Astronomer

The Astronomer by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1668)

An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who, in one way or another, studies the boundless outer space. Astronomers observe astronomical objects or celestial bodies such as stars, planets, moons, comets, asteroids, star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies, or they work in theoretical astronomy to explain the observed properties of all these objects. In the narrow sense of the word, an astronomer is considered to be a professional astronomer who has graduated from the university and received a special astronomical education. In a broad sense, astronomers are many people who love space and make some kind of contribution to the development of Astronomy, for example, astrophotographers, astronomy popularizers, astronomy teachers, astronautical engineers and astronauts. I propose to call all those who are in love with astronomy, like Uraniophiles - in honor of the muse Urania, who is the muse of astronomy and is depicted with a celestial globe and a compass.

Astronomers study many topics related to astronomy, examples of such sciences and topics are Planetology, Solar Astronomy, Star Astronomy, Milky Way Astronomy, Extragalactic Astronomy. Also, a related subject for Astronomy is physical cosmology, which studies the universe as a whole. With the advent of spacecraft, astronomers have been able to directly study many cosmic bodies, especially in our solar system. For example, in the 20th century, astronomers obtained many photos of objects such as the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, as well as photos of many satellites, asteroids and comets. Also, the twentieth century greatly expanded the capabilities of astronomers, allowing them to see the entire universe with powerful telescopes and begin to study in detail the space of the Milky Way, as well as to study many other large and small galaxies in our observable universe.

Historically, astronomers were most concerned with classifying and describing phenomena in the sky, while astrophysicists who emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries tried to explain astronomical phenomena and differences between them using physical laws. Nowadays, this distinction has largely disappeared, and the terms "astronomer" and "astrophysicist" are used interchangeably. Professional astronomers are highly educated people, usually with a doctorate in physics or astronomy, and are used by research institutes or universities.

Most professional astronomers spend most of their time working on research, although they have other responsibilities, such as teaching, building instruments, or helping run the observatory.

The number of professional astronomers in the United States is actually quite small. The American Astronomical Society, which is the major organization of professional astronomers in North America, has approximately 7,700 members. This number includes scientists from other fields such as physics, geology, and engineering, whose research interests are closely related to astronomy.

The International Astronomical Union comprises almost 10,145 members from 70 different countries who are involved in astronomical research at the PhD level and beyond. While the number of professional astronomers worldwide is not much larger than the population of a small town, there is a huge community of amateur astronomers. Most cities have amateur astronomy clubs that meet on a regular basis and often host star parties in their communities. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific is the largest general astronomical society in the world, comprising both professional and amateur astronomers as well as educators from 70 different nations. Like any hobby, most people who think of themselves as amateur astronomers may devote a few hours a month to stargazing and reading the latest developments in research. However, amateurs span the range from so-called "armchair astronomers" to the very ambitious, who own science-grade telescopes and instruments with which they are able to make their own discoveries and assist professional astronomers in research.

Modern astronomers

Galileo is often referred to as the Father of Modern Astronomy.

Contrary to the classical image of an old astronomer peering through a telescope through the dark hours of the night, it is very rare for a modern professional astronomer to use an eyepiece on a larger telescope. It is far more common to use a charge-coupled device camera to record a long, deep exposure, allowing a more sensitive image to be created because the light is added over time. Before CCDs, photographic plates were a common method of observation. Modern astronomers spend relatively little time at telescopes - most spend a few weeks per year observing, and the rest of their time reducing the data (changing it from raw data to processed images) and analyzing it. Many astronomers work entirely from astronomical survey or space observatory data. Others work with radio telescopes like the Very Large Array, which is entirely automated, although it is maintained by telescope operators. Some astronomers do not work with data at all, but instead use computational simulations or analytical models to provide analysis of observed phenomena or make predictions for observational astronomers. Astronomers who serve as faculty spend much of their time teaching undergraduate and graduate classes. Most universities also have outreach programs including public telescope time and sometimes planetariums as a public service and to encourage interest in the field.

Astronomers by Type

Professional astronomers

Professional astronomers are people who practice astronomy professionally. Modern methods of astronomy require a good knowledge of mathematical methods, so professional astronomers usually have an appropriate higher profile education. They work in observatories, research centers or universities. Scientists of this specialty spend most of their time in scientific research and information analysis; some scientists combine professional employment with teaching and popularizing work. Due to the vastness of astronomy as a science, the general category of astronomers is divided into many narrow specialties: for example, cosmologists, planetary scientists, astrophysicists, astrochemists, astrobiologists, etc.

