What's it like to be a PROFESSIONAL ASTRONOMER?

Understanding the cosmos takes the work of thousands of people. Ezzy Pearson spoke to astronomers across the world to look at the many different roles that go into observing our Universe

- Ezzy Pearson

Back in the days of Galileo and Newton, an astronomer B was a lone figure at a telescope eyepiece they had created themselves. They would go through the stars and planets one by one, taking handwritten notes and creating sketches, to build up a wealth of information over nights, years, and decades.

As time moved on, bigger telescopes were built in prime locations on remote mountaintops and deserts. Astronomers would travel to use them, bringing specialist instruments and newly invented photographic equipment. This enabled them to capture the light of dozens of distant objects that were too faint to be seen with the naked eye. They could then carry these photographic plates home to analyze the objects. With so much data to look at, astronomers began employing mathematicians, known as computers, to do the work for them, while they pondered the meaning of what they saw.

Today, astronomy has grown into a collaborative process, with teams of specialists involved at every stage. Engineers craft new instruments while consortiums work on building huge telescopes. These observatories are often so out of the way, and so complex, that astronomers often don't use them themselves. Instead they put in requests for observations that are then made by dedicated operators. Once they've received their data, science teams then write papers, sharing their work with the community. The discoveries will then drive the push for new instruments and telescopes, beginning the cycle again.

We spoke to astronomy professionals from around the world to find out what goes in to every stage of understanding the Universe...

Instrument builder

Dr James Osborn, Durham University