There was no "before" the beginning of our universe, because once upon a time there was no time.

There is no reason that the universe should be designed for our convenience.

If all the stars and galaxies in the universe today were smoothed out into a uniform sea of atoms, there would only be about one atom in every cubic meter of space.

Some things are as they are regardless of what they were.

Once upon a time when there was no time.

Apparently, a great deal of dark, unseen material exists, whose gravitational pull is responsible for the motions of the stars and galaxies that we see.

There are only certain intervals of time when life of any sort is possible in an expanding universe and we can practise astronomy only during that habitable time interval in cosmic history.