The International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) has been jointly installed at the Devasthal campus of ARIES, Nainital in collaboration with the University of Liège in Belgium, the University of British Columbia in Canada and the Aryabhatta Research Institute of observational sciencES (ARIES) in India. The mercury mirror of the ILMT has a 4.0m diameter and will perform zenith mode observations in SDSS g’, r’ and i’ filters. A 4Kx4K CCD camera is installed at the prime focus of the ILMT. The ILMT will be used for continuous monitoring of the zenith sky within a narrow strip of 22 arcmin at the latitude of +29° 22’ 26” for a duration of at least 5 years (or more). The facility will generate around 10 GB of data each night.

The ILMT achieved its first light in April - May 2022. The data obtained so far is being used to test and optimise the astrometric, photometric and image subtraction pipelines which are under development. For operating the telescope and developing, testing, and upgrading the pipelines, we anticipate long-term dedicated manpower typically for a one-year duration with possible extensions.

Project Associate I : Operation and maintenance of the ILMT

Number of Posts:

01 (One)

Essential Qualification:

Master's degree in Physics/Astronomy/Astrophysics or Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or Technology

Additional Requirements:

Prior experience in astronomy/astrophysics, efficient in python programming language, desirable knowledge of astronomical image analysis

Description of the job and Responsibilities:

• Regular maintenance activities of the ILMT, including careful and critical manipulation of mercury
• Operation of the ILMT including night observations with the telescope
• Assessing the quality of the observed data and performing steps to improve the quality
• Performing data analysis like pre-processing, photometric reduction, etc. but not limited to these tasks

Terms and Conditions:

1. Tenure: Initially for the period of One (01) year.
2. Monthly Emolument: Rs. 25,000 + HRA as per the Central Government norms.
3. Upper Age Limit: 35 years
4. Termination: Director, ARIES reserves the right to terminate the engagement/contract at any stage in case of impropriety, misconduct, breach of conditions, irregular attendance, or poor quality of performance.
5. Posting: The selected candidate will be posted at the Devasthal/Nainital campuses of ARIES depending on the requirement.
6. All other Terms & conditions shall be governed as per the Institute norms.

All enquiries related to this position can be made to kuntal@aries.res.in.

Project Associate I - Data reduction software and pipeline development

Number of Posts:

01 (One)

Essential Qualification:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science / Information Technology

Additional Requirements:

Prior experience in image processing, efficient in python programming language, database management systems, full-stack development is desirable

Description of the job and Responsibilities:

• Debugging and integrating existing image processing source codes
• Data reduction and analysis of the ILMT data
• Developing a database related to the storage and access of the ILMT photometric and astrometric calibrated data
• Developing GUI for data display, data request and data dissemination

Terms and Conditions:

1. Tenure: Initially for the period of One (01) year.
2. Monthly Emolument: Rs. 25,000 + HRA as per the Central Government norms.
3. Upper Age Limit: 35 years
4. Termination: Director, ARIES reserves the right to terminate the engagement/contract at any stage in case of impropriety, misconduct, breach of conditions, irregular attendance, or poor quality of performance.
5. Posting: The selected candidate will be posted at the Devasthal/Nainital campuses of ARIES depending on the requirement.
6. All other Terms & conditions shall be governed as per the Institute norms.

All enquiries related to this position can be made to kuntal@aries.res.in.