Object Spectrograph & Camera (IFOSC) is the main instrument available on the telescope's direct Cassegrain port currently. IUCAA, along with the Raman Research Institute and Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, declared a proposal to take a ten percent stake in the Large Telescope Project, which would allow Indian astronomers access to major upcoming observatories such as the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the European Extremely Large Telescope (EELT). Science popularization The SciPop initiative was set up by Prof. Jayant Narlikar along with N. C. Rana and Arvind Paranjpe. SciPop, based out of the Muktangan Vidnyan Shodhika building, provides educational facilities for school students, teachers and amateur astronomers. IUCAA organizes the open Science day program every year on 28 February, in which members of the general public can visit the institute to take a look at ongoing research and contemporary work happening elsewhere in the world. IUCAA was one of the few Indian research institutes to start a science popularization program, and other organisations such as the Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, and TIFR, Mumbai started similar public outreach programmes in the wake of its success. People Notable people associated with IUCAA: Jayant Narlikar, founding director Naresh Dadhich, physicist, Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, 2nd Director Ajit Kembhavi, 3rd Director Thanu Padmanabhan, Padma Shri award-winning astrophysicist Somak Raychaudhury, 4th Director Sanjeev Dhurandhar, gravitational-wave physicist and science advisor to the IndIGO consortium Raghunathan Srianand, astrophysicist and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate Kanak Saha, astrophysicist and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate. See also Girawali Observatory List of astronomical societies Virtual Observatory, India References External links Research institutes in Pune Savitribai Phule Pune University Astronomy organizations Research institutes established in 1988 1988 establishments in Maharashtra