It may be chosen by students who wish to have an astronomy research career or an astronomy background for use in related fields, such as working in national laboratories, observatories, planetariums, NASA, aerospace industry, many computer-related fields, journalism, or science writing to name a few. Astronomy courses can also be customized to satisfy a secondary field for the undergraduate curriculum in General Engineering.

Astronomy students are also encouraged to double major or minor in a second field such as chemistry, computer science, geology, mathematics or physics. Specific programs of study in other areas such as biology, economics, English, history, or journalism for individual students can be designed and periodically updated through mutual discussions between the students and their academic advisers.

The university of illinois is a leading research institution in observational astronomy, theoretical astrophysics, astronomical imaging, and cosmology. The faculty members have access to world class facilities, such as the carma radio telescope array, optical telescopes around the world from arizona to antarctica, space-based telescopes including the hubble space telescope and the chandra x-ray observatory, and state-of-the-art supercomputers at ncsa.