[2] The last stop in the nearby universe is the center of our galaxy, site of a black hole four million times the mass of the Sun.

The microwave background radiation is a relic of time when stable atoms first formed and the "fog lifted" in the infant universe.

[5] Reaching back to the time when the universe was as hot as the core of a star, the Big Bang is manifested in the creation of helium.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Manjit Kumar wrote "In clear, enthusiastic and occasionally lyrical prose, Mr. Impey takes the reader on a mind-blowing tour back through eons, stopping along the way to explain the formation of the solar system, the birth and death of stars, white dwarfs, supernovas, spiral galaxies, cosmic inflation, string theory, black holes and M-theory".

[7] Science fiction author Ben Bova said "Chris Impey has achieved the near-impossible: an accurate, up-to-date account of 'the state of the universe' that is told in gripping human terms.