What is Astronomy? Astronomy is a field of science which deals with the celestial bodies like planets, comets, stars, galaxies and the phenomena associated with those. Astronomy is generally the study of the objects and happenings that originates outside the atmosphere of the Earth. It is one of the oldest sciences and the evidence of the early studies conducted during the old ages can be found in the ancient monuments like the pyramids and the Stonehenge. After the invention of the telescope, the science of Astronomy began to grow rapidly with the astronomers being able to see beyond what a normal eye can see.
The Professional Astronomical Science was divided into 2 branches during the 20th century. Those two main branches were the Theoretical branch and the Observational branch. While the theoretical branch works towards the development of the computer models, algorithms and other analytical models regarding astronomical bodies and phenomena, the observation astronomy focuses on getting the data by observing the celestial bodies and analyzing it using the laws of physics.
It is not only the professional astronomers who make all the important discoveries, even the amateur astronomers have made a lot of discoveries and contributed well enough for the field of astronomy. People who have astronomy and sky gazing as their hobby can be more observant and can easily study the transient behavior phenomena using their telescopes. And who knows, the hobby may pay off well in the form of a important discovery. And many of the amateur astronomers build their own equipment and then use it to carry out studies. Usually the amateur astronomers focus their study on the planets, moon, comets, meteor showers etc. There is also astrophotography where the astronomers take photographs of shy at night and make observations. The improvements in digital technology helps the amateur astronomers make significant discoveries.