The proceedings of the XXVIIth ESLAB symposium presents a comprehensive review of the status of astrophysics and cosmology today. The book provides an insight into the current and future fundamental problems which will be addressed by scientists in the 21st century. The accomplishments of the golden decades, in which many new observing windows have been opened to all astronomers through space exploration, the 4-metre class ground telescopes and interferometric techniques at radio wavelengths, are highlighted concisely. The state of our theoretical understanding of the Universe, extending from the nearby interstellar medium (the Solar Bubble) out to the very early stages of the Universe, and the importance of gravitational lenses are illustrated in lucid reviews. A set of colour pictures from recent experiments illustrates the future of observational astronomy. The reviews are comprehensive and are at a level suitable for professional astronomers who want to remain informed about the fields beyond their specialties, for students at graduate and undergraduate level, as well as for decision makers who need to understand the importance of the scientific challenges which will require support in the future.