Astronomy is the science of studying heavenly bodies like the stars, moon, sun, other planets, and comets. It involves things like calculating the courses of a given comet, studying the patterns and movements of a constellation, the orbits of the moon, calculating the mass of a planet and changes to it made by meteor strikes, etc.
Astronomy at it's deepest level involves large numbers of daunting calculations, but thankfully, for people who simply like stargazing it doesn't have to be that daunting. There are actually thousands of amateur astronomers who take it up as a hobby, simply because they like looking up at the stars.
Most of these people form their own clubs or hobby groups, and take periodic field trips out to study the heavens. Within most of these small groups, there are individuals who specialize in certain areas of expertise. Usually, there is at least one person in the group who has an extensive knowledge of star charts, or access to them. This person is often the one in charge of scheduling the group's field trips to coincide with special occasions like to watch a certain comet pass near the earth, or to view an alignment of two planets.
Within each group, there are also people who pick a favorite subject to view. This may be a special star like a white dwarf, a planet within the solar system, a far away galaxy, or an asteroid belt. Whatever the case, these people often spend most of their time tracking changes and occurences to their favorite subject.
Such attention to detail is actually laudible, and has always been a source of more than half of the information used by universities and government astrological institutions. Often, whenever anything momentous occurs, these people submit their findings to the nearest available appropriate authority, and the people who discovered the occurence are, in some areas, given cash rewards and other incentives for their vigilance.
Astrology hobbyists have also been responsible for the discovery of numerous new, uncharted stars and comets, and similarly when they donate the information they are rewarded. However, in such cases they also have the added incentive that the star or comet in question is named after them. This prestige naturally spreads across the astronomy community as the new discovery is added to all current astrological charts.
Because of the rewards given and the attached prestige for new discoveries, amateur astrologers have always been a source of new information that the more official professional astrologers have traditionally looked to as a valuable set of partners, not simply as hobbyists.
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