What does it mean to be an Astronomer?

Being an Astronomer, like other scientists, means gathering in large groups with other like-minded people and talking about how smarter we are than everyone else. It's very important for us to do this; as it pumps us up and makes us ready for long, grueling days of research. And when we take breaks, we support the economy by buying coffee from humanities majors so they then can go and buy Apple products.

But seriously.

Astronomy was probably the first branch of science. Starting out as pure observation, people thousands of years ago looked up at the night sky in wonder and awe and felt that burning desire to figure out what all those bright little dots were. What are they made of? How far away are they? As our observations got keener, we found out that many of those bright dots were stars just like our own, and eventually, that our own sun wasn't even special.

Observing the night sky opened up all sorts of questions for humanity. It lead to many answers as well. Since our early days, we've figured out how the Earth and other planets move around the Sun, how the Solar System is part of a large collection of solar systems, how galaxies can interact with each other, and even some damn good theories about how the universe was born. And once we started figuring that stuff out, we began wondering about everything else here on earth, from how certain chemicals can react, how to breed crops to yield more food, even how our brains work.

Carl Sagan said that the greatest thing his mother instilled in him was his sense of wonder. To me, that's the greatest part about humanity: the never ending desire to know.