Similar Posts
How many nights does it take to count the stars?
Indu Gopalakrishnan One fine morning, 14 years ago, I walked into the Indian Institute of Astrophysics to attend my first ever interview as a research trainee. I had a file with all my certificates and scorecards arranged neatly in it that I held so tight to my chest, hoping that the good credentials I earned…
A Heritage Library in the Mountain Observatory (Part II)
Christina Birdie & A. Vagiswari Special Archival Collection of resources in the library of Kodaikanal Observatory Library inherited the priceless copy of ‘Astronomia Nova’ by Kepler dating back to 1609. The volume is leather-bound with 650 pages of Latin text, calculations, tables of observations, and woodcut diagrams of planetary orbits. Very little is known about…
A Tale of Two Eclipses
Sarthak Choudhary On July 29th 1878, residents of Rawlins, USA were ready with their smoked glass to witness a spectacular show of the celestial hide and seek – a total solar eclipse. Astronomers from all over the world had already arrived in the town. Amongst those was a party of astronomers led by Henry Draper…
To ‘if’ or to ‘when’ that is the question – understanding our nearest star, the Sun
Man had been living under the mercy of nature from the days of folklore…
The Shape of the Universe – Objects in the Mirror are Closer than they Appear
Fazlu Rahman Objects in the Mirror are Closer than they Appear – A very familiar sentence to all of us. Though this is a safety warning written for the drivers who may mistakenly assume that the car behind them, as seen in the mirror is far away, given its small size, it has become a…
Thirty Meter Telescope and its First light instrument – WFOS
Ramya and Sivarani The next decade of astronomy will be led by the discoveries from the upcoming large telescopes, such as the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). TMT will take images and spectra of the faintest and farthest objects in the Universe and will deliver an unprecedented view of the Universe to humankind. TMT is a…

