Lectures designed to provide a non-technical description of modern astronomy, including the structure and evolution of planets, stars, galaxies, and the universe as a whole. The new discoveries reported in the 2003 course are integrated and recent findings (through mid-2006) are included.

Part 1 of 8, Discs 1-2, lectures 1-12. Disc 1. 1. A grand tour of the cosmos -- 2. the rainbow connection -- 3. Sunrise, sunset -- 4. Bright objects in the night sky -- 5. Fainter phenomena in the night sky -- 6. Our sky through binoculars and telescopes -- Disc 2. 7. The celestial sphere -- 8. The reason for the seasons -- 9. Lunar phases and eerie lunar eclipses -- 10. Glorious total solar eclipses -- 11. More eclipse tales -- 12. Early studies of the solar system.