The depth of knowledge that astronomers now possess is deep and profound. We have discovered planetary systems outside our own solar system. The resources available to attack these and other problems is prodigious. A number of telescopes are planned that will be devoted to locating and imaging terrestrial planets orbiting around nearby stars. The instrumentation that is and will be available to use with both the space and ground-based telescopes is innovative and in many cases is limited by physics not engineering.
Public interest is almost insatiable for news of the most recent astronomical discovery.
It is almost a daily occurence that some story related to astronomy appears on the front page of major newspapers. NASA and ESA are both expending a major effort on public outreach and introductory astronomy courses are amongst the most popular at universities. The important lesson here is that astronomy is in the process of enormous change and CFHT must now react to this change and position itself to remain at the forefront of astronomical research as it has been for the past 20 years. Our consensus is that there are 5 questions that will provide the strongest intellectual challenge for astronomy over the next few decades and for which real progress can be made given the right mix of instrumentation. All of these themes are linked by the common thread of darkness.