Space, the final frontier, is the last and most mysterious realm to challenge the human spirit. One's imagination follows the space probes reaching ever further into the depths of the cosmos, while the mind boggles at the revolutionary concepts conceived by mathematicians and scientists, to fit together the ceaseless flood of new information. Using straightforward language, graphics and up-to-date space imagery, this book tells the story of the universe; its birth, its life and its possible future. It provides extensive coverage of astronomical topics - planets and moons, galaxies and stars, pulsars and quasars, brown stars and black holes, worlds long past and those yet to come. The author's other books include The Practical Astronomer and The Skywatcher's Handbook.