KODAIKANAL SOLAR OBSERVATORY

• For well over a century, the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO) has been observing the Sun, capturing images of sunspots, and recording changes in its behaviour.
• KoSO is owned and operated by Indian Institute of Astrophysics.
• It is one of the world’s oldest observatories studying the Sun.
• The idea was first proposed by the astronomer Norman Pogson, who was appointed Government Astronomer of the Madras Observatory in 1861.
• The Madras Observatory was set up as the private effort of an official of the British East India Company in 1786, and came to be managed subsequently by the company.
• The decision to establish a solar observatory was finally taken in 1893, and Kodaikanal in present-day Tamil Nadu was chosen for its high altitude and dust-free environment.
• The Solar Physics Observatory opened on April 1, 1899, and was later named KoSO.
• This 16-inch Newtonian (later Cassegrain) mobile telescope remained India’s largest from 1888 to 1968.
• Imported from Dublin, Ireland, it was first established at the Maharaja Takhtasinghji Observatory in Poona (now Pune) around 1888.
• But after the observatory in Pune was shut, it was sent to KoSO in 1912.
• It is no longer in use today. 

Recent changes:

• Between 1904 and 2017, all solar observations were traced on to photographic films and plates.
• A new telescope mounted with charged-coupled device (CCD) camera has taken over and, since 2017, continued to observe the Sun.
• The task of digitisation of the records was initiated in 1984.
• In 2018, digitised solar observations for the period 1921-2011 were made available to the scientific community.
• With the addition of raw and calibrated data for the period of 1904 to 2017, the digitisation process is nearly complete.
• The Sun is the primary source of energy and the reason for the existence of most life on Earth.
• Even minor changes on the solar surface or its periphery can significantly affect the Earth’s atmosphere and influence the space weather.
• For instance, powerful solar storms, solar flares, are potentially harmful for satellite-based operations, power grids, and navigational networks.
• Historical data on the Sun help solar physicists understand and predict its future.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB