GROWTH India Telescope, IAO

The GROWTH India Telescope stands at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) in Hanle, Ladakh, at 4,500 metres elevation in the Western Himalayas, one of the highest observatory sites in the world.

About GROWTH India Telescope, IAO

Commissioned in June 2018, it was India's first fully robotic research telescope, jointly built by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB). It operates as part of the international GROWTH programme, short for Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen, a network dedicated to time-domain astronomy.

Telescopes & research

The telescope is a 0.7-metre (28-inch) Planewave CDK700 fitted with a 16-megapixel Andor camera, reaching a limiting magnitude of around 20.5 in a 5-minute exposure and 21.0 in 10 minutes. Being fully robotic, it can respond automatically to transient astronomical events such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and other short-lived phenomena, feeding data into the global GROWTH collaboration.

Location & getting there

Hanle sits in the remote Changthang region of Ladakh in northern India, a high-altitude desert prized by astronomers for its thin, dry air and dark, stable skies, making it one of the best observing sites in Asia.

Visiting GROWTH India Telescope, IAO

The Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle is remote and primarily a research facility; visits typically require planning around altitude and access permits for the Ladakh region. Check with the Indian Institute of Astrophysics for current visiting policies before travelling.

See your named star from here

From nearly 4,500 metres above sea level, this robotic telescope automatically points itself toward precise coordinates the instant a transient event is flagged, showing just how exactly a location in the sky can be pinned down. A named star's coordinates work the same way, findable from Hanle or anywhere else with clear, dark skies. Name a star and see its position in our catalogue.