High Altitude Optical Aeronomy Observatory
Located at Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle, Leh Ladakh, India
Principle Investigator
Research Interests:
Space Physics: Ionosphere, Sodium Airglow, Mesospheric Chemistry and Dynamics, Atmospheric Gravity Waves, Planetary Science
Optical Instruments: Active and Passive Remote Sensing, Airglow Photometer, Airglow Imager, Airglow Spectrometer, Sodium Lidar 
Image Analyses: Allsky Airglow Imager, Allsky Imager, Optical and Thermal Image Processing,
Planetary Science: Investigation of the Atmosphere of Venus and Mars.
Email: sarkhel@ph.iitr.ac.in, sumantasarkhel@gmail.com
Contact No.: +91-1332-284817
Co-Principle Investigator
Research Interests:
Space Physics: Optical Aeronomy, Physics of Aurora and Airglow, Ionospheric Physics, Space Weather: High energetic particle precipitation, Effects of extreme space weather, Mesospheric Sodium: Modeling of metal layer chemistry & airglow, Ozone, Mesospheric dynamics and chemistry, Atmospheric Waves
Email: mv.sunilkrishna@ph.iitr.ac.in
Contact No.: +91-1332-285335
Post Doctoral Fellows
Dr. Satarupa Chakrabarti received her B.Tech. degree in Computer Science from CSET, Kolkata, India, in 2014. She earned her M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, India, in 2017 and 2022 respectively. Her research interests include biomedical signal processing, machine learning, deep learning, and electric power transmission systems. She has also worked as a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) with DST-SERB, India, funded project (2018–2020).
Email: satarupa.ph@sric.iitr.ac.in, chakrabartisatarupa@gmail.com
Contact No.: +91-1332-286634
PhD Students
Mr. Rahul Rathi completed his B.Sc. from DAV College, Dehradun and M.Sc. with specialisation in the field of Atmospheric Physics from Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar. Currently, he is pursuing his doctoral program from Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in the field of Space and Atmospheric Physics. His topic of research is 'Airglow Imaging Observations of Earth's Upper Atmosphere'. 
Email: rrathi@ph.iitr.ac.in 
Contact No.: +91-1332-286634
Email: dipjyoti_p@ph.iitr.ac.in
Contact No.: +91-1332-286634
Mr. Dipjyoti Patgiri completed his B.Sc. in Physics(H) from Cotton University, Guwahati (Assam) and M.Sc. in Physics from Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, New Delhi. Currently, he is pursuing doctoral program from Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in the field of Space and Atmospheric Physics.
Mr. Jeevan Upadhyaya completed his B.Sc. in Physics from Jagiroad College affiliated to Gauhati University and M.Sc. in Physics from the Department of Physics, Dibrugarh University, Assam, India. Currently, he is pursuing doctoral program from Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in the field of Space and Atmospheric Physics.
Email: jeevan_u@ph.iitr.ac.in
Contact No.: +91-1332-286634
Past Members
Dr. Subarna Mondal completed his doctoral program from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in the field of Space and Atmospheric Physics. His topic of research is 'Investigation of Terrestrial Upper Atmosphere using Optical Techniques'. He is now a post-doctoral fellow at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India.
Dr. Virendra Yadav completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from University of Mumbai. He did his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Geogmagnetism (awarded by Andhra University) on Multi-Technique Study of the Dynamics of Equatorial E-region.  His research interests include: Ionospheric Dynamics, Ionospheric Scintillation and Sporadic E using Airglow Imager, Ionosonde and VHF Scintillation. He was a Post Doctoral Fellow at Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee during April 2019 - November 2020. He is now Scientist at Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, Uttarakhand, India.
Dr. Padma Gurram Completed her B.Sc. from JKC College, Guntur, and M.Sc in Space Physics from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, AP. She did her Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (awarded by Andhra University) on Quiet and disturbed time dynamics of low latitude F-region. Her research interests include Equatorial spread -F irregularities, Scintillations, Space weather, ionospheric irregularities, TEC, Radar and Airglow Imaging studies, Theoretical study of ionospheric phenomena. She was  a Post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee during March, 2021 - December 2021.
Designed and Developed by
Mr. Aman Srivastava got interested in Physics when he was in high school and went on to join Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee where he is currently pursuing Integrated Master of Science at the Department of Physics. He has experience in writing codes in MATLAB and can do web designing.
Email: asrivastava@ph.iitr.ac.in, tejas716@gmail.com
Aman Srivastava

Maintained by Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee - 247667, Uttarakhand, India.