Dazzling images and clear explanations of the latest discoveries in space by NASA's preeminent artist. What does "dark energy" look like? Or a black hole swallowing an entire solar system? Even our most powerful orbiting telescopes can't see these and many other phenomena that scientists now believe exist. But scientists do know what their theories tell them they should look like. NASA illustrator Dana Berry takes the reader by the hand for a visual tour of the "new" cosmos, outward bound from earth, through the solar system, to the farthest imaginable reaches of space. Drawing on his extraordinary access to NASA and its image bank, as well as Harvard's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, he presents incredible photographs and full-color illustrations of the most stunningly magnificent astronomical phenomena along with clear, up-to-date, and straightforward explanations of the latest space discoveries and theories, from the explosive origins of our own universe to the possible existence of countless others beyond it. 150 color illustrations.