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 7 of 8, Discs 13-14, lectures 73-84. Disc 13. 73. Searching for distant galaxies -- 74. The evolution of galaxies -- 75. Active galaxies and quasars -- 76. Cosmic powerhouses of the distant past -- 77. Supermassive black holes -- 78. Feeding the monster -- Disc 14. 79. The paradox of the dark night sky -- 80. The age of the Universe -- 81. When geometry is destiny -- 82. The mass density of the Universe -- 83. Einstein's biggest blunder? -- 84. The afterglow of the Big Bang.