Astronomers often believe that the significance of their work is self-evident.
But in these harsh times, even the most obvious benefits of an activity come under scrutiny. It all depends on your perspective and circumstances in life. If you are poor and struggling to get by, there is virtually no activity by other people that is justifiable unless it results in direct monetary gain by you. If you are wealthy, virtually any activity can be justified so long as it either has no effect upon you, or provides some enhancement to your life either culturally or materially. Astronomy is important to some people's lives because it lets us experience a larger reality beyond the 9 to 5 workday, or the limited horizon provided by living on this one small planet in an incomprehensively vaster universe.