– NASA released dozens of never-before-seen images from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory telescope in honor of its 25th anniversary launch.
– The images show a range of cosmic phenomena like supernova remnants, nebulae thousands of light years away, and the center of the Milky Way galaxy. They are some of the approximately 25,000 images collected by Chandra over its lifetime.
– Some of the images required thousands of hours of observation time, such as one of the Milky Way center which took 64 days and 370 observations over 20 years.
– The images show nebulae in vivid colors like red, purple and bright gases revealed by x-rays. They include the Eagle Nebula, Crab Nebula, and Cassiopeia A supernova remnant.
– Chandra uses extremely smooth mirrors to focus faint x-rays to a precision half the width of a human hair. Its unique elliptical orbit allows observations not possible from Earth orbit.
– The telescope has made several discoveries in its 25 years like the oldest black hole and evidence for dark matter, revolutionizing astronomers’ understanding of the universe.
Source: USA TODAY
