He continued his work at the Tata Institute on Very High Energy Gamma-ray Astronomy using ground based atmospheric Cerenkov technique at the High-Altitude Cosmic Ray Laboratory at Ootacamund. Here he also worked on High Energy Cosmic Ray Physics experiments like the search for Tachyons in cosmic rays, search for GeV energy Gamma-rays from GRBs, search for Gamma-rays from the exploding primordial black holes etc. In 1985, he developed the first instrumentation for using the Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) in Optical Astronomy in India. He also worked on Galaxy Photometry using the 2.2m Vainu Bappu Telescope, located near Bangalore.

After returning to Tata Institute he started a Very High Energy Gamma-ray Astronomy Observatory (HEGRO) at Pachmarhi (Central India) where the wavefront sampling technique was developed. He was responsible for developing a new advanced CAMAC based fast digital data recording system. He was also responsible for the new Very High Energy Gamma-ray Astronomy Observatory (HAGAR) at Hanle at an altitude of 14,500' on the foothills of Himalayas. After taking voluntary retirement from the Tata Institute where he was a Senior Professor, he joined the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor Team in 2003. His main research interests are High Energy Astronomy and Astrophysics, data analysis, detector development, and instrumentation. Currently Dr. Bhat is working on the analyses of data from the Advanced Neutron Spectrometer onboard the International Space Station.