What is the average education level of a professional astronomer?

Ph.D. You can major in astrophysics, or even a general physics undergrad major might be fine if it gets you into an astrophysics program for grad school. If you want to DO interesting astronomy work, without being called and astronomer necessarily, you might be able to study something in computer science or engineering that astronomers need.

NASA for example employs people who are not astronomers but who are scientists and tech experts in fields that they need. MOST astronomy jobs are not at NASA, though, so this is a big longshot.

A person who is paid to be an astronomer most certainly has a Ph.D. In an area of physics related to astronomy. It's possible that technicians who support the work of such professionals may only have a Masters degree.

A professional astronomer would be a person who is able to receive grant money to fund research that will lead to a published peer reviewed paper. In order to have access to grant money and receive time on a high level telescope one would need to be in graduate school working on their PhD. Most professional astronomers teach at an accredited university while conducting research.

Only a week or two of the year is spent at a telescope, and the rest of the year is used to analyze and process the information.

A PhD. That is my impression from watching PBS. Or maybe they only interview PhD astronomers for their programs.

Other than in academic research, there are very few jobs that you could describe as being a professional astronomer. In that case, almost everyone in the field would have a PhD. The normal route would then be to take on a series of Post Doctoral research positions until a tenured position becomes available.

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