Part of our what-is-a-professional-astronomer assignment is to research the topic online. Since Cassi and I have already interviewed a grad student on the process of becoming a professional astronomer and she is planning on doing another interview with an astrophysics professor to see what a career in academia is actually like, I thought I would research what other sorts of jobs you can do with an astrophysics degree besides being a professor.
From the American Astronomical Society's career pamphlet: A New Universe to Explore: Careers in Astronomy, I found that about 55% of professional astronomers are faculty at a university or work at university affiliated laboratories. Around 33% of professional astronomers are employed in national or government labs. This may involve working for something like National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Naval Research Laboratory, or the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. But what do you do if you are not doing research?
Approximately 10% of astronomers have some sort of industry job. Some work in astronomy industry. This includes companies such as SpaceX, which is working to privatize the space flight industry. Other companies may build satellites or develop remote sensing instrumentation. Some astronomers go into finance or consulting due to their strong math backgrounds. Others may apply what they learned about instrumentation or computer modeling to work in other areas of industry or business.
Astronomers can also go into a career in public education. This may involve being the director of a museum or planetarium, teaching high school classes, or writing popular science articles or books. These astronomers need to have a thorough background in astronomy, and science in general, and also should be able to communicate technical or abstract ideas to the public effectively.
Alternatively, you could be like Brian May and combine astrophysics research with playing guitar and writing songs for Queen. But you should probably find another band to lend your talents to.
Interesting statistics! I find them pretty reassuring actually. It looks like in astronomy we don't have to worry about being forced out of the field due to competition - even though individual positions may be competitive, it looks like most astronomers stay in astronomy.
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