ASTRONOMY
Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, and galaxies) and phenomena that
originate outside the Earth's atmosphere.
It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the
formation and development of the universe.
Astronomy and astrology were historically associated, but astrology is not a science and is no longer recognized as
having anything to do with astronomy.
Historically, astronomy has focused on observations of heavenly bodies. It is a close cousin to astrophysics. Succinctly
put, astrophysics involves the study of the physics of astronomy and concentrates on the behavior, properties and
motion of objects out there. However, modern astronomy includes many elements of the motions and characteristics of
these bodies, and the two terms are often used interchangeably today.
Modern astronomers tend to fall into two fields: the theoretical and the observational.
Observational astronomers focus on direct study of stars, planets, galaxies, and so forth.
Theoretical astronomers model and analyze how systems may have evolved.
Unlike most other fields of science, astronomers are unable to observe a system entirely from birth to death; the
lifetime of worlds, stars, and galaxies span millions to billions of years. Instead, astronomers must rely on snapshots of
bodies in various stages of evolution to determine how they formed, evolved and died. Thus, theoretical and
observational astronomy tend to blend together, as theoretical scientists use the information actually collected to create
simulations, while the observations serve to confirm the models — or to indicate the need for tweaking them.
Astronomy is broken down into a number of subfields, allowing scientists to specialize in particular objects and
phenomena.
Planetary astronomers (also called planetary scientists) focus on the growth, evolution, and death of planets. While
most study the worlds inside the solar system, some use the growing body of evidence about planets around other stars
to hypothesize what they might be like. Planetary science "is a cross-discipline field including aspects of astronomy,
atmospheric science, geology, space physics, biology and chemistry."
Stellar astronomers turn their eyes to the stars, including the black holes, nebulae, white dwarfs and supernova that
survive stellar deaths. The focus of stellar astronomy is on the physical and chemical processes that occur in the
universe.
Solar astronomers spend their time analyzing a single star — our sun. The quantity and quality of light from the sun
varies on time scales from milli-seconds to billions of years. Understanding those changes can help scientists recognize
how Earth is affected. The sun also helps us to understand how other stars work, as it is the only star close enough to
reveal details about its surface.
Galactic astronomers study our galaxy, the Milky Way, while extragalactic astronomers peer outside of it to determine
how these collections of stars form, change, and die. Establishing patterns in the distribution, composition, and physical
conditions of stars and gas traces the history of our evolving home galaxy.
Cosmologists focus on the universe in its entirety, from its violent birth in the Big Bang to its present evolution, all the
way to its eventual death. Astronomy is often (not always) about very concrete, observable things, whereas cosmology
typically involves large-scale properties of the universe and esoteric, invisible and sometimes purely theoretical things
like string theory, dark matter and dark energy, and the notion of multiple universes.
Astronomical observers rely on different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum (from radio waves to visible light
and on up to X-rays and gamma-rays) to study the wide span of objects in the universe. The first telescopes focused on
simple optical studies of what could be seen with the naked eye, and many telescopes continue that today.
Branches of astronomy
Astrobiology – studies the advent and evolution of biological systems in the universe.
Astrophysics – branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties
of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior. [1] Among the objects studied
are galaxies, stars, planets, exoplanets, the interstellar medium and the cosmic microwave background; and the
properties examined include luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition. The subdisciplines of
theoretical astrophysics are:
o Compact objects – this subdiscipline studies very dense matter in white dwarfs and neutron stars and
their effects on environments including accretion.
o Physical cosmology – origin and evolution of the universe as a whole. The study of cosmology is
theoretical astrophysics at its largest scale.
o Computational astrophysics – The study of astrophysics using computational methods and tools to
develop computational models.
o Galactic astronomy – deals with the structure and components of our galaxy and of other galaxies.
o High energy astrophysics – studies phenomena occurring at high energies including active galactic
nuclei, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, quasars, and shocks.
o Interstellar astrophysics – study of the interstellar medium, intergalactic medium and dust.
o Extragalactic astronomy – study of objects (mainly galaxies) outside our galaxy, including Galaxy
formation and evolution.
o Stellar astronomy – concerned with Star formation, physical properties, main sequence life
span, variability, stellar evolution and extinction.
o Plasma astrophysics – studies properties of plasma in outer space.
o Relativistic astrophysics – studies effects of special relativity and general relativity in astrophysical
contexts including gravitational waves, gravitational lensing and black holes.
o Solar physics – Sun and its interaction with the remainder of the Solar System and interstellar space.
Planetary Science – study of planets, moons, and planetary systems.
o Atmospheric science – study of atmospheres and weather.
o Exoplanetology – various planets outside of the Solar System
o Planetary formation – formation of planets and moons in the context of the formation and evolution of
the Solar System.
o Planetary rings – dynamics, stability, and composition of planetary rings
o Magnetospheres – magnetic fields of planets and moons
o Planetary surfaces – surface geology of planets and moons
o Planetary interiors – interior composition of planets and moons
o Small Solar System bodies – smallest gravitationally bound bodies, including asteroids, comets,
and Kuiper belt objects.
