WHAT DOES ASTRONOMY STUDY? BRANCHES AND FIELDS OF STUDY - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

Astronomy studies celestial objects, such as stars, planets, comets, and galaxies from a scientific perspective.

It includes the study of phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere, such as cosmic background radiation. It is one of the oldest sciences that has among its priorities the study of evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology and the movement of celestial bodies, as well as the way in which the universe originated and developed.

Astronomers from early civilizations made methodical observations of the sky at night. Astronomical artifacts older than the earliest historically recorded civilizations have even been found.

Thus, the invention of the telescope occurred before astronomy was even considered a modern science.

Historically, astronomy has included diverse disciplines such as astrometry, celestial navigation, astronomical observation, calendar-making, and even, at one time, astrology. However, professional astronomy today is comparable to astrophysics (Redd, 2012).

Since the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy has been divided into branches in charge of observing the celestial bodies and others in charge of analyzing the theory that emerges from the study of them.

The most frequently studied star is the Sun, a typical main sequence dwarf star of the stellar class G2 V, and approximately 4.6 Gyr in age.

The Sun is not considered a variable star, but it does go through periodic changes in activity known as the sunspot cycle.

Branches of astronomy

As already said, astronomy is divided into two branches: observational astronomy and theoretical astronomy.

Observational astronomy focuses on acquiring information and analyzing data using basic physical principles. Theoretical astronomy is oriented to the development of computerized analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena.

The two fields of astronomy complement each other, in such a way that theoretical astronomy is responsible for seeking an explanation for the results produced by observational astronomy.

Likewise, observational astronomy is used to confirm the results given by theoretical astronomy (Physics, 2015).

Beginning astronomers have contributed many important astronomical discoveries. In this way, astronomy is considered one of the few sciences where beginning scientists can play an active and important role, especially in the discovery and observation of transient phenomena (Daily, 2016).

Observational astronomy

Observational astronomy is the field of astronomy that focuses on the direct study of the stars, planets, galaxies, and any type of celestial body in the universe.

For this field, astronomy makes use of the telescope, however, the first astronomers observed the celestial bodies without any help.

Modern constellations were conceived by the first astronomers from the observation of the night sky. In this way, five planets of the solar system (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) were identified and modern constellations were proposed.

Modern telescopes (reflectors and refractors) were invented to reveal in greater detail what could be found with the naked eye (California, 2002).

Theoretical astronomy

Theoretical astronomy is the branch of astronomy that allows us to analyze the way how systems have evolved.

Unlike many other fields of science, astronomers cannot fully observe any system from the moment it is born to the moment it dies. The origin of planets, stars, and galaxies dates back millions (even billions) of years ago.

Therefore, astronomers must rely on photographs of celestial bodies in different evolutionary stages to determine how they formed, evolved, and died.

In this way, theoretical astronomy tends to mix with observation, as it takes data from it to create simulations.

Fields of study

Astronomy is divided into several fields of study that allow scientists to specialize in specific objects and phenomena.

Planetary, solar and stellar astronomy

These types of astronomy study the growth, evolution, and death of celestial bodies.

In this way, planetary astronomy studies the planets, the solar one studies the Sun and the stellar one studies the stars, black holes, nebulae, white dwarfs and supernovae that survive stellar deaths.

Galactic astronomy

This field of astronomy studies our galaxy, known as the Milky Way. On the other hand, extra-galactic astronomers focus on studying everything that lives outside our galaxy in order to determine how collections of stars form, change and die.

Cosmology

Cosmology focuses on the universe as a whole, from the moment of its violent birth (Big Bang) to its present evolution and eventual death.

Astronomy usually deals with point phenomena and observable objects. However, cosmology typically involves larger-scale properties of the universe in a more esoteric, invisible, and in many cases, purely theoretical way.

String theory, dark matter and energy, and the notion of multiple universes belong to the realm of cosmology (Redd, Space.com, 2012).

Astrometry

Astrometry is the oldest branch of astronomy. It is responsible for measuring the Sun, the Moon and the planets.

Precise calculations of the motions of these bodies have allowed astronomers in other fields to determine the pattern of the birth and evolution of planets and stars.

In this way, they have been able to predict events such as eclipses, meteor showers and the appearance of comets.

Early astronomers were able to identify patterns in the sky and tried to organize them in such a way that they could track their movements.

These patterns were called constellations and they helped populations measure the seasons of the year.

The movement of stars and other celestial bodies was tracked around the world, but it was carried out with greater force in China, Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Central America and India (Zacharias, 2010).

Astronomy today

Most of the astronomical observations made today are made remotely.

In this way, the telescopes used are located in space or in specific places on Earth and astronomers monitor them from a computer, in which they store images and data.

Thanks to advances in photography, especially digital photography, astronomers have been able to capture incredible photos of space, not only for scientific purposes, but also to keep the general public aware of celestial phenomena (Naff, 2006).

References

1. California, U. o. (2002). University of California. Retrieved from Introduction to Telescopes: earthguide.ucsd.edu.
2. Daily, S. (2016). Science Daily. Obtained from Astronomy: sciencedaily.com
3. Naff, CF (2006). Astronomy. Greenhaven Press.
4. Physics, S. o. (2015). School of Physics. Retrieved from About the Disciplines: physics.gmu.edu.
5. Redd, NT (June 6, 2012). com. Obtained from What is Astronomy? Definition & History: space.com.
6. Redd, NT (June 7, 2012). com. Obtained from What Is Cosmology? Definition & History: space.com.
7. Zacharias, N. (2010). Scholarpedia. Obtained from Astrometry: scholarpedia.org.