Has the universe always been there? Or, was it created some time? What was there before creation? How large is the universe? How and why did the solar system form? Is the solar system going to last for ever? Is the universe static, or has it been evolving? What is going to happen to the universe as a whole in the future? How does science go about finding answers to such questions? These are only some of the questions that the author answers in this little book. Partha Ghose, physicist and one of the country's best known popularizers of modern science, was awarded (jointly with SK Bagchi) the NCSTC's National Award for the Best Science and Technology coverage in the Mass Media in the period 1986-1990. Widely seen and known as anchor person in the widely popular Quest and Eureka shows, Ghose is the author of Riddles in a Teacup and Solar Eclipse: The Celestial Diamond, classics of popular science in India, and the scholarly Testing Quantum Mechanics on New Ground (CUP 1999).