The answers often lead us to surprising and useful insights about the laws of nature. This quest improves our quality of life in very immediate ways that go beyond offering technical contributions to society. It gives all of us insight about our place in nature, it raises questions that enliven the mind, it introduces many people to scientific reasoning, and it gives us great pleasure by revealing how deeply beautiful and wondrous nature is. For these reasons, most technically advanced nations pursue astronomical research for cultural as well as purely scientific reasons. Certain insights would be impossible without examining the universe beyond the Earth, while astronomical research can also simply be a cheap way of investigating other mysteries of physics and chemistry.
Astronomers function like detectives, looking for clues to solve mysteries.
In particular, our goals as scientists are to pick and solve those mysteries that improve our understanding of nature. Like good detective work, getting answers involves logic, imagination and intuition, and our conclusions must always stand up to the evidence. Physics disciplines such as nuclear and gravitational research, and now particle physics, are of paramount importance in the development of astronomy. In return, astronomical discoveries are leading to new insights about those fields and others. The borders between fields can become blurry.