The number of professional astronomers (in relation to specialists in other natural sciences) is relatively small. For example, the American Astronomical Society, which is the premier organization for professional astronomers in North America, has approximately 6,500 members. This includes scientists from other fields, such as physics, geology, mechanical engineering, whose research interests are somehow related to astronomy. The International Astronomical Union has almost 10,000 members from 87 countries.

Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while later astrophysics, using the laws of physics, explained these celestial phenomena observed throughout the history of mankind through their physical essence. At present, astronomy is inseparable from mathematics, physics and cosmology. At the same time, the latest astronomical discoveries constantly pose new questions for scientists, requiring both further understanding of the general structure of the universe and the development of methodological approaches and scientific strategies for studying the Universe.

amateur astronomers

Amateur astronomy is one of the types of hobbies (hobbies) that involves observations, registration and study - that is, the study of celestial objects and phenomena by one method or another.

Amateur astronomy is one of the types of activities that does not bring in money and does not require special education or university training.

All over the world, including Russia in particular, there is a significant number of amateur astronomers. Literally in every major city in Russia (as well as in other countries, to a greater or lesser extent) you can find communities of astronomy lovers, although they are not always organized into a club or circle.

Amateur astronomers occupy a very specific niche in the study of the world. At the forefront is the acquisition of personal (including aesthetic) experience, impressions and knowledge. Secondly, the exchange of knowledge and impressions with other amateurs, the organization of communities for joint observations, the manufacture and modernization of instruments. There are cases when amateurs managed to make a significant contribution to the knowledge of the universe. This includes, for example, the works of the 19th-century amateur astronomer E. Bykhanov.

Famous Astronomers

Here will be famous astronomers who have significantly advanced astronomy.

Astronomers by Science

There will be various astronomers who study various objects in space.

Astronomers by Time

Astronomers of the Ancient World and Antiquity

Main article: Astronomers of Antiquity List of Astronomers of Antiquity

1. 6th century BC: Anaximander, Thales of Miletus
2. 5th century BC: Euctemon, Meton of Athens
3. 4th century BC: Gan De, Kidinnu, Shi Shen
4. 3rd century BC: Berossus, Eratosthenes, Sudines
5. 2nd century BC: Andronicus of Cyrrhus, Attalus of Rhodes, Hipparchus, Seleucus of Seleucia, Gaius Sulpicius Gallus, Theodosius of Bithynia, Luoxia Hong
6. 1st century BC: Acoreus, Geminus, Posidonius, Sosigenes (astronomer), Jing Fang, Liu Xiang (scholar), Liu Xin (scholar)
7. 1st century AD: Agrippa (astronomer), Menelaus of Alexandria, Li Fan (Han dynasty), Wang Chong
8. 2nd century AD: Ptolemy, Cai Yong, Liu Hong (astronomer), Zhang Heng
9. 3rd century AD: Sporus of Nicaea, Chen Zhuo, Du Qiong (Three Kingdoms), Qiao Zhou, Wang Fan, Zhou Qun
10. 4th century AD: Theon of Alexandria, Yu Xi
11. Astronomers of Babylon: Berossus, Kidinnu, Naburimannu, Seleucus of Seleucia, Sudines
12. Astronomers of Greece: Aglaonice, Agrippa (astronomer), Anaximander, Andronicus of Cyrrhus, Apollinarius (astrologer), Apollonius of Perga, Aratus, Aristarchus of Samos, Aristyllus, Arrianus (astronomer), Attalus of Rhodes, Autolycus of Pitane, Bion of Abdera, Callippus, Carpus of Antioch, Cleomedes, Cleostratus, Conon of Samos, Diodorus of Alexandria, Ecphantus the Pythagorean, Eratosthenes, Euctemon, Eudoxus of Cnidus, Geminus, Harpalus (astronomer), Hephaestio, Heraclides Ponticus, Hicetas, Hipparchus, Hypsicles, Menelaus of Alexandria, Meton of Athens, Oenopides, Philip of Opus, Posidonius, Ptolemy, Pytheas, Sosigenes (astronomer), Sosigenes the Peripatetic, Sporus of Nicaea, Teucer of Babylon, Thales of Miletus, Theodosius of Bithynia, Theon of Alexandria, Timocharis, Vettius Valens
13. Astronomers of Rome: Acoreus, Adrastus of Cyzicus, Gaius Julius Hyginus, Gaius Sulpicius Gallus
14. Astronomers in China: Gan De, Shi Shen, Wuxian (Shang dynasty), Luoxia Hong, Jing Fang, Liu Xiang (scholar), Liu Xin (scholar), Li Fan (Han dynasty), Wang Chong, Cai Yong, Liu Hong (astronomer), Zhang Heng, Chen Zhuo, Du Qiong (Three Kingdoms), Qiao Zhou, Wang Fan, Zhou Qun, Yu Xi, Zu Chongzhi
15. Astronomers in India: Lagadha, Vararuchi, Vasishtha, Aryabhata, Varāhamihira

