Astronomy as a profession is hyper-specialized. What do you study-- planets, stars, galaxies, clusters, cosmology? Oh, if only it were that simple. Say you study stars. It doesn't stop there!
If stars, what wavelength? There's radio, IR, optical, UV, X-ray, gamma-ray, multi-wavelength work. Oh, you study X-ray emission from stars?
What kind of X-ray stars-- single, binaries, compact objects, remnants? You're into binaries?
What kind of binary star X-ray emission-- coronal, accretion disk, Roche lobe overflow?
By the time you pin yourself down as an expert on X-ray emission due to accretion from Roche lobe overflow in equal mass occulting semi-detached double stars, you're neglecting over 99% of astronomy. But for that specific topic, you rule! Woo!
Alex, the daytime astronomer
