What do you think an astronomer does?

The simple answer to this question can be as simple as “ an astronomer studies astronomy.” Astronomy is the “study of objects and matter outside the earth's atmosphere and of their physical and chemical properties”(Weber dictionary). However, this is a modest answer because we do not know exactly what astronomers do everyday. Broadly, astronomers study everything in the universe, such as stars, celestial planets, and galaxies and others objects. They study about the formation, composition and evolution of celestial bodies, stars, galaxies of the universe and the universe as the whole.

Of course astronomers do not study everything that presents in the universe since the universe is so vast and despite the fast technological advancement, astronomers’ study tools are still very limited. Most astronomers specialize and focus only on one field of astronomy only. Some astronomers study about the origin of the universe, its origin, evolution and even its end. Some other astronomers are interested on one particular planet, on galaxy or star. They study about the object’s composition, evolution, and characteristics. Other astronomers work on developing tool and method to observe and analyze close and distant planets, stars or galaxies.

As we already know, astronomy is different from other branches of science is that astronomers cannot do experiments with their objects as the universe is so large. In order to study distant object and to analyze with limited data, they need to be specialized and have a deep understanding of every science.

Astronomers study distant objects far away from the Earth. They collect most of their data using telescopes, either on Earth or orbiting satellites. Astronomers rely heavily on light and its properties to collect, read and analyze data from telescopes. They also need to study and have vast knowledge in every branch of science to not only analyze data but also to develop techniques and tools to collect important data. They do not work with telescope all the time but they need to study the related field and work to improve their observational, interpretation skill.