http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~dforbes/mercury.pdf
Article: “So you want to be a professional astronomer.”
Tips from Duncan Forbes, a real astronomer from Swinburne University, on how to become a professional astronomer. First published in Mercury magazine, in Spring, 2008.
Tips include: getting an undergraduate Bachelor’s university degree in physics, astronomy, maths or engineering,
getting a PhD degree on astronomy from university,
Do your PhD degree at a different university from the university you completed your undergraduate degree. This can help you learn different information about astronomy and looks better on your resume.
selecting a supportive and intelligent PhD supervisor,
publishing your own papers in an academic journal,
Running a spellchecker through your articles before submitting them for publication,
Do not ask people to be your job references the day before, during or after your job interview,
and it’s good to continue talking about your articles at astronomy conferences.
Pros: it’s a fun job, with many travel opportunities, and you can dress casually.
Cons: there’s a very small number of jobs available and many people competing for astronomer jobs. Astronomers may end up working long hours (more than forty hours per week) depending on the job.
Duties: administration, writing computer code for software programs, finance, teaching people about astronomy, asking for grants (money from the government or other organisations) to support your work, and hours of writing and researching papers.
Where do astronomers work?
In planetariums, museums, for government agencies, NASA, and universities.