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Supernovas.  Every once in a while, a supernova appears in a bright nearby galaxy. On May 30, 2011, Leo Taylor took the first picture below of Messier 51, the Whirlpool Galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. At that time, there was nothing particularly unusual about its appearance. However, four days later, a supernova exploded in that galaxy, and it was labeled SN2011dh to identify the year and order of appearance. Leo took the second picture below on June 7, 2011, which shows the supernova in the galaxy’s outer spiral arm.

Image by Leo Taylor using a Meade 2080 8-inch SCT and an SBIG ST-4000XCM imager (38 10-minute exposures)

Image by Leo Taylor using a Meade 2080 8 inch SCT and an SBIG ST-4000XCM imager (13 10-minute exposures)