You want to do what?!

People often ask me what I'm studying in school.  If I respond with physics or astronomy, the question that inevitably follows is, "What are you going to do with that?!"  Generally, the tone of complete and utter confusion tells me that people don't fully grasp the importance of physics, nor do they realize that people actually work as astronomers.  So, let's talk about what an astronomer is.


This is an astronomer:

Above is Fritz Zwicky.  He, along with Walter Baade, originated the term "supernova".  In the days of photographic plates, Zwicky found more than 100 supernovae.  Most notably (to me, at least), Zwicky was known for coining the term "spherical bastard", because no matter the angle you look at one, he's still a bastard.

Astronomy began to make great strides during the start of the 20th century.  With the construction of Mount Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, Palomar Observatory some 100 miles south, and the consequent birth of Caltech's astronomy department, many of the world's premier scientists were concentrated in southern California. As a result, several books have been written depicting the fascinating lives and careers of this generation's astronomers.  Two of my favorites include The Perfect Machine and Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos.  The former tells the tale of the construction of what was the world's largest telescope for nearly 50 years.  The latter chronicles the life of Allan Sandage, a careful observer and a graduate student of Edwin Hubble.  I admit that stories of the many characters of these institutions has certainly romanticized my view of astronomy.  While a few things have changed (women can now observe, and many telescopes are used remotely), these important facilities and people set the tone for observational astronomy that prevails today.


Running a telescope used to look kind of like this:

Here Edwin Hubble sits at prime focus of the 200" Hale telescope.  Before computers, each telescope required that someone follow a guide star as the telescope photographs other celestial objects.  Guiding was generally a job for a poor graduate student as prime focus can be extremely cold and uncomfortable.  

Modern day observing is quite pleasant.  Astronomers sit in a data room with heat, automated guiding (generally) and, most importantly, coffee.  The data room doesn't even have to be at the telescope.  The twin Kecks, for instance, can transmit data to computers at almost any partnering institution.  Which means real time data can be sent into a room right here on campus in Pierce Hall.

Not all telescopes require direct use of an astronomer.

Today, with remotely controlled telescopes, and automatic programming, a lot can be discovered with little assistance from an astronomer.  Take, for instance, the Palomar Transient Factory.  This fully automated, wide field sky survey utilizes several Caltech operated telescopes.  The main machine is the 48" Samuel Oschin telescope atop Palomar Mountain.  Weather permitting (which is about 300 nights a year) the telescope scans the sky in search of transient objects.  The whole northern sky is photographed every few days.   Data is sent to Berkeley where it is analyzed by an automated computer.  Should the program find an anomaly, it sends a command back down to Palomar where the 60" telescope will point to that swath of sky.  Once again the data is sent back up to Berkeley.  Should the peculiarity persist, a person gets woken up, and another astronomer (either on one of the Kecks or the Palomar 200" Hale telescope) gets their night interrupted while that telescope images that anomalous portion of the sky.  (It is my understanding that an astronomer is much more likely to get telescope time if he agrees to be interrupted by the PTF should it be necessary.)  In April 2010 a new supernova was discovered in just 29 minutes by this system.  It took Fritz Zwicky his entire career to discover his 120 (I think) supernovae.

Even with technological advancements, astronomy has always been (and will continue to be) an extraordinarily creative pursuit.  It's just the nature of science.  Astronomers seek to answer the questions that excite us all while simultaneously making us each a little woozy (please tell me I'm not the only one who gets light headed while pondering the mysteries of the cosmos).  Astronomers are the storytellers of the vast expanse that is our universe.  But their stories require data; lots and lots of data.  Not only is collecting good, usable data an important role of an astronomer, but an equally crucial ability is to effectively interpret that data.  For that reason, astronomers are observers, theoreticians, mathematicians, computer engineers, technicians, programmers, and dreamers.
They are also persistent.
And patient.
Because they wait for telescope time, and they wait for some poor student to slowly learn how to reduce their data.  And they're nice.  Astronomers are nice.
They pay close attention to detail.

In a nutshell:
In a quest for answers to the most fundamental questions of our existence, savvy astronomers collaborate with one another to stitch together a true picture of the cosmos.

Next time someone asks me what I would do with an astronomy degree, I'll tell them to visit this link.