Located in the vicinity of village Kodad some 75kms from Pune, GMRT or Giant Meter Wave Radio Telescope ,are an array of 30 steerable parabolic radio telescopes .These pioneering piece of astronomical assets are operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, which is a part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,Mumbai. It engineering marvel is currently helping present day astronomers ,in their quest to understand and unravel data on complex questions in the field of Astronomy .
It's construction finished in the year of 1984 and back then it was among the world's largest interferometric array of antennae offering a baseline of up to 25 km. It's central campus in Kodad village holds 14 antennas (each of 45m width) and the rest of the 16 antennas are spread across 25kms distance in giant shape of 'Y' .This 'Y' design setup is so unique that even after 30+ operational years it is still the most radio sensitive antennas in the world.
If you might be knowing ,recently the GMRT, along with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray observatory, played a key role to detect a natural particle accelerator in space in 2017. Also GMRT was the last astronomical instrument to track the European Space Agency's lander that crashed into the Martian surface.
GMRT is also the foremost trusted facility in the world in providing highly accurate research data for cutting edge research happening in the country and the world ,on heavenly bodies like Pulsars, Quasars ,interstellar medium and supernova remnants .So,if you count yourself as an astronomy buff or a science enthusiast, it's a must visit place while on a tour to Pune ,India.
To reach GMRT you have to first reach Kodad village near Narayangaon on the Pune -Nashik Highway . From Kodad you can take the Narayagaon-Belhe road to reach GMRT . The roadways are under construction state in some patches after Manchar due to the upcoming 6 lane highway .
Pls Note :-The facility is open to public with prior permissions only on Friday every week and entry is free for everyone only on National Science day i.e 28th Feb .The timings are from 10am till 4pm on Friday .
For obtaining permission one has to download and fill up a registration form from http://www.ncra.tifr.res.in/ncra/outreach/copy_of_visit-us and then ring the following telephone number 02132-252-112 to get a confirmation on any slots available . The form can be submitted on your day of visit at the security gate .