Witness the birth of stars; scan the sky for extrasolar planets; venture near black holes; travel into the realm of galaxies and clusters of galaxies; glimpse the ultimate limits of space thanks to the Hubble Deep Field; gauge the vastness of space with Hipparcos; and finally wonder about the history and future of our mysterious universe. This beautiful large-format book takes us on an exploration of the vast expanse of the universe through the magic of more than 200 incredible photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and the largest telescopes in the world. After describing the great theories of the structure of the cosmos, Brunier describes the latest advances in cosmology in terms that are accessible to everyone. Probing deeper and deeper into space, he delves farther and farther back in time seeking the answer to the question of the origin of the universe, of space, and of time.