Many amateurs freely share their excitement about science with local teachers and students through such programs as Project ASTRO, which links astronomers with 4th through 9th grade teachers and classes in 10 sites around the country.Īstronomy offers the possibility of discovery.
The AmericanĪstronomical Society has formed a working group to foster partnering between professional and amateur astronomers. Telescope and magazine sales suggest that nearly 300,000 citizens take some active interest in amateur astronomy. Astronomy is one of the few sciences in which amateurs by the tens of thousands have formed active organizations (e.g., the Planetary Society, with membership exceeding 130,000), and many amateurs make significant scientific contributions to such fields as the monitoring of variable stars and measuring positions of moving objects. Many nonscientists have astronomy as a lifelong avocation. Images of deep-sky objects convey the beauty of the universe, even to those who are too young to understand their context or implications.Īstronomy is a participatory science. Much of astronomy is visual and can be appreciated for its aesthetic appeal as well as its illustrative power. Easily observed astronomical events have formed the basis for time keeping, navigation, and myths or sagas in cultures around the world. The motions of astronomical objects determine the day-night cycle, the seasons of the year, the tides, the timing of eclipses, and the visibility of comets and meteor showers. Just look up! Who has not looked at the night sky and wondered at the panoply of stars there? We are all aware of the motion of the Sun through the sky during the day and the changing phases of the Moon at night. A few reminders serve to illustrate the potential of astronomy to advance public science education goals.Īstronomy is all around us. In combination, these qualities make astronomy a valuable tool for raising pubic awareness of science, and for introducing scientific concepts and the process of scientific thinking to students at all levels.
Astronomy encompasses the full range of natural phenomena-from the physics of invisible elementary particles, to the nature of space and time, to biology-thus providing a powerful framework for illustrating the unity of natural phenomena and the evolution of scientific paradigms to explain them. The boldness of our collective efforts to comprehend the universe inspires us, while the dimensions of space and time humble us. The beauty of the night sky and its rhythms are at once stunning and compelling. As a community of citizens fortunate to live in a society that supports them generously, astronomers believe strongly that “from those to whom much is given, much is asked.” It is in that spirit that the committee offers below an accounting of astronomy’s more tangible contributions to broader societal goals.Īstronomy excites the imagination.
Exploring frontiers of unimaginable mystery and beauty, astronomy speaks compellingly to these fundamental questions.Īs researchers, astronomers experience the excitement of discovery most vividly and are the first to glimpse new answers to ancient questions. Perhaps the most persuasive, but least quantifiable, justifications lie in the importance American society has always attached to exploring new frontiers, and in the deep human desire to understand how we came to be, the kind of universe we live in, whether we are alone, and what our ultimate fate will be.
To take these next steps will require significant investments of both imagination and public resources.īecause the magnitude of these investments will be large, it is fair to ask why astronomical research should merit such support. Astronomers stand poised to examine the epoch when galaxies similar to our Milky Way first took form, to image Earth-like planets beyond our solar system, and to learn whether some show evidence of life. In the decades ahead, the pace of discovery-remarkable as it has been over the past-will accelerate. These startling advances are the result not only of the collective creative efforts of scientists and engineers throughout the United States and around the world, but also of the generous investments in astronomy over much of the past 50 years by federal and state governments, foundations, and individuals.
Astronomical discoveries of the past decade-images of the hot universe at an epoch before the first galaxies and stars emerged, of other solar systems beginning to take form, of planetary systems beyond our own-have captured the imagination of scientists and citizens alike.