What specific aspect of data acquisition prevents astrophysicists from controlling phenomena like a chemist?
Answer
The inability to bring objects like a black hole into a laboratory for manipulation.
The critical limitation in astronomy that aligns it methodologically with challenges faced by 'softer' sciences lies in the inability to exert experimental control. A chemist can combine specific substances in a flask under defined temperature and pressure. However, an astrophysicist studying phenomena like black holes or quasars must rely entirely on passive observation. These objects exist naturally, are extremely distant, and cannot be replicated or manipulated in a terrestrial lab setting, meaning the core data must be gathered passively from signals reaching Earth detectors.
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