This volume contains photographs - some taken from unamanned spacecraft, others from the world's largest telescopes - of neighbouring planets, distant stars and nebulae. Concepts such as black holes and the expanding universe are explained so that the layperson can begin to grasp what they mean. As well as describing the complexity of the universe, the author probes its meaning. How did it all come into being? What does all this immensity signify? Were the ancestors right when they saw the stars as God's messengers?