Chandra X-Ray Observatory

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory, named for Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, has proven to be the most powerful X-ray observatory ever built.
 
NASA considers the Chandra X-ray Observatory part of its fleet of "Great Observatories," along with familiar projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. While the Hubble gets credit for telling scientists more about the age of the universe, Chandra is credited with unlocking mysteries surrounding the formation of the universe.

Facts on Chandra

The Space Shuttle Columbia deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory in July 1999. It was the space shuttle's largest, heaviest payload.
 
The Chandra mission was the first shuttle mission to be commanded by a woman, Eileen Collins. While this mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages Chandra. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., conducts daily flight and science operations of Chandra.

How Chandra Works

Chandra, which also means "moon" in the Sanskrit language, explores the far reaches of space through the use of X-ray imaging. X-ray telescopes enable astronomers to detect and record phenomena that are billions of light years from Earth. Some of these detectable phenomena include:
  • cooler astronomical objects, such as Earth, that emit infrared radiation
  • super-hot objects millions of degrees in temperature, such as supernovas, that emit energy in the form of X-rays.
Since Earth's atmosphere absorbs X-rays, telescopes that use X-ray measurements instead of advanced optics must operate from space. Chandra's 64-hour orbit of Earth takes it nearly a third of the way to the moon, which puts Chandra almost 200 times higher than the Hubble telescope's orbit, according to NASA.

The Chandra Telescope

Chandra's mission is to explore extremely hot, explosive areas in space, such as the remainders of exploded stars. The telescope captures X-ray radiation with a precision that was previously unattainable. The detail the Chandra X-ray Observatory brings to its explorations enables scientists to more clearly understand the birth, growth and future of the universe.

Chandra provides images that are 25 times sharper than other X-ray telescopes. This kind of imaging enables scientists to study such things as dark matter and black holes in much greater detail, leading to a much deeper understanding of the universe.

Chandra's power to focus is approximately equivalent to a human's ability to read a newspaper from half a mile away. The mirrors used in this telescope are the most smooth and precisely shaped mirrors ever made. NASA says that if the Earth was as smooth as one of Chandra's mirrors, the tallest mountains would be just over 5 feet tall.

Remarkably, Chandra's telescope and spacecraft operate with just 2 kilowatts of power, which is about the same amount of power used to operate a hair dryer.

Chandra's Mission and Achievements

Chandra continues to transmit important information about the structure of galaxies even past its initial five-year mission. The mission will likely extend to as many as 10 years, which puts its end date sometime during 2009.

One of its first discoveries was a ring around the Crab Nebula. The ring, the remnants of a stellar explosion, revealed clues as to how nebulas draw energy from collapsed stars.

One of Chandra's latest images came in July 2007. The Chandra X-ray Observatory discovered that massive black holes grew more quickly in clusters of young galaxies, tremendously influencing the galaxies in which they grow.

Scientists saw younger, more distant galaxies possessed more of these quick-growing, incredibly massive black holes called active galactic nuclei (AGN). Closer, older galaxies contained far fewer AGN. This discovery by the Chandra X-ray Observatory helped confirm theories about galaxy clusters. In turn, this has answered more questions about the universe, such as why blue, star-forming galaxies are more prevalent in younger, far-away clusters.
 
Resources
 
Chandra X-Ray Center (2008). About Chandra. Retrieved February 7, 2008, from the Chandra X-Ray Center Web site.
 
NASA (2008). Chandra: Exploring the Invisible Universe. Retrieved February 7, 2008, from the NASA Web site.
 
Spaceflight Now (2007). Chandra Observatory Catches "Piranha" Black Holes. Retrieved February 7, 2008, from Spaceflight Now Web site.