Jawadhu Hills

		Jawadhu Hills

Jawadhu Hills Map & Hills statistics

About the Hills

Jawadhu Hills is situated 75 kms from Tiruvannamalai. It is situated in the northwestern part of Tiruvannamalai, and a part of the Eastern Ghats. The beautiful mountain lies at about 2350 feet to 3500 feet above sea level, Jawadhu hills have many scenic spots. The cliffs and precipices of hills allure and excite tourists. Places of interest in the Jawadhu hills are Beema Falls, Komutteri Lake, Kavalur Observatory, Amirthi Forest, and the Glass House.

Beema Falls is situated 5 kms away from Jamunamarathur. Water flows approximately for 8 months of the year. The reflection of sun on the water falls glow like a silver sheet that is a beautiful and magnificent sight. This falls is one of the main attractions of tourists. People enjoy bathing at the bottom of this falls. This, much unknown small falls, is in the middle of the reserve forest, previously famous for its sandalwood trees, now hardly any are left.

The falls are silent, except for the pleasant-sounding gurgling of the flowing and falling waters and the occasional singing of the birds. In the evening, when Night's ghostly army, the grey shadows, creep out with noiseless steps, to chase away the lingering rear-guard of the light, the forest is quiet again. Only then, can we feel the immensity of Nature and its ghostly and sometime, not so silent inhabitants, living and dead, walk in the fresh and dark arbor, undisturbed by Man's greed and pollution. At such a time and place, we are, once again, living in the far off pre-historic days when, we, the early human inhabitants roamed Nature's world, always alert for dangers, seen and unseen.

Kavalur Observatory

The Vainu Bappu Observatory, or VBO for short, is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Indian Institute of Astrophysics. It is located in the Jawadhu Hills near the town of Kavalur in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, 175 km south-east of Bangalore. The larger town of Vaniyambadi is situated nearby.

Coordinates: 12°34'35"N 78°49'22"E

Nearby cities: Kannamangalam, Gudiyatam, Arani /ஆரணி

THE TELESCOPES :

The first telescope was of 38 cm (15 inch) aperture, with which astronomical observations were started in 1968 at Kavalur

Observatory. The 75 cm (30 inch) telescope has been completely designed and fabricated at the workshops of the Indian Institute

of Astrophysics. In 1972 a 1 metre (40 inch) telescope made by Carl Zeiss Jena was installed at Kavalur.

2.3 METRE TELESCOPE:

Vainu Bappu's swansong was the 2.3 metre (93 inch) aperture telescope, designed and built within the country. However

it was rather unfortunate that Bappu passed away in 1982 and could not see the completion of this telescope.

In a befitting tribute, the then Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi, at a function held at Kavalur on 6th January, 1986, named

the observatory as VAINU BAPPU OBSERVATORY and the 2.3 metre telescope as VAINU BAPPU TELESCOPE.

The telescope is so powerful that it can easily resolve a 25 paise coin kept forty kilometres away. Deep sky observations

are carried out with this telescope using a variety of focal plane instruments. The equatorially mounted horse-shoe-yoke

structure of the telescope is ideally suited for low latitudes and permits easy observation near the north celestial pole.

The telescope has a F/3.25 paraboloid primary of 2.3 m diameter with the prime focus image scale of 27 arcsec/mm and

a Cassegrain focus image scale of 6.7 arcsec/mm. This telescope has been operated as a national facility and attracts

proposals from all over the country and some times from outside India.

Means of approach

Road: - Buses or Taxies are available from Chennai, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore etc. for Jawadhu Hills and can be reached by road 75 kms from Tiruvannamalai Town.