Located in one among the three islands in Fateh Sagar Lake, Udaipur Solar
Observatory alias USO is the one and only Asian solar observatory, designed
as per the model of Solar Observatory at Big Bear Lake in Southern California.
Sprawl over an area of 1.2 sq. km, Udaipur Solar Observatory was established
in the year 1975, by Dr. Arvind Bhatnagar under the Vedhashala Trust of
Ahmedabad. From 1981, Udaipur Solar Observatory has been administered
by Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad for the Department of
Space, Government of India.
Udaipur Solar Observatory is considered as a perfect place to develop
solar physics in India. Udaipur Solar Observatory is situated at the best
of surroundings and climate for the solar observations. The air turbulence
on island will be lesser than that on ground, as it is surrounded by water
and therefore sharp images of sun can be obtained. Apart from this, other
advantage of Udaipur Solar Observatory is that it is located in Rajasthan,
which observes maximum number of cloudless days.
Udaipur Solar Observatory has got a wide variety of instruments including
'Solar Vector Magnetograph' for solar observation. Udaipur Solar Observatory
has an international importance too as it is one of the six sites that
includes in the Global Oscillations Network Group Network (GONG) in the
World. Visitors can reach Udaipur Solar Observatory by taking a boat ride
through Fateh Sagar lake. Udaipur Solar Observatory office building is
situated at NW shore near Bari - Rani Road Junction.
|