Program essays written by Richard Talcott, Associate Editor for ASTRONOMY magazine.

Where did we come from? The history of cosmology from flat earth to Big Bang: Eratosthenes and Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton,  Edwin Hubble.

Did the universe have a beginning? The Steady-State theory vs. The Big Bang, Albert Einstein, Georges Lemaître, Fred Hoyle, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, cosmic background radiation.

What is the universe and everything in it made of? The creation of matter, the building up of elements in stars.

What is the destiny of the universe? Dark matter, WIMPS, MACHOS, neutrinos.

Are black holes real? Ultraluminous quasars and supermassive black holes, wormholes, and singularities.

Is there a theory that will encompass everything in the known universe? Inflation theory, quantum mechanics, string theory.