Expert: Philip Stahl - 12/8/2008

Question
This is for a project BUT WAIT!!!! I am in 9th grade and I am required to interview an expert with 10 questions on the subject but I will only ask you 3. Please answer thouroughly in complete sentences.
1. What exactly do astronomers do?
2. What are some of the best colleges to attend to become an astronomer?
3. What is the minimum amount of years required to become an astronomer?

Answer
Hello,


1. Most astronomers are affiliated with colleges or universities. Therefore, their main activities include:  a) teaching various courses, e.g. Introduction to Astronomy, Astrophysics, Celestial Mechanics, etc.;   

b) research in some specialty area (e.g. solar physics, binary stars, the YORP effect (Google it!)

and c) publishing the results of their research to inform others in their field.

2. The best colleges or universities to attend really depend on exactly what specialty field you wish to go into. It is not a given, for example, that Harvard or Yale will ALWAYS be the "best" for every area.

For example, the University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of Hawaii at Manoa are excellent places to do solar - solar physics research. Yale and Harvard are both terrific for stellar astrophysics, and indeed Harvard has the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and all its resources there. Meanwhile, if one is more interested in the near Earth plasma and EFFECTS of the Sun (say in generating the aurora) you can't do better than the University of Alaska-Fairbanks which features the Geophysical Institute.

3. In general, the minimum number of years is eight (4 for Bachelors degree and 4 for the doctorate) but this assumes one will go into the usual tenure -track college mold. I know, however, of a number of excellent astronomers who only have Masters degrees, yet are quite proficient in what they do in their field. So again, the year total is kind of general, and not cast in stone.

Hope these answers help!