NASA 5th Eddy Cross-Disciplinary Symposium Venue Information

Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES)

Manora Peak, Nainital-263001, Uttarakhand, India

Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) is situated adjacent to the picturesque town of Nainital, in northern India. ARIES  is one of the leading research Institutes, specializing 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 on the lower part of the atmosphere, with studies focused on aerosols and trace gasses.

The Institute hosts four telescopes with apertures of: 104 cm, 130 cm, 3.6 m DOT (Devasthal Optical Telescope), and 4-m ILMT (International Liquid Mirror Telescope). There is a 15-cm telescope dedicated to solar observations. To carry out observations in the frontier areas of astronomy, the Institute has installed some 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.

ARIES has a strong solar physics group. It also hosts the Aditya-L1 support cell in collaboration with ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) to train young graduate students and develop higher data products for different payloads of the Aditya-L1 mission, the first Indian space observatory to study the Sun. The Scientists from the Solar group of ARIES are also participating in national projects like Space Coronagraph and the National Large Solar Telescope (NLST).