In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation. The Merrian-Webster dictionary's definition of "nonpartisan" is:

Some nonpartisan organizations are truly such; others are nominally nonpartisan but in fact are generally identifiable with a political party.

Today, nonpartisan elections are generally held for municipal and county offices, especially school board, and are also common in the election of judges. The unicameral Nebraska State Legislature is the only state legislature that is entirely officially nonpartisan.

Although elections may be officially nonpartisan, in some elections (usually involving larger cities or counties, as well as the Nebraska Unicameral) the party affiliations of candidates are generally known, most commonly by the groups endorsing a particular candidate (e.g., a candidate endorsed by a labor union would be generally affiliated with the Democratic Party, while a candidate endorsed by a business coalition would be generally affiliated with the Republican Party).

The Karl-Schwarzschild-Observatorium (Karl Schwarzschild Observatory) is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the institute of Thüringer Landessternwarte (Thuringian State Observatory) ’Karl Schwarzschild’ Tautenburg. In 1992 it was acquired by the state of Thuringia. It has the largest telescope in Germany and the largest Schmidt camera of the world (2 metres), which was produced by VEB Zeiss Jena (the branch of Zeiss located in Jena in what was then East Germany). It is located in Tautenburg, Germany (10 kilometres north-east of Jena), was founded in 1960 and named after the celebrated physicist Karl Schwarzschild.

On 5 April 2005 the observatory observed an exoplanet around the star HD 13189.

Geographical location:

Coordinates: 50°58′48.4″N 11°42′40.2″E / 50.980111°N 11.711167°E / 50.980111; 11.711167

Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi ( /pəˈloʊsi/; born March 26, 1940) is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011. She was the first woman to hold the office and to date, has been the highest-ranking female politician in American history.

A member of the Democratic Party, Pelosi has represented California's 8th congressional district, which consists of four-fifths of the city and county of San Francisco, since 1987. The district was numbered as the 5th during Pelosi's first three terms in the House. She served as the House Minority Whip from 2002 to 2003, and was House Minority Leader from 2003 to 2007, holding the post during the 108th and 109th Congresses. Pelosi is the first woman, the first Californian and first Italian-American to lead a major party in Congress. After the Democrats took control of the House in 2007 and increased their majority in 2009, Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House for the 110th and 111th Congresses.

Eva Jacqueline Longoria (born March 15, 1975) is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. Longoria received a nomination for the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance on Desperate Housewives.

Longoria first rose to fame on television for portraying Isabella Braña on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless from 2001 to 2003. She became nationally recognized in the 2000s after appearing in several high-profile advertising campaigns and numerous men's magazines, reaching #14 in the FHM "Sexiest Women 2008" poll, and having appeared on the cover of various international women's magazines including Vogue, Marie Claire and Harper's Bazaar. Longoria has also starred in films such as Harsh Times (2005), The Sentinel (2006) and Over Her Dead Body (2008).

Eva Jacqueline Longoria was born in Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas, the youngest of four daughters born to Mexican-Americans Enrique Longoria, Jr. and Ella Eva Mireles. She was raised Roman Catholic. The Longoria family originated in Spain and has resided in Texas since before the creation of the United States, predating the English-speaking settlers.