astronomer
Americannoun
-
astronomers
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of astronomer
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English; see origin at astronomy, -er 1
Explanation
A scientist who studies the objects in the sky, including planets, galaxies, black holes, and stars, is called an astronomer. These days, the terms astronomer and astrophysicist are used interchangeably, to talk about any physicist who specializes in celestial bodies and the forces that affect them. Astronomers use telescopes and cameras to observe the stars and other objects in the sky, and they often use complicated math to make predictions and solve puzzles about their movements and locations. The Greek root, astronomia, literally means "star arrangement."
Vocabulary lists containing astronomer
Occupations
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Space Science (Astronomy) - Introductory
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astro, aster
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Among the higher-profile entries are “Pete Townshend: Behind Blue Eyes,” a portrait of the Who guitarist and songwriter, and Nanette Burstein’s “Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff,” about the astronomer and science communicator.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
“When you have that level of anxiety over the clouds, it juices the experience,” Elliot Borgman, a 77-year-old retired astronomer from Lansdowne, Penn., told me over breakfast the morning after August’s eclipse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Cambridge has been facing an "astronomer exodus" this summer as they have travelled abroad to see Wednesday evening's total solar eclipse, according to an astrophysicist.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
It was while watching an eclipse on May 29, 1919 on the West African island of Principe that British astronomer Arthur Eddington confirmed Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
This was in fact the method used by a Greek astronomer, Hipparchus of Nicaea, in 150 B.C. to work out the Moon’s distance from Earth.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
In images from 2024, Sánchez-Lavega and amateur astronomers Trevor Barry and Jean-Paul Oger noticed a faint, wavy band near Saturn's south pole.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
That combination will allow astronomers to examine enormous regions of space while also looking far back into cosmic history.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
That should allow astronomers to study enormous numbers of galaxies, stars, and planets in a fraction of the time previously required.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
Its Coronagraph Instrument will block and filter the light from stars so astronomers can study exoplanets and disks around them.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
All over Europe astronomers were obsessed with it—and since they now knew Regiomontanus’s real technique for measuring parallax, they naturally tried to apply it.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
