Ministries & Departments
Aryabhatta Research Institute of observational sciences (ARIES) is one of the leading research Institutes which specializes in observational Astronomy & Astrophysics and Atmospheric Sciences. The main research interests of the Astronomy & Astrophysics division are in solar, planetary, stellar, galactic and extra-galactic astronomy including stellar variabilities, X-ray binaries, star clusters, nearby galaxies, quasars, and inherently transient events like supernovae and highly energetic gamma-ray bursts. The research focus in the Atmospheric Sciences division is mainly in the lower part of the atmosphere and covers the studies on aerosols and trace gases. ARIES has made a unique contribution from time to time. The first successful Indian optical observations of the afterglow of the gamma-ray burst were carried out from ARIES on January 23, 1999, a few micro-lensing events and quasar variability, new ring systems around Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune were also discovered. The Institute hosts two telescopes of apertures 56 cm and 104 cm. There are two 15 cm telescopes dedicated to solar observations. The 104 cm optical telescope is being used as a main observing facility by ARIES scientists since 1972. The institute is equipped with 2k x 2k, and 1k x 1k liquid N cooled CCD cameras, fast photometers, spectrophotometers, and standard astronomical 2 filters. The telescope uses an SBIG ST-4 camera for auto-guiding through an auxiliary 20 cm telescope. In order to carry out observations in the frontier areas of astronomy, the Institute is setting up 130 cm and 360 cm optical telescopes at a site called 'Devasthal' at a distance of ~ 60 Km from ARIES, which has the advantages of having dark skies and excellent observing conditions.