Cosmology and the Big Bang 1
1．Thirteen Billion Years in Half an Hour&Bruce A. Bassett 3
2．The Paradigm of Inflation&J. García-Bellido 19
3．Cosmology with Varying Constants&C.J.A.P. Martins 41
4．Small Scales，Big Issues for Cold Dark Matter&Andrew J. Benson 59
5．Violence and Black Holes in the Hearts of Galaxies&Carole G. Mundell 77
Probing the Universe 97
6．First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe Results:Implications for Cosmology and Inflation&Hiranya Peiris 99
7．Quest for Gravitational Waves&B.S. Sathyaprakash 123
8．Strong-Field Tests of Relativistic Gravity with Pulsars&Michael Kramer 143
9．Gamma-Ray Bursts as Cosmological Probes&Nial R. Tanvir 167
10．New Radio Interferometers and Data Access:Investigations of Star Formation&A.M.S. Richards and R.A. Laing 185
Stars and Conditions for Life 207
11．Gamma-Ray Bursts&Davide Lazzati 209
12．Astrophysical Dust&Malcolm Gray 227
13．The Astrophysics of Crowded Places&Melvyn Davies 245
14．Astrochemistry:From Molecular Clouds to Planetary Systems&Andrew Markwick 263
15．Extrasolar Planets&Hugh R.A. Jones and James S. Jenkins 281
Solar System and Climate Change 303
16．Our Solar System&Andrew Coates 305
17．Planetary Upper Atmospheres&Ingo Müller-Wodarg 331
18．The Solar Dynamo&Steven Tobias 355
19．Explosions on the Sun&Louise K. Harra 375
20．Solar Variability,Coupling between Atmospheric Layers and Climate Change&Neil Arnold 391
Index 413