Practicalities
Arrival and Departure
Particpants from outside Bangalore should plan
to arrive at the Bangalore campus of IIA, no later than the morning of Sunday, the 21st July, OR
at the nearest train stations to the observatory, viz., Jolarpettai/Vaniambadi no later than the evening of Sunday, the 21st July, 2013.
Road transport (buses/vans) will be arranged from IIA, Bangalore campus and from Jolarpettai/Vaniambadi
railway stations to the observatory. The travel time is about
3.5 hours from Bangalore and about one hour from Jolarpettai/Vaniambadi stations.
Participants from outside Bangalore should plan
to depart no earlier than the night of Monday, the 29th July, 2013, taking into account
the information given below.
The buses/vans for Jolarpettai/Vaniambadi railway stations and for Bangalore will leave the
observatory around 16:00hrs on Monday, the 29th July 2013.
Please note that arranging personalised departures from the observatory for participants
will not be possible.
Although the drive from the observatory to IIA normally takes 3-4 hours, there may be slowing down
by another hour or so due to traffic jams in the outskirts of Bangalore.
From IIA, an additional hour is required to reach the city railway station, and an additional two hours
to the airport/Yashvantpura railway station.
Air travellers should also take check-in time into account (three hours for international
departures) when planning their travel.
Transport to the Bangalore railway stations and airport, and transit accommodation in Bangalore on the night
of the 29th July can be arranged upon request.
Please address any queries to astrostat@iiap.res.in.
Lectures and Lab Sessions
The lecture notes will be provided in printed form to all the participants at the time of registration.
Each participant will be assigned a computer on which the R software required for the lab sessions is installed. Both Windows and Linux platforms will be available.
If participants prefer to use their own laptops, they should install the R software and Java themselves BEFORE the
start of the school.
R Lab sessions will be in the Lecture Hall of the LAB-B building of the campus
(see campus map).
Please see the schedule of lectures
for the list of lectures and labs.
Accommodation
Participants will be accommodated on the Vainu Bappu Observatory
campus. The
accommodation will be in the form of shared double or triple furnished rooms.
All rooms have attached bathrooms with running hot water. Meals will be served in the
dining area. All the rooms are within about 200m of the dining area.
Weather
The weather is expected to be cool, with rain off and on. It could be windy and therefore chilly in certain places
such as the telescope catwalks.
What to Bring
- Ample stock of all the medicines that you are likely to need
- Torch with spare batteries
- Rainware
- One layer of warm clothing
- Walking sandals/shoes
Other than the above, for bird-watching enthusiasts, binoculars and birdbooks
are recommended.
Communication
The campus is located in a forested area, about 11km away from the nearest town of
Alangayam. Internet connectivity is available in the lecture room area via WiFi, and during
times when neither the lectures nor the tutorials are in session, the internet may be accessed
using individual laptops.
Telephones with long-distance dialling facility as well as fax facility are available on the campus
for urgent communication.
Some but not all domestic cell phone networks can be reached from the observatory.