Astronomer

An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who studies stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies, as well as many other celestial objects — either in Observational astronomy, in analyzing the data or in theoretical astronomy. A related but distinct subject, cosmology, is concerned with studying the Universe as a whole. An astronomer researches the world beyond Earth.

Academic

Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using physical laws. Today, that distinction has mostly disappeared and the terms "astronomer" and "astrophysicist" are interchangeable. Professional astronomers are highly educated individuals who typically have a PhD in physics or astronomy and are employed by research institutions or universities. They spend the majority of their time working on research, although they quite often have other duties such as teaching, building instruments, or aiding in the operation of an observatory.

Astronomer (comics)

The Astronomer (Seginn Gallio) is a fictional character, an ancient alien appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. He is one of the Elders of the Universe. His first appearance was in Silver Surfer (Vol.3) #4.

Fictional character biography

Long ago, the Astronomer chose to dedicate himself monomaniacally to chronicling the slow evolution of the stars and galaxies themselves. He long ago lost interest in living beings.

List of Wild Cards characters

This is a list of characters from the Wild Cards book series.

Major

Astronomer

The Astronomer is a character from the Wild Cards series of books. He first appeared in the short story "Pennies from Hell" by Lewis Shiner in Wild Cards II: Aces High, though his presence was earlier implied in "The Long, Dark Night of Fortunato" in the first volume of the series. Leader of a cult consisting mainly of superhuman aces and deformed jokers known as the Egyptian Freemasons. The Astronomer planned to conquer the world in the aftermath of an invasion by fungoid aliens called the Swarm. Unknown to him, the Shakti device of the Egyptian Freemasons lacked a power source and was designed to contact an alien organization, the Network. Once his plans were foiled, the Astronomer lived only for revenge.

The Astronomer is an old man (born in 1925), who has thinning white hair, wears glasses and is best described as "mole-like"; he is also noted as having a disproportionately large head, the upper part of which enlarges further when he is fully empowered. He has wiped his own memory of all events prior to becoming the Astronomer. The Astronomer usually uses a wheelchair, although the proper use of his Ace powers can allow him to walk. The Astronomer practices a horrific form of death magic, gaining immense energy through the ritualistic slaying of his victims (usually young women). He greatly enjoys having Demise slowly kill the victims, taking their suffering from projected death as his energy source.