This has been the Year of the Baryon. Some low temperature ones were seen at high redshift, some high temperature ones were seen at low redshift, and some cooling ones were (probably) reheated. Astronomers saw the back of the Sun (which is also made of baryons), a possible solution to the problem of ejection of material by Type II Supernovae (in which neutrinos push out baryons), the production of R Coronae Borealis stars (previously-owned baryons), and perhaps found the missing satellite galaxies (whose failing is that they have no baryons). A few questions were left unanswered for next year, and an attempt is made to discuss these as well.

The year 1999 saw the arrival of a star with three planets, a universe with three parameters, and a solar corona that could be heated at least three ways. In addition, there were at least three papers on every question that has ever been asked in astrophysics, from "Will the Universe expand forever?" to "Does mantle convection occur in one or two layers?" The answers generally were, "Yes," "No," and "None of the above," to each of the questions. The authors have done their best to organize the richness around centers defined by objects, methods, and madnesses.

Five coherent sections appear this year, addressing solar physics, cosmology (with WMAP highlights), gamma-ray bursters (and their association with Type la supernovae), extra-solar-system planets, and the formation and evolution of galaxies (from reionization to assemblage of Local Group galaxies). There are also eight incoherent sections that deal with other topics in stellar, galactic, and planetary astronomy and the people who study them.

During the year, astronomers provided explanations for solar topics ranging from the multiple personality disorder of neutrinos to cannibalism of CMEs (coronal mass ejections) and extra-solar topics including quivering stars, out-of-phase gaseous media, black holes of all sizes (too large, too small, and too medium), and the existence of the universe. Some of these explanations are probably possibly true, though the authors are not betting large sums on any one. The data ought to remain true forever, though this requires a careful definition of "data" (think of the Martian canals).

It was a year in which some topics selected themselves as important through the sheer numbers of papers published. These include the connection(s) between galaxies with active central engines and galaxies with starbursts, the transition from asymptotic giant branch stars to white dwarfs, gamma-ray bursters, solar data from three major satellite missions, and the cosmological parameters, including dark matter and very large scale structure. Several sections are oriented around processes - accretion, collimation, mergers, and disruptions - shared by a number of kinds of stars and galaxies. And, of course, there are the usual frivolities of errors, omissions, exceptions, and inventories.

We bring you, as usual, the Sun and Moon and stars, plus some galaxies and a new section on astrobiology. Some highlights are short (the newly identified class of gam+ma-ray bursts, and the Deep Impact on Comet 9P/Tempel 1), some long (the age of the universe, which will be found to have the Earth at its center), and a few metonymic, for instance the term "down-sizing" to describe the evolution of star formation rates with redshift. © 2006. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific. All rights reserved.

The fastest pulsar and the slowest nova; the oldest galaxies and the youngest stars; the weirdest life forms and the commonest dwarfs; the highest energy particles and the lowest energy photons. These were some of the extremes of Astrophysics 2006. We attempt also to bring you updates on things of which there is currently only one (habitable planets, the Sun, and the Universe) and others of which there are always many, like meteors and molecules, black holes and binaries. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.