Book excerpt: The second yearbook published by the Astronomische Gesellschaft presents the breadth and depth of current astronomical research. Martin Rees' Schwarzschild Lecture "Is there a massive black hole in every galaxy?" is followed by several extensive surveys of the new research opportunities opening up with the next generation of telescopes, dedicated satellites, and innovative instrumentation. Among others themes, the spectroscopy of SN 198/A, chemically peculiar stars, and extragalactic radio jets are dealt with at length. The volume is rounded off by shorter reviews of up-front research topics ranging from accretion disks and solar physics to cosmic rays and stellar evolution.