Astronomers of the Middle Ages

Main article: Astronomers of the Middle Ages List of astronomers of the Middle Ages

1. 5th century AD: Ammonius Hermiae, Hypatia, Marinus of Neapolis, Zu Chongzhi, Aryabhata
2. 6th century AD: Ammonius Hermiae, John Philoponus, Gao Gongzhi, Gao Qianzhi, Zhen Luan, Aryabhata, Varāhamihira
3. 7th century AD: Abiyun al-Bitriq, Eugenius I of Toledo, Isidore of Seville, Severus Sebokht, Anania Shirakatsi, Sisebut, Stephanus of Alexandria, Li Chunfeng, Bhāskara I, Haridatta
4. 8th century AD: Alcuin, Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī, Kim Am, Virgil of Salzburg, Gautama Siddha, Liang Lingzan, Yi Xing, Lalla, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, Mashallah ibn Athari, Naubakht, Yaʿqūb ibn Ṭāriq
5. 9th century AD: Ali ibn Isa al-Asturlabi, Al-Battani, Dicuil, Dungal of Bobbio, Einhard, Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar, Handbook of 809, Ali ibn Sulayman al-Hashimi, Sahl ibn Bishr, Thābit ibn Qurra, Tuotilo, Vita Hludovici, Xu Ang, Śaṅkaranārāyaṇa, Khalid ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marwarrudhi, Abu Ja'far ibn Habash, Abu'l-'Anbas Saymari, Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi, Banū Mūsā brothers, Abu Hanifa Dinawari, Al-Farghani, Abu Said Gorgani, Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi, Abu al-Abbas Iranshahri, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, Al-Mahani, Mashallah ibn Athari, Mūsā ibn Shākir, Ahmad Nahavandi, Naubakht, Al-Nayrizi, Sahl ibn Bishr, Yahya ibn Abi Mansur
6. 10th century AD: Ibn al-A'lam, Ahmad ibn Yusuf, Al-Adami, Al-ʻIjliyyah, Al-Battani, Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani, Ibn al-Adami, Ibrahim ibn Sinan, Lupitus of Barcelona, Nastulus, Al-Qabisi, Pope Sylvester II, Ibn Yunus, Ma Yize, Zhang Sixun, Aryabhata II, Mañjula (astronomer), Praśastidhara, Śaṅkaranārāyaṇa, Utpala (astronomer), Vijayanandi, Abu al-Hasan al-Ahwazi, Abu Ja'far al-Khazin, Abu al-Wafa' al-Buzjani, Kushyar Gilani, Abolfadl Harawi, Haseb-i Tabari, Abu-Mahmud Khojandi, Abu Nasr Mansur, Al-Nayrizi, Abu Sahl al-Quhi, Saghani, Al-Sijzi, Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi
7. 11th century AD: Ali ibn Khalaf, Petrus Alphonsi, Avicenna, Byrhtferth, Daśabala, Hermann of Reichenau, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn as-Saffar, Ibn al-Samh, Michael Psellos, Said al-Andalusi. Ibn Yunus, Al-Zarqali, Ma Yize, Shen Kuo, Su Song, Wei Pu, Brahmadeva, Śatānanda, Śrīpati, Vijayanandi, Abu al-Hasan al-Ahwazi, Al-Isfizari, Al-Biruni, Kushyar Gilani, Omar Khayyam, Abu Nasr Mansur, Al-Sijzi
8. 12th century AD: Abu as-Salt, Adelard of Bath, Petrus Alphonsi, Averroes, Gerard of Cremona, Oddi Helgason, Roger of Hereford, Herman of Carinthia, Jabir ibn Aflah, Ibn al-Kammad, John of Worcester, Omar Khayyam, Nur ad-Din al-Bitruji, Plato Tiburtinus, Raymond of Marseilles, Robert of Ketton, Rudolf of Bruges, Al-Samawal al-Maghribi, Walcher of Malvern, William of Conches, Bhāskara II, Brahmadeva, Abu'l-Hasan Bayhaqi, Al-Isfizari, Al-Kharaqī, Anvari, Omar Khayyam, Al-Khazini, Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi
