Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA)

The Indian Institute of Astrophysics is an autonomous research institute devoted to astronomy, astrophysics and related physics, funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. It carries out observational and theoretical research and runs graduate, internship and public outreach programmes. The institute traces its origins to an observatory set up in 1786 at Madras, which began functioning formally at Nungambakkam from 1792 and later moved to Kodaikanal in 1899. The Kodaikanal Observatory became an autonomous society named the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in 1971, and the headquarters moved to its present campus in 1975. It operates the Kodaikanal Observatory, the Vainu Bappu Observatory at Kavalur, the Gauribidanur Radio Observatory, the CREST campus and the Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle in eastern Ladakh, which houses the 2-metre Himalayan Chandra Telescope. It also builds instruments for national space missions, including the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph on Aditya-L1 and the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope on AstroSat. Through its Science Communication, Public Outreach and Education section the institute runs the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, the first dark sky reserve in India, notified in December 2022 and operated under an agreement with the Union Territory of Ladakh and the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Leh.