The Vainu Bappu Observatory

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The Vainu Bappu Observatory (VBO) is the main observatory of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), and is located in the picturesque neighbourhood of the village of Kavalur in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Observing Proposals

Proposals are invited for telescope time on the 90" VBT and the 40" telescope at the Vainu Bappu Observatory, Kavalur for the trimester January - March 2010.
The closing date for the submission of proposals is: 30^th November, 2009.

Electronic submissions may be sent to: vtac@iiap.res.in

Proposal forms for VBT (download the tex file)
Proposal forms for 1.0m telescope (download the tex file)

Oberving Proposals are invited four times a year. The four cycleperiods are given below.

Cycle Periods
January - March
April - June
July - September
October - December

The Vainu Bappu Observatory is located about 175 km south-east of Bangalore, and about 200 km south-west of Chennai (formerly Madras).

Local Time : Indian Standard Time (IST) : IST = GMT + 05 30hrs

Vainu Bappu Observatory
Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Kavalur, Alangayam 635 701 INDIA
Tel : 91 (04174) 203014
E-Mail : webmaster@iiap.res.in

• Weather

Peninsular India is usually hit by two monsoons in a year - the southwest monsoon starting around the beginning of June, and the northeast monsoon which settles in around the end of October. The peak observing season is January - April or May.

• Seeing

The telescope seeing at the Zeiss 1m telescope is very close to the site seeing and is in the range of ~0".8-2" (FWHM), 1" being typical. The dome + mirror seeing at the Vainu Bappu Telescope (VBT) is somewhat worse; the range is ~1"-3" (FWHM), with ~2".5 being the typical value.

• Air Connection

The nearest airport to VBO is Bangalore, which besides being an international airport, is connected by direct flights to Chennai (formerly Madras), Mumbai (formerly Bombay), New Delhi and Kolkata.

• Rail Connection

The nearest train stations are Vaniyambadi (29km from VBO) and Jolarpettai (46km from VBO), which have connections from Bangalore, Chennai , Mumbai and New Delhi.

• Road Connection

The VBO, located near the village of Kavalur, may be reached by road from Bangalore, via Hosur-Krishnagiri-Vaniyambadi-Alangayam-Kavalur.

• Information for the Public

Vainu Bappu Observatory is open to public on saturdays between 2 PM and 5 PM. They will be shown the operation of Vainu Bappu Telescope. If clear, night sky will also be shown through the 15 cm visitor telescope. Temporarily the visitor program is suspended until further notification.

Vainu Bappu Observatory is 11 Kms from Alangayam, which is 18 Kms from Vaniyambadi. Vaniyambadi is on the Vellore-Bangalore highway.

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