Remarkable discoveries have been made in astrophysics in recent time ranging from the Big Bang and the early Universe, to the Cosmic Microwave Background and its fluctuation spectrum, to measurements of the large-scale structure in the Universe, the existence of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, the discovery of Supermassive Black Holes, and the discovery of planets around other stars. These discoveries have provided some answers to these fundamental questions. Among others, the data revealed a strange Universe dominated by a yet mysterious Dark Energy (~70% by mass) that causes the expansion rate of the Universe to accelerate, followed by a yet undetected exotic (non-baryonic) Dark Matter particles (~25%), with only the remaining ~5% of the universe made up by normal baryonic matter (i.e., stars, galaxies, and gas). New discoveries have also spurred new fundamental questions: What is the nature of the Dark Matter and the Dark Energy? How do planets form around stars? How does life form on planets (the new field of Astro-biology)? How do supermassive black holes form?
