They study the universe, or so I'm led to believe by the lasers and telescopes pointed skyward.
The question posed is one with many answers. Not being one who has looked very hard at the cosmos, I can't really answer this to the satisfaction of someone seriously asking such a question. However, I can indeed answer one very similar: what is there for an astronomer to do?
An Astronomer can do many things, things such as
Study the inner machinery of the stars, namely fusion and the creation of atoms heavier than hydrogen and helium.
Study the surface of these stars, the fields created by the swirling masses, and the particles ejected out and away from the star.
Look for new planets, new asteroids, new comets, new star systems, new anything really. Space whales. I'm sure they're out there somewhere.
Destroy years worth of Mn(D)emonic indoctrination by tyrannical K-12 teachers. No Mother, I don't care how Educated you are, we're apparently not allowed to have any Pizza anymore.
Study the age of the Universe.
Look for residue from the big bang
Examine the expansion of space-time and the universe.
Study the weird things that light up our sky with light we can't even see like quasars and gamma-ray bursts from supernova.
Try to look at black holes and ponder what is really going on inside the event horizon.
Astronomers can also try to answer interesting questions:
Why the night sky is dark in a universe filled with trillions and trillions of stars, also known as Olber's paradox, illustrated below.
also:
Why comets have tails.
Whether or not we are alone in the universe.
What causes the Northern lights.
What shapes solar systems and galaxies.
They can do all theses things by making observations of the night sky. Using extremely powerful telescopes both on the earth and above it, they can observe slight movements of stellar objects, perhaps allowing them to determine the gravitational pull or other effects of the neighbors of the objects. Using lasers they can determine atmospheric distortions and adjust their telescopes to account for them, effectively increasing the clarity of the image. Or they could use telescopes in space that don't have to deal with problems involving atmospheric distortion.
There is quite a lot for an astronomer do to. What they actually depends on the person, I'd imagine.
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