The Indian Institute of Astrophysics welcomes you to the IIA Open Day, which is being organised in our Koramangala Campus on 25th February 2024, Sunday, from 9 AM to 6 PM. This is in celebration of National Science Day, instituted to mark the discovery of the Raman Effect by the Nobel laureate C.V. Raman.  

We have a number of events planned for people of all ages in this festival of astronomy. The event is open to all, is free of charge, and no prior registration is required.

The institute will showcase its research in astrophysics and its many observatories through models, demonstrations, and posters. In addition, there will be a number of attractions for the students and the general public. In the ‘Ask an Astronomer’ event, astronomers from the institute will be present throughout the day to answer questions from the visiting public, and posters on major areas of astronomy will also be exhibited.

Please note that there will not be any night sky watching session on this day. These will be organised on a later date.

Public talks

There will be a public talk on the ‘First Stars of the Universe’ at 2 PM in Kannada by Prof. Udaya Shankar (RRI, retd), followed by a talk on ‘Black Hole Shadows’ at 4 PM by Prof Sanved Kolekar (IIA). There will also be a book reading by Prof. Biman Nath (RRI), the author of ‘Solar System in Verse’ at 11 AM for students of ages 8-18, followed by a book signing.

Events and activities

There are a large number of events and activities set up around our campus which you can enjoy.

Telescope models and posters:  The main lounge will host a number of posters on all major themes in astronomy, as well as posters on the research done at our institute, and on our various telescope projects for the future. The public can see models of three telescopes: the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope on board AstroSat, India's first dedicated space observatory, the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) that is on board the solar spacecraft Aditya-L1, and the Thirty Metre Telescope, an international project to build one of the world's largest optical-IR telescopes that India is a part of. We will also have models loaned by the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium. Our Ph.D. scholars and students will be on hand to explain all of this to visitors. 

In addition, we will be exhibiting a few models on loan from ISRO as well.

Demonstrations, experiments, and interactions: Our Optics Lab will showcase principles of optics through a captivating laser demonstration with large mirrors and lenses. They will also bring to life the ray diagram of a telescope through an innovative experiment. Visitors will be shown sunspots by projecting the Sun's image safely onto a screen, and the Bangalore Astronomical Society will also be present with their H alpha telescope for you to look through. Our Space Payloads Group will demonstrate their tethered Helium balloon as well. All three have always been popular especially with our young visitors.

Our institute traces its origins back to 1786 with the setting up of the Madras Observatory in 1792. Our Library and Archives section will be exhibiting books, reports, drawings, and instruments from the 1800s! We will have an interactive quiz on our digital platform and if you can guess all questions correctly, you will win a small prize. 

Astronomy stall: Our pandal will have around 10 stalls as well as an "Ask an Astronomer" on stage. One of our scientists will be present on stage throughout the day to answer any questions on astronomy from the visitors. We will stalls from astronomy organisations, viz., Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bangalore Astronomical Society, Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers, and Jantar Mantar models from V.S.S. Sastry. We will also have an interactive astronomy games corner by DOOT, an e-magazine of IIA students, and a stall by INDUS, a national organisation of solar physics students.

We will be selling astronomy themed merchandise like postcards, bookmarks, pin badges etc. In addition, FlippAR GO will be selling an Augmented Reality postcard which bring the Thirty Meter Telescope to life in 3D. Nava Karnatala Publications will be selling their astronomy titles which are in Kannada. Niyogi Books will be selling the "Solar System in Verse" book by Prof Biman Nath following his book reading.

We welcome everyone to our Open Day and we hope you will have a fun experience learning about astronomy!