When the Chandra X - beam Observatory observe a launch anniversary , it goes big with exploding stars and rotating neutron stars . Today marks 15 years of precision X - ray investigations of stars , galaxies , black mess , neutron stars , and even dark energy . NASA celebrates with supernova and pulsars .
Chandra is a space telescopelaunched on July 23 , 1999 on the Space Shuttle Columbiaas the heaviest load ever carried into orbit by the space shuttle . From low Earth orbit , it was boosted even farther by theInertial Upper Stage , a two - stage projectile . Now the spacecraft moseys along in an elliptical orbit , heading out to more than a third of way to the lunar month at a massive 139,000 kilometers aside from the Earth before swinging back around to skim over just 16,000 kilometers over the major planet . This unco eccentric orbit leave the space vehicle to put in long observing stints unobscured by Earth ’s shadow .
Left : Columbia persuade Chandra into orbit as part of STS-93 . Credit : Huntsville Times / Eric Schultz
The Chandra X - re Observatory lay down up one fourth of NASA ’s fourGreat Observatories , along withHubble Space Telescope , Spitzer Space Telescope , and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory . Originally dreamed up under the name Advanced X - light beam Astrophysics Facility ( AXAF ) , in 1976 , the telescope was rename to observe the late Indian - American Nobel laureate and astrophysicsSubrahmanyan Chandrasekharbefore it ever left the major planet . The scope bares his nickname Chandra , which fittingly translates from Sanskrit as “ moon ” or “ luminous . ” You might recognize his name from astrophysics , as the Chandrasekhar bound is the upper point of accumulation on how monumental white dwarf wizard can be .
https://gizmodo.com/multiple-views-of-galactic-chaos-1563194546
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The spacecraft carries the most powerful X - ray telescope in the world , spying on objects 1/20th as faint as could be detected by the next - dependable scope . It not only has the sensitivity , but also the resolution , as Chandra is capable of resolving to the nearest 0.5 arc second gear . That ’s the combining weight of being able to read a layover mark from over 19 km away , or reading a 1 - cm newspaper headline from 800 meter out .
allow for : X - Ray / Radio / Optical composite of a pulsar ’s inordinately tenacious 37 - brightness year jet . Credit : NASA / CXC / ISDC L.Pavan et al CSIRO / ATNF / ATCA / 2MASS / UMass / IPAC - Caltech / NSF
Common targets for the scope let in jets and accretion discs of black hole , super - dense neutron stars whirling out fingers and band of high vitality particles , supernovaremnants , and thestructure of galaxy clusters . So far , the telescope has identified roughlyhalf a million X - beam beginning , and may have even spottedthe signature of dark matter , although that ’s still under investigating .
https://gizmodo.com/e0102-the-supernova-cylinder-1563206027
https://gizmodo.com/the-cats-eye-planetary-nebula-1563210864
https://gizmodo.com/black-holes-and-neutron-stars-in-the-whirlpool-galaxy-1586060971
https://gizmodo.com/x-rays-in-perseus-may-be-the-signature-of-dark-matter-1595737078
To lionise the15th day of remembrance of Chandra ’s launch , NASA has released a new set of X - beam images for us to ogle : the first pair trace out the expanding debris and shockwaves of supernova remnant , while the second brace highlight the clouds of high - vitality particles produce by pulsars .
Tycho: Shockwaves and Cosmic Rays
Tycho in X - beam light . Shock waves bear on out a cuticle of of gamey - vim negatron [ blue ] and press expanding accelerator from the starring explosion [ red & green ] . icon is 36 light - years across .
Named for the Danish astronomer who first observed it , Tycho is a supernova end 13,000 light years away in Cassiopeia .
provide : 10 - beam of light / optical composite .
The remnant brightly glow in disco biscuit - ray light , vaguely resemble a psychedelic sponge or globby blotto moss . The supersonic explosion of the supernova trigger off two shock wave : one moving out into the interstellar gasolene as a rapidly moving carapace of high - energy negatron , and one shut in on the expanding prima debris . Shock wave like this one might be creditworthy for bombarding our galaxy with the constant rain shower of cosmic rays .
G292.0+1.8: Stardust Building Blocks of the Universe
The chemic composition of this remnant includes atomic number 8 [ yellow & orange ] , magnesium [ green ] , and silicon and S [ blue ] . Image is 66 light - yr across .
The oh - so - catchily - make G292.0 + 1.8 is unusual in that it ’s a local supernova leftover with a whole lot of oxygen . It ’s complexity of structure matches that of its name , bed of wispy color displacing each other in a madden twist of blistering gas .
At 20,000 short years away in Centaurus , G292 is one of just three oxygen - rich supernova in the whole Milky Way . That makes it interesting because supernova like this one are part of why the poetical claim “ We are all made of stardust ” is scientifically accurate : it ’s aprimary source for heavy element . Any constituent heavier than hydrogen and helium was ramp up by stars . Chandra allows us to describe those elements , teasing out the structure of the starfrom the remnant left behind .
https://gizmodo.com/structure-of-a-supernova-1565006075
The Crab Nebula: A Pulsar’s Blizzard of X-Rays
Low - energy [ Red River ] , medium - energy [ green ] and high - free energy X - rays [ blue ] . Image is 8.7 light - years across .
TheCrab Nebulais about 6,500 light years away in the constellation Taurus .
TheCrab Nebulais the nerveless Thomas Kid of galactic phenomena , a painfully pop target for astrophotographysince it exploded in 1054 advert . At the center of the expanding swarm of flatulence is a chop-chop turn out neutron star : a pulsar . The pulsar spews out mellow - Energy Department particle , painting a portrait of varying energy X - ray for Chandra to spy on .
https://observationdeck.kinja.com/crab-nebula-devourer-of-worlds-1482668869
https://gizmodo.com/one-of-the-most-intensively-studied-objects-in-space-ha-5847159
3C58: Pulsar’s Powerful Particles and Fields
crushed - Energy Department [ red ] , medium - energy [ green ] and high - DOE cristal - rays [ blue ] . prototype is 35 short - years across .
3C58 is 10,000 clean years by in Cassiopeia , and is far prettier than its unashamedly bland name .
Fifteen days into its military mission , Chandra is projected to keep on run for years to come even assome of its compatriots are phase out and replaced . As Chandra ’s Project ScientistMartin Weisskopf glows in a jam discharge :
“ Chandra continues to be one of the most successful missions that NASA has ever flown as measure against any metric – cost , schedule , technical success and , most of all , scientific discoveries . ”
Happy birthday , Chandra . I love each new beautiful mystery you present to us as a challenge to understand the intricate working of the universe . May your mirror stay placid , your detectors cool , and your spacecraft steady for many years to issue forth .
icon credits : NASA / CXC / SAO . In each of the composite image , the colour map is the same as for the Chandra X - ray image , plus a layer of optic visible radiation in blanched as visualize by the Deep Sky Survey . Get large resolution versions of any image from this Chandra repository .
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