Althoughthescientificdisciplineofastronomyhasmadetremendousstridesinunderstandingthe

natureoftheuniverseanditscontents,thereremainsomeimportantunansweredquestions.Answers
tothesemayrequiretheconstructionofnewgroundandspacebasedinstruments,andpossiblynew
developmentsintheoreticalandexperimentalphysics.
Whatistheoriginofthestellarmassspectrum?Thatis,whydoastronomersobservethesame
distributionofstellarmassestheinitialmassfunctionapparentlyregardlessoftheinitial
conditions?
[93]
Adeeperunderstandingoftheformationofstarsandplanetsisneeded.
IsthereotherlifeintheUniverse?Especially,isthereotherintelligentlife?Ifso,whatisthe
explanationfortheFermiparadox?Theexistenceoflifeelsewherehasimportantscientificand
philosophicalimplications.
[94][95]
IstheSolarSystemnormaloratypical?
WhatcausedtheUniversetoform?IsthepremiseoftheFinetuneduniversehypothesiscorrect?
Ifso,couldthisbetheresultofcosmologicalnaturalselection?Whatcausedthecosmicinflation
thatproducedourhomogeneousuniverse?Whyisthereabaryonasymmetry?
Whatisthenatureofdarkmatteranddarkenergy?Thesedominatetheevolutionandfateofthe
cosmos,yettheirtruenatureremainsunknown.
[96]
Whatwillbetheultimatefateofthe
universe?
[97]
Howdidthefirstgalaxiesform?Howdidsupermassiveblackholesform?
Whatiscreatingtheultrahighenergycosmicrays?
Airmass
Astronomer
AstronomicalAcronyms
AstronomyCamp
AstrophysicsDataSystem
Category:Ancientastronomy
Category:Astronomicalobservatories
Category:Astronomyorganizations
Category:Astronomytimelines
Constellation
Cosmogony
Cosmology
ExtragalacticDistanceScale
Glossaryofastronomyterms
InternationalYearofAstronomy
Listofastronomyacronyms
ListofRussianastronomersandastrophysicists
SolarSystem
Spaceexploration
Spacescience
Stellarcollisions
Star
Telescope
Universe:TheInfiniteFrontier(televisionseries)
^Unsld;Baschek(2001)."Introduction".p.1. 1.
^Unsld;Baschek(2001)."I.ClassicalAstronomyandtheSolarSystem".pp.69. 2.
AstronomyWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy
14of21 9/6/20142:52PM