(in Virtual Mode)

The ATSOA-2021 will be organised by ARIES, Nainital from 17th-24th May 2021 in online mode. Topics related to telescopes, optical data analysis techniques, star formation and evolution, galactic and extragalactic astronomy will be covered during the school. Hands-on and demo sessions on astronomical data processing (photometry, spectroscopy and polarimetry) will be demonstrated in the school. The target audience for the school are primarily students who have passed M. Sc. (Physics/Astrophysics) in 2020 or are appearing for M. Sc. final year exam in 2021 with an interest and motivation to work in observational astronomy. Open sessions will be organised for discussion and interaction with ARIES faculty members, Ph. D. students and Post Doctoral Fellows at ARIES.

ATSOA-2021 is a part of the activities commemorating "75 years of India's Independence: Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav" at ARIES.

Our current understanding of the Universe depends not only on continuous growth of observational facilities, but also on the number of people utilising the data generated from these facilities. In the recent times several big observational facilities (bigger than the existing Very Large Telescope (VLT), Keck, Gemini) are planned and will be operational in future. The 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) located in Devasthal, ARIES, Nainital is the largest optical telescope in the country. The 4.0m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) expected to achieve first light in December 2021 will be the first dedicated survey telescope in the country at optical wavelengths. This survey will result in the detection of a number of new transient sources such as supernovae and other faint objects such as quasars and galaxies. At high energy range (X-ray and gamma-ray) space missions such as XMM-Newton, Chandra, Integral, RXTE, Swift, Suzaku, Fermi, AstroSat are currently operational. Similarly in radio/mm bands excellent observational facilities such as ATCA, ALMA, JVLA, VLBI, e-MERLIN, uGMRT have been operational. uGMRT in India is world’s largest radio telescope at meter wavelengths. With several operational and upcoming facilities in different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, huge volumes of data will be generated which clearly indicates the need for more researchers to exploit the data. In this context, ARIES organises the annual training program in observational astronomy to provide young Indian students the necessary platform to develop an expertise/skill in astronomical data-analysis in optical wavelengths. M.Sc. students who have passed M. Sc. in 2020 or are appearing in the final semester in 2021 are eligible and encouraged to apply for the school.

Aryabhatta Research Institute of observational sciencES (ARIES) was founded on 22 March, 2004 when a 50 year old State Observatory (well known as Uttar Pradesh State Observatory (UPSO) till the creation of Uttarakhand State on 9 November, 2000) was converted in to an autonomous research institution under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. Since its inception in 2004 from UPSO to present state, ARIES is devoted to research and development (R&D) in Astronomy & Astrophysics and Atmospheric Sciences.The world-class national observing facilities like 3.6 m (Asia’s largest) Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT), 1.3 m Devasthal Fast Optical Telescope (DFOT), and Stratosphere-Troposphere (ST) Radar have been established at the institute after decade-long efforts. To strengthen the scientific contribution, ARIES has also expanded its horizon to theoretical and numerical studies in Relativistic Astrophysics. For solar observations, ARIES has a dedicated 15 cm optical telescope, while for stellar observations in the optical and Near-infrared (NIR) band, ARIES operates three telescopes - 1.04m Sampurnanand telescope, 1.30m DFOT, and 3.6m DOT. In addition, a world-class 4 m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) is expected to become operational soon.