
Bosscha Observatory

Bosscha Observatory is the oldest modern observatory in Indonesia, and one of the oldest in Asia. The observatory is located in Lembang, West Java, approximately north of Bandung. It is situated on a hilly six hectares of land and is above mean sea level plateau. The IAU observatory code for Bosscha is 299.
History.
During the first meeting of the "Nederlandsch-Indische Sterrekundige Vereeniging" (Dutch-Indies Astronomical Society) in the 1920s, it was agreed that an observatory was needed to study astronomy in the Dutch East Indies. Of all locations in the Indonesia archipelago, a tea plantation in Malabar, a few kilometers north of Bandung in West Java was selected. It is on the hilly north side of the city with a non-obstructed view of the sky and with close access to the city that was planned to become the new capital of the Dutch colony, replacing Batavia (present-day Jakarta). The observatory is named after the tea plantation owner Karel Albert Rudolf Bosscha, son of the physicist Johannes Bosscha and a major force in the development of science and technology in the Dutch East Indies, who granted six hectares of his property for the new observatory.
Construction of the observatory began in 1923 and was completed in 1928. Since then a continuous observation of the sky was made. The first international publication from Bosscha was published in 1922. Observations from Bosscha were halted during World War II and after the war a major reconstruction was necessary. On 17 October 1951, the Dutch-Indies Astronomical Society handed over operation of the observatory to the government of Indonesia. In 1959 the observatory's operation was given to the Institut Teknologi Bandung and has been an integral part of the research and formal education of astronomy in Indonesia.
Facilities.
Five large telescopes were installed in Bosscha:
Directors.
1923 - 1940 : Dr. J. Voûte<br>
1940 - 1942 : Dr. Aernout de Sitter<br>
1942 - 1946 : Prof. Dr. Masashi Miyaji<br>
1946 - 1949 : Prof. Dr. J. Hins<br>
1949 - 1958 : Prof. Dr. Gale Bruno van Albada<br>
1958 - 1959 : Prof. Dr. Ong Ping Hok, Dr. Kusumanto Purbosiswoyo (1959-1960) and Santoso Nitisastro (temporary officers)<br>
1959 - 1968 : Prof. Dr. The Pik Sin<br>
1968 - 1999 : Prof. Dr. Bambang Hidayat<br>
1999 - 2004 : Dr. Moedji Raharto<br>
2004 - 2006 : Dr. Dhani Herdiwijaya<br>
2006 - 2009 : Prof. Dr. Taufiq Hidayat<br>
2009 - 2012 : Dr. Hakim L. Malasan<br>
2012 - 2018: Dr. Mahasena Putra<br>
2018 - "present": Dr. Premana W Primadi
In popular culture.
The popular American reality TV Series "The Amazing Race 23" used this site as a Pit Stop for its 9th leg. The episode that used this site for filming was nominated for the Emmys in several categories and won the Outstanding Reality-Competition Program award.