Abstract

Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle, is the high altitude (4500 m above msl) observatory operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. The 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) installed in the autumn of 2000 as a first step towards a national large telescope is operated remotely from Bangalore. HCT data has resulted in 70 research publications till date, with average citations of 9.2 per paper. Some of the results are described in this brief review. The development of this high altitude site has also attracted other facilities in the area of Very High Energy gamma ray astronomy using atmospheric ·Cerenkov technique, and also in earth sciences.