Nizamia observatory is an optical observatory built by Nawab Zafar Jung Bahadur member of the House of Paigah and Amir of the Khurshid Jahi estate and established by Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI - the 6th Nizam of Kingdom of Hyderabad in 1901.

[1] It was founded by Nawab Zafar Yar Jung Bahadur, a rich Nobleman member of the Paigah Nobility and an astronomer and the Amir of the Khursheed Jahi Paigah in Hyderabad in 1908 when he bought a 6-inch telescope from England.

He installed it in Phisal Banda Palace, Hyderabad (Now Deccan Medical College and Owaisi Hospital).

He requested that it be called Nizamiah Observatory after the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Mahboob Ali Khan.

In accordance with his wishes, the administration of the Observatory was taken over by the Finance Department of the Nizam Government in 1908.

[2][3] In the mid-1950s owing to the expansion of Hyderabad city and light pollution, a new site was scouted for the Observatory.

[8][7] During his time, control of the Observatory moved from the finance department in the Nizam government to Osmania University.

[9] In order to observe the solar eclipse on February 16, 1980, CASA collaborated with Physical Research Laboratory and Space Applications Center in Ahmedabad to obtain a 10 feet steerable dish.

[11][12] It currently lies unused on the premises of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, India.

The observatory at Rangapur faces the same issue of light pollution and urbanisation of the locality and remains unused.