Description: An astronomer studies the objects that make up the Universe. Astronomers can be professionals or amateurs. Professional astronomers and some amateur astronomers analyze scientific data obtained through telescopes on Earth and in space to answer questions about the composition of objects in the cosmos, their distribution, evolution, and future. With this information astronomers formulate new theories that explain what we see in the Universe from the small to large scales. Some amateur astronomers observe the sky simply to admire the wonder of the Universe. In practice, there is no difference between a professional astronomer and an astrophysicist. In modern astronomy, professional observations are always linked with attempts to model the physical processes producing the phenomena that are being observed, and university-level training in astronomy includes the relevant physics knowledge as a matter of course.

Related Terms:

• Astronomy

Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".