3934 Å)

  • WARM [White Light Active Region Monitoring] for images of the sun in Ca-K (2016),
    two mirror coelostat, 15-cm-aperture doublet, makes full-disk images of the photosphere and chromosphere,
    images of the Sun in G-Band (4305 Å) and red continuum (6303 Å), replaced in 2017 by Ca-K (3934 Å)

  • KRS - Kodaikanal Radio Spectrograph (1952), established by Amil Kumar Das.



Kodaikanal H-alpha-Telescope (© KSO)

Fig. 4a. Kodaikanal H-alpha-Telescope (© KSO)

 

Kodaikanal, Tunnel Telescope (Photo: R. Kochhar)

Fig. 4b. Kodaikanal, Tunnel Telescope (Photo: R. Kochhar)


A 12-m solar tower with modern spectrograph was established in 1960 by Amil Kumar Das (1902--1961) and used to perform some of the first ever helioseismology investigations. Measurements of vector magnetic fields were initiated during the 1960s.

Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu (1927--1982) created a new Observatory in Kavalur (1968) in the Javadi Hills, Indian state of Tamil Nadu, now called Vainu Bappu Observatory (VPO), operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. The instrumentation comprises:

  • 2.3-m-Reflector, Vainu Bappu Telescope (VPT)
  • 1-m-Reflector, Carl Zeiss telescope

 

Amil Kumar Das (1902--1961), (Wikipedia)

Fig. 5a. Amil Kumar Das (1902--1961), (Wikipedia)

 

Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu (1927--1982), (Wikipedia

Fig. 5b. Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu (1927--1982), (Wikipedia)

 

List of Directors of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory

  • Charles Michie Smith (1854--1922), 1895 to 1911
  • John Evershed (1864--1956), 1911 to 1923
  • Thomas Royds (1884--1955), 1923 to 1939
  • Appadvedula Lakshmi Narayan (1887-1973), 1939 to 1946


India’s independence in 1947

  • Amil Kumar Das (1902--1961), 1946 to 1960
  • Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu (1927--1982), 1960 to 1982
          [Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore (since 1977)]
  • Jagadish Chandra Bhattacharya (1930--2012), 1982 to 1990
  • Ramnath Cowsik (*1940), 1992 to 2003
  • S. S. Hasan, since 2003

 

State of preservation 
  • InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
    Entity: 129
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    Version: 2
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    Date: 2022-04-14 15:58:03
    Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

Kodaikanal Solar Observatory is well preserved. A valuable library and Kodaikanal Data Archive should be mentioned.
 

 

Comparison with related/similar sites 
  • InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
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    Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

Only three other institutions, Meudon Observatory near Paris, the Mount Wilson Observatory and Einstein tower, Potsdam, have a comparable collection of instruments.
Cf. Nizamiah Observatory, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.

 

 

Present use 
  • InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
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    Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

Used as an out station of Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore (since 1977)

 

Astronomical relevance today 
  • InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
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Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore (since 1977)
It is a premier institute devoted to research in astronomy, astrophysics and related physics. The main observing facilities of the Institute are located at Gauribidanur, Hanle, Kavalur (1970s) and Kodaikanal.

 

References

Bibliography (books and published articles) 
  • InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
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  • Bappu, M.K. Vaina: The Kodaikanal Observatory -- A Historical Account. In: Bangalore: Indian Academy of Sciences Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy 21 (June 2000), 3-4, p. 105.

  • Bappu, M.K. Vaina: Obituary notices: Anil Kumar Das. In: The Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 2 (March 1961), 4, p. 278-279.

  • Bhattacharyya, J. C.: M.K. Vainu Bappu. In: Resonance  7  (2002), 8.

  • Kochhar, Rajesh K.: The growth of modern astronomy in India 1651--1960. In: Vistas in Astronomy 34 (1991), p. 69-105.

  • Kochhar, Rajesh K. & Wayne Orchiston: Chapter 24: The Development of Modern Astronomy and Emergence of Astrophysics in India. In: Nakamura, T. & Wayne Orchiston (ed.): The Emergence of Astrophysics in Asia: Opening a New Window on the Universe. Cham: Springer 2017.
    (doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-62082-4_24).

  • Kochhar, Rajesh K.: Madras and Kodaikanal Observatories: A Brief History. In: RESONANCE (August 2002), p. 16-28.

  • Kochhar, Rajesh: Kodaikanal Observatory (1899). In: Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (ed.): Cultural Heritage of Astronomical Observatories - From Classical Astronomy to Modern Astrophysics. Proceedings of International ICOMOS Symposium in Hamburg, October 14--17, 2008. Berlin: hendrik Bäßler-Verlag (International Council on Monuments and Sites, Monuments and Sites XVIII) 2009, p. 254--259.

  • Kuhi, L.V.: The Wilson-Bappu Effect in T Tauri Stars. In: Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 77 (1965), 457, p. 253.

  • Mandal, Sudip; Hegde, M.; Samanta, T.; Hazra, G.; Banerjee, D. & B. Ravindra: Kodaikanal digitized white-light data archive (1921--2011): Analysis of various solar cycle features. In: Astronomy & Astrophysics 601 (2017).

  • Priyal, Muthu; Singh, Jagdev; Ravindra, B.; Priya, T.G. & K. Amareswari: Long term variations in chromospheric features from Ca-K images at Kodaikanal. In: Solar Physics 289 (2014), p. 137-152.

  • Ramamurthy, G.: Biographical Dictionary of Great Astronomers. 2005.

 

Links to external sites 
  • InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
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    Version: 4
    Status: PUB
    Date: 2022-05-25 17:37:20
    Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

 

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