Nebula

A nebula (Latin for "cloud"; pl. nebulae, nebulæ, or nebulas) is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases. Originally, nebula was a name for any diffuse astronomical object, including galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy, for instance, was referred to as the Andromeda Nebula (and spiral galaxies in general as "spiral nebulae") before the true nature of galaxies was confirmed in the early 20th century by Vesto Slipher, Edwin Hubble and others.

Most nebulae are of vast size, even hundreds of light years in diameter. Although denser than the space surrounding them, most nebulae are far less dense than any vacuum created in an Earthen environment – a nebular cloud the size of the Earth would have a total mass of only a few kilograms. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the "Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula. In these regions the formations of gas, dust, and other materials "clump" together to form larger masses, which attract further matter, and eventually will become massive enough to form stars. The remaining materials are then believed to form planets and other planetary system objects.

Tonight

Tonight may refer to:

Music

Albums

Chris Jay

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Chris Jay is a musician, songwriter, producer, screenwriter, journalist and actor best known as the frontman and founder of the rock band, Army of Freshmen.

Background/Army of Freshmen

Chris Jay was born Chris Jurewicz in Cape May, New Jersey. He attended high school at Lower Cape May Regional where his parents were both music teachers. They also owned and operated a small music store, Mr. J’s Music Shop in North Cape May, New Jersey which was connected to Jay's childhood home. He formed his first band, Yclept, while still in high school and performed throughout South Jersey including opening for one of his heroes, Arlo Guthrie, a show which the 16-year-old Jay booked and promoted himself. Upon graduation, he moved, by himself, to Ventura, California where he formed the band, Army of Freshmen in 1997. Army of Freshmen are still active and have played over 1,500 shows in 43 states and 11 countries and released 5 full-length albums. Jay himself has been involved in the writing, producing and recording of over 1,500 songs, with several of those appearing in films and on television.

Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990, and remains in operation. With a 2.4-meter (7.9 ft) mirror, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra. The telescope is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble.

Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to take extremely high-resolution images with negligible background light. Hubble has recorded some of the most detailed visible-light images ever, allowing a deep view into space and time. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.

Although not the first space telescope, Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST was built by the United States space agency NASA, with contributions from the European Space Agency, and is operated by the Space Telescope Science Institute. The HST is one of NASA's Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Space observatory

A space observatory is any instrument (such as a telescope) in outer space that is used for observation of distant planets, galaxies and other outer space objects. The first such space observatory was the Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990. Space observatories avoid many of the problems of ground observatories, such as light pollution and the filtering and distortion of electromagnetic radiation (scintillation).

This category is distinct from other observatories located in space that are pointed toward Earth for the purpose of reconnaissance and other types of information gathering.

History

In 1946, American theoretical astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer was the first to conceive the idea of a telescope in outer space, a decade before the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik 1.

Spitzer's proposal called for a large telescope that would not be hindered by Earth's atmosphere. After lobbying in the 1960s and 70s for such a system to be built, Spitzer's vision ultimately materialized into the Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched on April 24, 1990 by the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-31).