It is hard work, it is challenging, but it is worth it. I also talk with other faculty and staff who are working on projects with me. Very often, there is a new discovery reported that is hot off the Web or the fax machine or in e-mail. We often get together and discuss what the new discovery might mean and whether we should devise our own model for it or consider using a telescope of some kind to study it further. I spend a lot of time writing proposals for grant money and also for use of telescopes.
Every astronomer competes with other astronomers to get time on telescopes.
The biggest and best telescopes are a precious resource. Then, some months or even a year after we submit our proposal, if it is accepted, we get the time on the telescope. This means that we fly off to Puerto Rico, New Mexico or Australia, in some cases. In other cases, we propose to use observatories in space, such as the Hubble Space Telescope or the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. That's when we get to work on our computers.