Hello Visitor!
I am glad you have safely landed at my page. This is the webpage of Florian Rünger. I am a PhD student at the University of Potsdam and study in the field of astrophysics. My research in focused on the circumgalactic medium and its structures. However, I dedicate this webspace also for some projects that I would like to share with the world. Aside from discovering the secrets of the universe, I practice (astro)photography as a hobby from which I compiled a small gallery for which is dedicated the "Astrophotography Corner". In addition, I like to do public outreach at the URANIA Planetarium Potsdam in creating new shows and excite people at all age for the universe.
Recent Stuff
This section is reserved for recent news/updates/happenings that I'd like to share this way.
Stay tuned as this section will experience frequent updates over time ...
Messier 101 - SN2023ixf
20.05.2023
Recently a supernova has been discovered in the Galaxy Messier 101, aka. The Pinwheel Galaxy which is located in the constellation Ursa Major. This image shows the supernova event (indicated with the white cursor) in its early phases. It appears as a bright new light stellar object that - after an initial phase of gaining brightness - will fade into darkness over the next couple of weeks and months. Until then, however, it remains observable with even small amateur telescopes as a new star in one of my absolute favorite grand design spiral galaxies.
At our observatory, we are still monitoring its brightness with the goal to compile an as-continuous-as-possile light curve over the course of the coming days and weeks.
Messier 51 - A Galactic Pair
06.04.2023
This image shows an interacting pair of galaxies of which the larger component is also known as the "Whirlpool Galaxy". This object can be found in the constellation Canes Venatici (CVn) which is best observable at mid-European latitudes during spring season. This image combines the data of three color channels (Red, Green and Blue). The total integration time for this picture is roughly 6 hours allowing the camera to also make small details in the spiral arms visible. For the image's acquisition, a QHY 600M camera on a PlaneWave CDK20 reflector has been used.