Most of the students planning to become astronomers, after completing their high school and college education, continue in graduate school to receive a PhD. Astronomy training, however, emphasizes a remarkably broad set of problem-solving skills. Most professional astronomers are either faculty members at universities and colleges, or affiliated observatories and laboratories. For these astronomers, teaching is their major activity. Observational astronomers spend between 10 and 30 nights per year working at an observatory or getting observations from spacecraft, and spend the rest of their time analyzing the data they have collected. Others, such as theoretical astrophysicists, conduct a great deal of their research using supercomputers.
Some astronomers work in business or private industry.
Astronomers are generally well versed in instrumentation, spectral observations, and computer applications to unusual problems. Although most astronomers have advanced degrees, people with an undergraduate major in astronomy or physics can find jobs at national laboratories, federal agencies and sometimes in large astronomy departments at universities. An undergraduate astronomy degree is excellent preparation for science teachers, laboratory technicians, computer programmers and science journalists.