The National Academies have completed their work on the 2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics. Are we alone? - Discover and study planets around other stars, and explore whether they could harbor life.How did we get here? - Explore the origin and evolution of the galaxies, stars and planets that make up our universe.How does the universe work? - Probe the origin and destiny of our universe, including the nature of black holes, dark energy, dark matter and gravity.

NASA's goal in Astrophysics is to 'Discover how the universe works, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around other stars.' Three broad scientific questions emanate from these goals. And we will search for the signature of life on other worlds, perhaps to learn that we are not alone. We are discovering how planetary systems form and how environments hospitable for life develop.

We are starting to investigate the very moment of creation of the universe and are close to learning the full history of stars and galaxies. The science goals of the SMD Astrophysics Division are breathtaking: we seek to understand the universe and our place in it. In the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), the Astrophysics division studies the universe.

What is astronomy