This article was written by work experience, Sophie. Read more on becoming an astronomer here > If no special calibration provisions are taken, under typical conditions, an astrometric accuracy of 10 of the synthesized beam FWHM can often be obtained. These are planetary, stellar, solar, galactic, and cosmologists.įind out about the latest astronomy news here > The astrophysical applications of these measurements cover many fields, including star formation, evolved stars, stellar and supermassive black holes, Galactic. Narrow-field astrometry In narrow-field astrometry, the target is close to the phase tracking center and the antennas nod every few minutes between the target and a calibrator. Astronomy is broken down into several subfields allowing scientists to specialise in specific objects and phenomena.

Historically, astronomy was more so based on classification and description of phenomena in the sky, however, modern astronomy covers elements and motions of these phenomena. You can read more about these sub-fields here > giphy The four sub-fields of Astronomy are Astrophysics, Astrogeology, Astrometry and Astrobiology. The bulk of an astronomer’s job is heavily based on research, as the focus is on understanding how the universe works, and on trying to discover things about the universe that would be considered scientific breakthroughs.Īstronomers usually focus specifically on one sub-field. Observational astronomers make direct observations of celestial objects and analyse the data, in contrast to theoretical astronomers who create and investigate models of things that cannot be observed. Astronomers usually fall under two main types: observational or theoretical.

Fields of astrometry