astronomy-figure-is-the-unit-of-result

# Astronomy: the figure is the unit of result, and nothing is reported pooled Draft your figure list before your analysis list. In observational astronomy the result is delivered as a figure a reader can lay beside the published one: the same quantities on both axes, the same log or linear scaling, the same decade span, the full family of competing models or method variants overlaid on one set of axes, the decision threshold drawn as a labelled line, and a caption stating the numbers a reader would otherwise have to read off the plot (N, median, confidence level, how many points fall each side of the line). A result that is scientifically equivalent but visually reorganised, or that exists only as a table or a sentence, will not be recognised as that result. Nothing is reported only as an aggregate. Break every quantity down by the sub-population the data physically distinguish, per object, per source class, per component index, per bin of the independent variable, quantify the trend across that index, and say which component dominates the budget and by what factor. Where several independent indicators, models or approximations exist for one quantity, put them all on a single axis and quantify their disagreement; where two independent routes measure the same object, state the consistency with a significance. Present the result as a curve over the scanned variable across its full plausible range, log axes when it spans decades, and state the interval over which the claim ac...