As a basic science, astronomy does not immediately answer the question of societal beneficiation, however, the pursuit of cutting-edge scientific discovery gifts society with applied technologies. Thanks to CCDs which were first used in astronomy in 1976 on ground-based telescopes, now we have small cameras on our phones capturing every single sad or joyful moment of our lives. Perhaps without them our lives would be a mystery to others and less colourful. More to the point, with the proliferation of telescopes in the country, during science engagement events learners are curious about the skills acquired by astronomers in their quest of becoming specialists. Mind you, some stay within astronomy while others get absorbed by other industries. It is the latter that made us revisit the statement by Dr. Rob Adam during an African Astronomy Society (AfAS) special session at the World Science Forum in December 2022, where in response to the question “Why study astronomy”, he said, astronomy is not simply about training people for a job, instead it is what astronomy does to expand one’s mind.

Spectroscopy skills learned in astronomy are applicable in the medical field. An example is genetic sequencing using high-performance computing to analyse large datasets. Dealing with huge datasets is something familiar in astronomy, and therefore genetic sequencing is not a huge change of pace except for adaptation to a new language domain . In the spirit of not being a one-trick pony, the three astronomers we spoke with enjoy a variety of the arts. Drs. Mguda and Monageng respectively enjoy classical and jazz genres of music. Time signatures and note divisions are mathematical – miss a beat then it all falls apart because harmony and pitch are key to music enjoyment. Dr. Makwela on the other hand uses her photography skills to create art impressions with her images.