Tonight, the OU and Norman community will have a rare opportunity to hear a distinguished professor who has helped to develop the Hubble Space Telescope, and see the images that he took using Hubble.

Professor C.R. O'Dell, Buchanan Professor of Astrophysics at Rice University, will deliver a public lecture on "The Orion Nebula as viewed by the Hubble Space Telescope" at 7:30 p.m. in 128 Dale Hall.

The Orion Nebula is a gas cloud in our galaxy containing newly formed stars.

O'Dell, who spent about ten years on the Hubble Space Telescope project and devoted research time on Orion Nebula, will reveal "what we are learning about Orion Nebula - in particular about the protoplanetary disc that we are finding around most of the young stars around Orion.

"These systems are what our solar system looked like when it was only one million years old," he said.

The audience will be treated to a slide demonstration of the images of Orion Nebula that O'Dell himself took.

These images will appear in the December issue of National Geographic, in a feature article on the gas cloud.

The lecture will last 45 minutes to an hour.

O'Dell will also answer questions from the audience.

At about 8:45 p.m., following the lecture, the public will be have access to OU's new 16-inch telescope to view the moon and Saturn, weather permitting.

Those who do not wish to attend the lecture may also get to use the telescope at the stated time.

The free lecture is part of the fall lecture and open house series "Friday Night at the Observatory," sponsored by the OU Department of Physics and Astronomy.

For information on the evening call 325-3961