Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège -  Volume 87 - Année 2018  Actes de colloques  First Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy & Astrophysics (BINA) workshop - November 2016 - Nainital, India 

History of initial fifty years of ARIES: A Major National Indian Facility for Optical Observations

Basant Ballabh Sanwal
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital-263001, India
Anil Kumar Pandey
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital-263001, India
Wahab Uddin
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital-263001, India
Brijesh Kumar
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital-263001, India, brij@aries.res.in
Santosh Joshi
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital-263001, India

Abstract

The idea of starting an astronomical observatory in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India germinated through the initiative of a scholarly statesman Babu Sampurnanandji. His interest in astrology coupled with his academic bent of mind got him interested in modern astronomy. Being then Education Minister and later Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, he established an astronomical observatory at Varanasi on April 20, 1954. Later on it was shifted to Manora Peak, Nainital. Four reflectors were commissioned at Manora Peak. For solar research an H alpha petrol unit and a horizontal solar spectrograph was setup. A detailed project report for installation of a 4-m class optical telescope was prepared indigenously in late 1980, however, the project could not take off. With the generous support of the Department of Science and Technology, the institute established a 3.6-m new technology optical telescope and a 1.3-m wide field optical telescope at a new observing site called Devasthal. Now a 4-m liquid mirror telescope is also being installed at the same observing site. I present here a brief journey of the observatory beginning right from its birth in 1954 till now.

Keywords : astronomy, astrophysics, instrumentation, observatories, visible

Pour citer cet article

Basant Ballabh Sanwal, Anil Kumar Pandey, Wahab Uddin, Brijesh Kumar & Santosh Joshi, «History of initial fifty years of ARIES: A Major National Indian Facility for Optical Observations», Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège [En ligne], Volume 87 - Année 2018, Actes de colloques, First Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy & Astrophysics (BINA) workshop - November 2016 - Nainital, India, 15 - 28 URL : https://popups.uliege.be/0037-9565/index.php?id=7445.