The Magellanic Clouds (MCs- the LMC and the SMC) are the most massive satellite galaxies of the Milky Way (MW). Together, they provide a unique opportunity to closely witness an ongoing hierarchical merging event (i.e. the SMC gravitationally interacting with the LMC and the MCs merging onto the MW), and to perform detailed studies of the building process of a large galaxy like the MW. The LMC and SMC are massive dwarf galaxies, gas-rich and metal-poor (20-40% solar) as compared with the MW. Given their proximity (~55kpc), they offer an excellent view of the birth and death of stars outside the MW. The MCs were believed to be spending their entire life under the gravitational force of each other, as well as under the gravity of the MW. However, recent studies using the Hubble have suggested that they are approaching the MW for the first time in a few billion years making their past interaction with the MW doubtful. In this light, the evolution and interaction history of the LMC-SMC-MW system is still poorly understood. Some of the major focus of the group is to (1) decipher the structure, and star-formation history of the Magellanic Bridge, a major signature of gravitational interaction between the MCs, (2) estimate the chemical enrichment history of the MCs. This involves analysis of multi-wavelength data from existing large-sky photometric and spectroscopic surveys (e.g. Gaia, SMASH, VMC, OGLE, APOGEE), employing stellar population models, and chemo-dynamical modelling, and observations using AstroSat and big telescope facilities in the Southern Hemisphere.  

Galactic Globular clusters host some of the hottest exotic stars in the Universe, for e.g. White dwarfs, Blue Straggler, Blue Horizontal Branch stars. The formation of evolution of such exotic objects is still less-understood. The Group leader is a member of 'GlobUles'- an international collaboration led by Indian Astronomers, who are studying such objects using the AstroSat in combination with other space-based and ground-based telescope data, and theoretical stellar evolutionary models to identify, catalog, and understand the formation and evolution scenario of such objects. The group is currently involved in solving the mysterious origin of Helium core white dwarfs using data from the Hubble Space Telescope.