An astronomer is that individual, mostly of scientific training , whose area of study and analysis turns out to be astronomy .
Meanwhile, astronomy is that discipline that focuses its study on the so-called celestial bodies , physical entities that exist in the universe, that is, astronomy will deal with the movements that these bodies star in as well as all those phenomena that are found linked to them. In most cases, everything that involves them, such as the registration and investigation of their origins, comes from information that astronomers obtain from them thanks to electromagnetic radiation or any other means.
This area of science has been associated with man practically since its inception as a species ; there has not been a single civilization that has not had contact with it. For example, in Ancient Babylon it was the priests who were in charge of the study of celestial objects; various inscriptions from this civilization have shown that the Babylonians had an accurate knowledge of the night sky. On the other hand, also the priests, but from Ancient Egypt , observed the sky to obtain details of the universe; the ceiling of many of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, the necropolis that housed most of the tombs of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom, present drawings of the aforementioned night sky.
Astronomy strictly follows a scientific method to obtain details and information from its objects of study, although this does not prevent many amateurs from playing an active role in it through the observations they make from their place as amateurs; astronomy is one of the few sciences that allows this situation.
Another peculiarity that astronomy proposes to us is that astronomers cannot directly manipulate their objects of study as it happens with other sciences, so, instead, they must use adjusted observations for all their discoveries. Normally, to achieve greater reliability and clarity in their studies, astronomers make use of telescopes and many other optical instruments that facilitate their work, in some indirect way.
Among the most prominent astronomers are: Ptolemy, Aristarchus of Samos, Nicolás Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler and Johannes Hevelius , among others.