Astronomer Observe, research, and interpret astronomical phenomena to increase basic knowledge or apply such information to practical problems.
Astronomer is Also Know as
In different settings, Astronomer is titled as
- Astronomer
- Astrophysicist
- Data Scientist
- Research Scientist
- Scientist
Education and Training of Astronomer
Astronomer is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Astronomer
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Education Required for Astronomer
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Degrees Related to Astronomer
- Bachelor in Astronomy
- Associate Degree Courses in Astronomy
- Masters Degree Courses in Astronomy
- Bachelor in Astrophysics
- Associate Degree Courses in Astrophysics
- Masters Degree Courses in Astrophysics
- Bachelor in Planetary Astronomy and Science
- Associate Degree Courses in Planetary Astronomy and Science
- Masters Degree Courses in Planetary Astronomy and Science
- Bachelor in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Other
- Associate Degree Courses in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Other
- Masters Degree Courses in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Other
- Bachelor in Physics and Astronomy
- Associate Degree Courses in Physics and Astronomy
- Masters Degree Courses in Physics and Astronomy
Training Required for Astronomer
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Astronomer in different industries are
- Physicists
- Mathematicians
- Data Scientists
- Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
- Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers
- Biochemists and Biophysicists
- Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary
- Statisticians
- Bioinformatics Scientists
- Atmospheric and Space Scientists
- Nanotechnology Engineering Technologists and Technicians
- Computer and Information Research Scientists
- Nanosystems Engineers
- Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary
- Environmental Science Teachers, Postsecondary
- Hydrologists
- Geneticists
- Molecular and Cellular Biologists
- Bioinformatics Technicians
- Mathematical Science Teachers, Postsecondary
What Do Astronomer do?
- Study celestial phenomena, using a variety of ground-based and space-borne telescopes and scientific instruments.
- Analyze research data to determine its significance, using computers.
- Present research findings at scientific conferences and in papers written for scientific journals.
- Measure radio, infrared, gamma, and x-ray emissions from extraterrestrial sources.
- Develop theories based on personal observations or on observations and theories of other astronomers.
- Raise funds for scientific research.
- Collaborate with other astronomers to carry out research projects.
- Develop instrumentation and software for astronomical observation and analysis.
- Teach astronomy or astrophysics.
- Develop and modify astronomy-related programs for public presentation.
- Calculate orbits and determine sizes, shapes, brightness, and motions of different celestial bodies.
- Direct the operations of a planetarium.
- Review scientific proposals and research papers.
- Serve on professional panels and committees.
- Mentor graduate students and junior colleagues.
- Supervise students' research on celestial and astronomical phenomena.
- Conduct question-and-answer presentations on astronomy topics with public audiences.
Qualities of Good Astronomer
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Tools Used by Astronomer
- Atomic absorption AA spectroscopes
- Automated telescopes
- Ball mills
- Baseband recorders
- Charge-coupled device CCD imagers
- Cryostats
- Desktop computers
- Differential scanning calorimeters
- Dobsonian telescopes
- Doppler Rayleigh laser imaging ranging and detecting LIDAR systems
- Ebert-Fastie spectrometers
- Echelle spectrometers
- Electron beam ion traps EBIT
- European VLBI Network EVN telescopes
- Fourier transform infrared FTIR spectrometers
- High powered binoculars
- High resolution spectrographs
- Interferometers
- Laptop computers
- Laser imaging detection and ranging LIDAR systems
- Low resolution imaging spectrographs
- Multi-object spectrographs MOS
- Near-infrared imagers and spectrometers NIRI
- Near-infrared integral field spectrometers
- Optical interferometers
- Optical telescopes
- Personal computers
- Photometer
- Planetary radar transmitters
- Pulsar processors
- Radio antennas
- Radio telescopes
- Reflector telescopes
- Refracting telescopes
- Resonance fluorescence laser imaging detection and ranging LIDAR systems
- Scanning telescopes
- Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes
- Scientific calculators
- Single-dish radio telescopes
- Solar telescope filters
- Solar telescopes
- Spectroscopes
- Thermal evaporators
- Tilting filter photometers
- Very large array VLA telescopes
- Very long baseline array VLBA telescopes
- Wide-field mosaic charge-coupled device CCD cameras
- Wideband pulsar processors
- X ray diffractometers
Technology Skills required for Astronomer
- Abstraction plus reference plus synthesis A++
- Adaptive optics AO simulation software
- Analyze
- Apache Hadoop
- Astronomical Image Processing for Windows AIP4WIN
- Astronomical Image Processing System AIPS
- Astronomical information processing system AIPS++
- Avis Fits Viewer
- C++
- Data reduction software
- Diffraction Limited MaxIm DL
- European Southern Observatory Munich Image Data Analysis System ESO-MIDAS
- Formula translation/translator FORTRAN
- IBM SPSS Statistics
- Interface definition language IDL
- IRIS
- Linux
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- MSB Software Astroart
- Multipurpose Interactive Image Processing System MIIPS
- National Instruments LabVIEW
- Oracle Java
- Python
- R
- SAS
- Software Bisque CCDSoft
- Software development tools
- Spectroscopy databases
- Starcal
- Structured query language SQL
- The MathWorks MATLAB
- Visual Numerics PV-WAVE
- Web browser software