Related papers: Who are we now?
The mood at this conference is summarized in David Hughes' comment, ``this decade will be amazing.'' We've just had a pretty good ten years of advances in cosmology and extragalactic astronomy; why should we expect a repeat, another decade…
Global citizenship plays an important role in today's schools. Many subjects taught in schools have already incorporated such ideas. Science and physics have also followed suit. However, when dealing with astronomy - a topic so seemingly…
Time domain astronomy has come of age with astronomers now able to monitor the sky at high cadence both across the electromagnetic spectrum and using neutrinos and gravitational waves. The advent of new observing facilities permits new…
Over the last decade, significant attention has been drawn to the gender ratio of speakers at conferences, and many meetings are evolving to better reflect the gender balance of the field as a whole. We find that women are significantly…
Educational research highlights that improved careers education is needed to increase participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Current UK careers resources concerning the space sector, however, are found to…
While both society and astronomy have evolved greatly over the past fifty years, the academic institutions and incentives that shape our field have remained largely stagnant. As a result, the astronomical community is faced with several…
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is one of the largest international astronomy organizations. We present demographic data based on surveys of its members from 2014, 2015 and 2016, during the fourth phase of SDSS (SDSS-IV). We find about…
This paper, the second in a series of two, provides a set of recommendations that the American Astronomical Society (AAS) can take to create a more diverse and inclusive professional society for astronomers, with a focus on women…
The days of the lone astronomer with his optical telescope and photographic plates are long gone: Astronomy in 2025 will not only be multi-wavelength, but multi-messenger, and dominated by huge data sets and matching data rates. Catalogues…
Galaxy redshift surveys have achieved significant progress over the last couple of decades. Those surveys tell us in the most straightforward way what our local universe looks like. While the galaxy distribution traces the bright side of…
Astronomy has played a major part in the development of civilisations, not only through conceptual developments, but most importantly through the very practical gains obtained through the observation of Sun, Moon planets and stars. Space…
For generations, people have complained that things used to be better in the past. In this paper, we investigate this change by specifically looking at creativity in astronomy. To do this,we explore if older constellations reflected a…
The number of astronomers for a country registered to the IAU is known to have a correlation with the GDP. However, the robustness of this relationship can be doubted, because the fraction of astronomers joining the IAU differs from country…
In the coming decade, up to 100 000 satellites in large constellations could be launched into low Earth orbit. The satellites will introduce a variety of negative impacts on astronomy observatories and science, which vary from negligible to…
Stars like company. They are mostly formed in clusters and their lives are often altered by the presence of one or more companions. Interaction processes between components may lead to complex outcomes like Algols, blue stragglers,…
This is a summary of the `Astronomy Perspective' of the 4th meeting on 'Statistical Challenges in Modern Astronomy' held at Penn State University in June 2006. We comment on trends in the Astronomy community towards Bayesian methods and…
Whilst astronomy as a science is historically founded on observations at optical wavelengths, studying the Universe in other bands has yielded remarkable discoveries, from pulsars in the radio, signatures of the Big Bang at submm…
Next-generation radio surveys are about to transform radio astronomy by discovering and studying tens of millions of previously unknown radio sources. These surveys will provide new insights to understand the evolution of galaxies,…
In 2011, the AAVSO conducted a survey of 615 people who are or were recently active in the 101-year old organization. The survey included questions about their demographic background and variable star interests. Data are descriptively…
Astronomy is the study of the Universe and all the objects that it comprises. Our attention is therefore usually focused beyond Earth, home to the only form of life known today. However, how can we continue to explore the secrets of the…