Abstract:
The fifty year old State Observatory, well known as U.P. State
Observatory till the formation of Uttaranchal in November 2000, was reincar-
nated on March 22, 2004 as Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational
Sciences with acronym ARIES, an autonomous institute, under the Depart-
ment of Science & Technology, Government of India. The growth of academic
and technical activities and new mandate of the Institute are briefly described.
In early 60’s, the Institute was one of the 12 centres established by the Smith-
sonian Astrophysical Observatory, USA, all over the globe but the only centre in
India for imaging artificial earth satellites. Commensurating with its observing
capabilities, the Institute started a number of front-line research programmes
during the last decade, e.g., optical follow up observations of GRB afterglows,
radio and space borne astronomical resources, intra-night optical variability in
active galactic nuclei as well as gravitational microlensing and milli-magnitude
variations in the rapidly oscillating peculiar A type stars. As a part of at-
mospheric studies, characterisation of aerosol at an altitude of about 2 km is
going on since 2002. ARIES has plans for establishing modern observing facili-
ties equipped with latest backend instruments in the area of both astrophysics
and atmospheric science. Formation of ARIES, therefore augurs well for the
overall development of astrophysics and atmospheric science in India
