Cosmology is concerned not so much with individual stars or galaxies in their own right, but rather with the properties of the Universe as a whole: its origin, evolution and eventual fate.

Cosmologists work to understand how the Universe came into being, why it looks as it does now, and what the future holds. They make astronomical observations that probe billions of years into the past, to the edge of the knowable Universe. They seek the bases of scientific understanding, using the tools of modern physics, and fashion theories that provide unified and testable models of the evolution of the Universe from its creation to the present, and into the future.