The purpose of this book is to present important information about the nature of the universe in which we live. Knowledge of the laws of nature offers humankind the only chance of survival in a changing environment. It endows us with the power to achieve whatever we consider our most desirable evolutionary goals. Perhaps most of all, the search for knowledge gives expression to a basic curiosity which appears to be the salient defining characteristic of human beings.

The information about the physical universe that this book tries to convey is highly controversial. Since I believe that the facts are true and important, and since I have firsthand knowledge of the observations, I have undertaken to present the subject in the following book. Actually, this offers the only possibility of discussing this subject in a meaningful way at this time. The reasons for this are the following:

First, the antecedent observations have been published over a span of twenty years in various technical, astronomical journals. In order to construct a coherent picture, these reports need now to be drawn together and related to each other. In the past, it has always been possible to criticize or ignore individual discoveries and avoid the weight of accumulated evidence which a minority of astronomers have felt requires a drastic change in current assumptions about the universe. This book presents an integrated picture of this evidence which it is hoped will be compelling enough to establish the necessity for a new and large step forward in astronomical concepts.