9. 13th century AD: Athir al-Din al-Abhari, Al-Ashraf Umar II, Roger Bacon, Henry Bate of Mechelen, Campanus of Novara, Robert Grosseteste, Ibn al-Ha'im al-Ishbili, Ibn al-Raqqam, Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi, Ibn Ishaq al-Tunisi, Isaac ibn Sid, Isa Kelemechi, Muhyi al-Din al-Maghribi, John Peckham, Johannes de Sacrobosco, William of Saint-Cloud, Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi, Mu'ayyad al-Din al-Urdi, Yehuda ben Moshe, Zag de Sujurmenza, Zulema L'Astròloga, Guo Shoujing, Zhao Youqin, Manuel Bryennios, Theodore Metochites, John Pediasimos, Maximus Planudes, Govinda Bhattathiri, Andalò del Negro, Bartholomew of Parma, Guido Bonatti, Restoro d'Arezzo, Bi Bi Monajemeh Nishaburi, Jamal ad-Din Bukhari, Najm al-Din al-Qazwini al-Katibi, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Farisi, Muhyi al-Din al-Maghribi, Zakariya al-Qazwini, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi
10. 14th century AD: Ibn al-Sarraj, Isaac Argyros, Henry Bate of Mechelen, Immanuel Bonfils, Ibn al-Shatir, Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi, Isaac ibn al-Ahdab, Isaac Israeli ben Joseph, Jaghmini, John of Saxony (astronomer), Joseph ibn Naḥmias, Shams al-Din Abu Abd Allah al-Khalili, Johannes de Muris, Najm al-Din al-Misri, Nissim of Gerona, Sadr al-Shari'a al-Asghar, Solomon Davin of Rodez, Guo Shoujing, Thomas Bradwardine, Simon Bredon, Walter Brit, Nicholas of Lynn, Richard of Wallingford, John Westwyk, Isaac Argyros, Manuel Bryennios, Georgius Chrysococcas, Nicephorus Gregoras, Theodore Meliteniotes, Theodore Metochites, John Pediasimos, Maximus Planudes, Gemistos Plethon, Madhava of Sangamagrama, Mahendra Sūri, Andalò del Negro, Jacopo Dondi dell'Orologio, Giovanni Dondi dell'Orologio
11. 15th century AD: Abd al-'Aziz al-Wafa'i, Abd al-Wajid, Ulugh Beg, Mordecai Comtino, Yuriy Drohobych, Ibn al-Majdi, Mirim Çelebi, Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī, Sibt al-Maridini, Jan Šindel, John Vitéz, Georg von Peuerbach, Ma Shi, Nicholas of Lynn, Henri Arnaut de Zwolle, Johannes Engel, Erhard Etzlaub, Wenzel Faber, Johannes von Gmunden, Nicholas of Cusa, Regiomontanus, Andreas Stöberl, Johannes Stöffler, Johannes Tolhopff, Bernhard Walther, Johannes Werner, Bessarion, Gemistos Plethon, Damodara, Keshava of Nandigrama, Madhava of Sangamagrama, Parameshvara Nambudiri, Nilakantha Somayaji, Puthumana Somayaji, Giovanni Bianchini, Yehuda Farissol, Francesco Capuano Di Manfredonia, Girolamo Manfredi, Mordechai Finzi, Domenico Maria Novara da Ferrara, Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Jang Yeong-sil, Kim Dam, Abu Ishaq al-Kubunani, Husayn Kashifi, Jamshid al-Kashi, Ali Qushji, Albert Brudzewski, Marcin Bylica, Nicolaus Copernicus, Michał Falkener, John of Głogów, Marcin Król z Żurawicy, Isaac ibn al-Ahdab, Abraham Zacuto

Astronomers by Country

Astronomers of America

Astronomers of North America

Template:Portal

• Astronomers List of astronomers

• List of Muslim astronomers

• Cosmologists

• List of Russian astronomers and astrophysicists

References

• Dallal, Ahmad (1999). The Oxford History of Islam. Oxford University Press, New York.

• Kennedy, E.S. (1956). "A Survey of Islamic Astronomical Tables; Transactions of the American Philosophical Society" 46 (2).

• Template:Cite encyclopedia

External links

• American Astronomical Society

• International Astronomical Union

• Astronomical Society of the Pacific