Origins: How the Planets, Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe Began

In the last decade, there has been a revolution in observational astronomy, which has meant that we are very close to answering three of the four big 'origin questions', of how the planets, stars, galaxies, and the universe itself were formed. This book, written in an accessible way by a scientist working in this field, describes this revolution. The one question for which we still do not have an answer is the question of the origin of the universe. Within the last four years, astronomers have discovered that the universe is geometrically flat and that its expansion is accelerating, fuelled by a mysterious dark energy. In the final chapter, the author looks at the connection between science and philosophy and shows how new scientific results have laid the groundwork for the first serious scientific studies of the origin of the universe. This book will be easily understood by anyone with an amateur astronomer's level of understanding of the subject - no math needed!