The Supernova 2011fe (Typ 1a) in the nearby spiral galaxy M101 (distance 27 million light years) was discovered on August 24, 2011 by the Palomar Transient Factory (USA) at a remarkable early stage of the explosion. On our image, SN2011fe is seen as a relatively bright star at about 5 o'clock halfway between the galaxy center and the bottom. It is so bright (approximately 10.5 magnitudes) that the CCD chip was saturated already after an exposure time of 120 seconds. The other stars seen on this picture belong to our galaxy. On average, their distances are between ten thousand and hundred thousand times smaller than the distance to SN2011fe. This composite image was produced by stacking several CCD frames taken through the broad band filters B and V and the narrow band Halpha filter, respectively. The observations were taken with the Tautenburg Schmidt CCD camera on September 3.

The M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy) in the constellation Ursa Major is a bright spiral galaxy at a distance of 27 million light years. Its slightly disturbed structure is caused by the tidal interaction with a neighbouring galaxy. This composite image was produced by stacking several frames taken with the broad band filters B an V and the narrow band Halpha filter, respectively. The ionized gas in the star formation complexes along the spiral arms are clearly visible by their red colours due to the strong Halpha emission. A logarithmic intensity scale was used to highlight the low-surface brightness disk of the spiral galaxy. The observations were taken with the Tautenburg Schmidt CCD camera in April 2007.

The Pinweel-Galaxy (M101) on an image cutout from a digitized blue sensitive photographic plate. Image size: 0.55° x 0.43°.

The Whirlpool-Galaxy (M51) and its companion. The tidal tail from the southern spiral arm of M51 to the companion, caused by gravitational forces between both galaxies, is clearly visible. The colour picture is based on images taken in the blue, a narrow band and infrared pass-band (B, Halpha, I). Nicely visible are the Halpha emission of the star forming regions in the spiral arms (green), high mass stars (blue) and also light absorbing dust clouds (brown filaments). Image size: 0.31° x 0.35°.

The Whirlpool-Galaxy (M51) and its companion taken on a blue-sensitive photographic plate (left) and with the CCD camera in the blue pass-band (right). This comparison perfectly illustrates the different quantum efficiency of photographic plates and CCDs. While the photographic plate was exposed for one hour, the CCD image was taken in only six minutes, but anyhow reveals much more faint structures. Image size: 0.14° x 0.23°, each.

The Triangulum galaxy (M33) is one of our neighbouring galaxies (distance 3 million light years) in the constellation Triangulum. This galaxy belongs to the Local Group of galaxies, as our Galaxy and the Andromeda Nebula do. The pronounced spiral arms exhibit many hot bluesh young stars as well as numerous gaseous nebulae (H II regions, pink colour). The north-eastern arm contains NGC 604 - one of the largest known H II regions in the universe, more than one order of magnitude larger than the famous Orion Nebula. This composite image is based on images taken in the ultra-violet, blue and red (Johnson UBR system). Image size: 0.7° x 1.0°.

The Andromeda Nebula (M31) is the most distant object visible with the naked eye (a faint nebulosity in the constellation Andromeda). This inclined spiral galaxy is 2.5 million light-years away. Its size, mass and structure is similar to our Milky Way galaxy. The picture is based on images taken in the ultra-violet, blue and yellow-green pass-band (Johnson UBV System). Image size: 1.7° x 2.0°

Blow-up of the south-western spiral arm of M31 (marked rectangle in the upper image). A prominent star forming region is clearly visible, containing many young, hot and blue stars. Image size: 0.19° x 0.28°

Inner region of the M81 galaxy group, consisting of the three major galaxies M81 (centre), M82 (upper part) and NGC3077 (left) as well as a number of smaller galaxies. The major galaxies show evidence of tital interaction. M82 is the most famous so-called Starburst Galaxy (a galaxy with an exceptionally high star formation rate). A dwarf galaxy with low surface brightness (Holmberg IX) can be found just left of M81. This composite image was created from images taken in the pass-bands ultra-violet, blue and yellow-green (Johnson UBV system). Image size: 1.8° x 2.0°.

Blow-up of the galaxy M81. Several prominent star forming regions are clearly visible (blue patchy nebulae and blue objects in the spiral arms of M81). Image size: 0.28° x 0.39°.

The interacting galaxy pair NGC4438 and NGC4435 in the centre of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. The image was taken in the blue, yellow-green, and red pass-band (Johnson UBV System) with the 4k x 4k Fairchild CCD486. Image size: 0.15° x 0.16°.

The compact galaxy group Hickson 44 in the constellation of Leo. The bright galaxies (left to right) NGC3193, NGC3190, NGC 3187 and NGC3185 are of different morphologial types. The distorted morphologies of NGC3190 and NGC 3187 clearly indicate gravitational interaction. The image was taken in the blue, yellow-green, and red pass-band (Johnson UBV System) with the 4k x 4k Fairchild CCD486. Image size: 0.22° x 0.22°.

A cutout from the central part of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies, which is the nearest big galaxy cluster and the centre of the Local Supercluster. The image was taken in the blue, yellow-green, and red pass-band (Johnson UBV System) with the 4k x 4k Fairchild CCD486. Image size: 0.89° x 0.88°.

The Perseus Cluster of Galaxies (A426), with a distance of about 300 million lightyears, is one of the nearest clusters of galaxies. The galaxies appear as fuzzy blobs inbetween the foreground stars of the plane of our galaxy. Altogether there are more than hundred galaxies visible in the image. Most prominent is the giant elliptical galaxy NGC1275 (on the left side of the image) in the innermost central region of the cluster. In addition there are numerous bright elliptical and a few spiral galaxies visible, each of them harboring up to hundred billion stars. The image was taken in the ultra-violet, blue and yellow-green pass-band (Johnson UBV System). Image size: 0.7° x 0.5°.

The light of the Quasar QSO171634.5+434954 travelled more than 11 billion years before it reached us (redshift of the spectrum z=1.7). Quasars are among the most distant known objects in the universe. They provide important clues on the development of the Universe over the last billions of years. The shown Quasar was found by the Tautenburg variability and zero proper motion survey due to its significant brightness flucuations over decades (about 0.4mag in the B-pass-band). The Quasar is the blue object in the centre of the image. The blue colour is a typical feature of quasars with redshifts z<3. This picture is based on images taken in the ultra-violet, blue and yellow-green pass-band (Johnson UBV System). Image size: 0.07° x 0.07°.