About the book: 1984 / The book in a popular and entertaining form introduces readers to the most interesting problems of modern astrophysics, with unusual physical objects in space: pulsars, quasars, radio galaxies, black holes, sources of X-ray and gamma radiation, as well as the most interesting questions of modern cosmology. The book talks about new methods of understanding the Universe, about discoveries made in recent years. A special section is devoted to the problem of searching for intelligent life in the Universe. To illustrate the issues of astrophysics, the authors in a number of cases resort to the help of science fiction. Edited by V. M. Charugin.