It is divided into 3 departments: [2] Interest in solar atmospheric activity led the department to focus on many processes in the solar photosphere, chromosphere and corona based on spectral line analysis using observational data from the Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT) on Tenerife and utilization of data from Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), including their own coronal observations.
Research employs photometry and astrometry of asteroids and comets using the main telescope of Skalnaté Pleso observatory.
Its research employs spectroscopy and utilization of synthetic spectra and stellar databases from space-based observatories like HST, Hipparcos and the TYCHO catalogues.
The institute has mountain observatories at Skalnaté Pleso, Lomnický štít and a theoretical department in Bratislava (founded in 1955), which is a statewide coordinating body for research of interplanetary matter.
In the headquarters of the astronomical institute at Tatranská Lomnica a 60 cm reflector and a solar horizontal spectrograph are located.