Kodaikanal Solar Observatory celebrated IIA Founder’s Day
IIA celebrates the birth anniversary of our founder director, Prof. M. K. Vainu Bappu, as Founder’s Day on August 10th every year. This year also, we celebrated the same in grand. IIA staff, outsource staff members, trainees, and students participated in the Founder’s Day meeting held at KSO Library on August 10, 2023, at 10.30…
The Indian Eclipse Expedition, 1922: records from IIA Archives
The scientific community is commemorating the Centenary celebration of the 1922 Indian expedition to Wallal, Australia, to observe a solar eclipse. Albert Einstein published his Theory of Relativity, arguing that gravitational objects with gravitational influence warped spacetime around them. On September 1922, a group of renowned astronomers conducted an expedition on a remote shore in…
Books on approval – July 2023
In an effort to improve the collection at IIA library, we have received nine books on approval from the vendors. All IIA Library users are requested to visit and check these books. Post your suggestions here. The list of the books are given below. Suggested books will be scrutinized by a library committee for their relevance,…
Grammarly subscription renewed through National Knowledge Resource Consortium (NKRC)
We are delighted to inform you that the Grammarly subscription process has switched from the institute-level subscription to the National Knowledge Resource Consortium (NKRC). Thus, Grammarly (info@em.grammarly.com) sent an email to all IIA Grammarly users with the subject line: You’re invited to join the National Knowledge Resource Consortium on Grammarly. Existing Grammarly users are requested…
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…
Soft Actuators for the Thirty Meter Telescope
Prasanna Deshmukh India’s participation in the TMT project will provide Indian astronomers an opportunity to carry out frontline research in astronomy. Another major reason to participate in this scientific endeavour which integrates latest innovations in segmented mirror design, precision control and adaptive optics, is to bring home some of these engineering expertise through international collaboration….
Extra Solar planet: The lamp in dark!
Manika SIngla Eight years ago, innocent Ishu was staring at the stars incessantly on a cold winter night. Her mother was sitting beside her on an old charpai [a bed] and sipping hot badam milk. Ishu’s face was gleaming under the full Moon. She suddenly asked, “Ma! What are stars?”. Ma smiled and answered,” My…
Speeding and inflating Solar eruptions blame Lorentz force, but bothers us !!!
Satabdwa Majumdar “Ah! Mani da, great that I finally meet you here.”, exclaimed a briskly walking stranger on seeing Dr Manibhushan Mukhopadhyay (seldom called Mani da in his neighbourhood). As the stranger continued “I was planning to come to your house to discuss on the agenda of this year’s Durga puja, as we are..” Manibhushan…