oh BTW the next day I tried to bluff my way into the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodaika...ar_Observatory
but they weren't having any. Did get to have a chat with a technician at one of the telescopes though who was imaging at the time, and he showed me his CCD set up/ telescope.
I think over the years some good work has been done at this observatory but boy, these guys don't think outreach.They don't want to know members of the public at all.The visitor's centre is a bit ho hum and you weren't allowed in to see the real stuff.