13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (2024)

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Morgan McFall-Johnsen

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (1)

  • NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is one of its most scientifically productive space missions.
  • The telescope has been in space for 25 years, discovering black holes and dark matter.
  • Chandra's best images show how it reveals details that other telescopes can't see.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (2)

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13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (3)

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NASA has been using X-rays to crack the invisible secrets of the universe for decades.

The Einstein Observatory pioneered X-ray astronomy in the late '70s, but the crown jewel of this science field is the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which has been in space for the last 25 years.

Here are some of Chandra's most stunning images and groundbreaking discoveries of the invisible X-ray universe.

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NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has been capturing the invisible universe for 25 years.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (5)

The space telescope launched aboard the space shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999. It was the heaviest payload the shuttle had ever carried.

"Chandra's discoveries have continually astounded and impressed us over the past 25 years," Eileen Collins, commander of that Columbia mission, said in a press release on Monday.

X-rays are not in the visible range of light, but they often point to dramatic events in space.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (6)

X-rays are especially valuable to astronomers because they often come from objects that are extremely hot or events that generate a lot of energy — like the debris flying out from an exploding star, or the superheated material swirling around a black hole.

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Chandra often reveals new details that other telescopes can't see.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (7)

In this image that combines data from the James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra, Webb's observations paint an ethereal picture of the Pillars of Creation, a cloud formation that's constantly birthing new stars.

Chandra's contribution reveals a sea of young stars burning bright in X-rays. These are the multi-colored pinpoints of light scattered across the image.

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Take the bright purple spots in this galaxy, for example. Those are X-ray-emitting objects that Chandra identified.

"Often you get like a gas cloud that's glowing, and then there's this X-ray source in the middle that's pumping the energy into it that's causing it to glow," Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who leads science data systems for Chandra, previously told Business Insider.

"If you don't have Chandra, you can't see that. So you're missing a big part of the story," he said.

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Chandra's X-ray vision revealed that the universe is teeming with black holes.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (9)

Chandra's other landmark achievements include the first-ever direct evidence for the existence of dark matter, which is a completely invisible, mysterious substance that makes up about 27% of the universe.

Chandra was also the first to directly detect colliding neutron stars that were sending ripples in space-time — called gravitational waves — across the universe.

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It also revealed the X-ray emissions from Jupiter's polar lights.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (10)

On Earth, we call them the northern and southern lights, or aurora borealis and australis. They're the dancing, colorful ribbons of light that sometimes appear in polar skies and even occasionally come as close to the equator as Arizona.

The aurora is caused by charged particles from the sun, which create a similar effect on other planet's poles. Chandra spotted the phenomenon on Jupiter.

The image also shows clouds of X-ray emission surrounding the giant gas planet.

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All in all, Chandra has made nearly 25,000 observations.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (11)

It's been one of NASA's most productive astrophysics missions. Scientists have written more than 10,000 peer-reviewed papers based on its data.

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Some of the most stunning photos are collaborations with other observatories, like Webb.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (12)

Joining forces allowed scientists to identify the likely cause of a mysterious structure called the "Green Monster" inside the supernova remnant shown here. You can see it just right of center, where there's a green loop disrupting the blue and red billowing out into space.

Chandra data revealed an association between the Green Monster and the blast wave that shot out from the star when it exploded. They think the blast wave created the Green Monster when it slammed into material surrounding the star.

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Chandra has even turned its gaze to the center of our galaxy.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (13)

In May, astronomers using Chandra discovered a vent releasing hot gas from the center of the Milky Way. They believe the chimney of venting gas might come from eruptions from the galaxy's central supermassive black hole.

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Here's a snapshot of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (14)

Chandra has also revealed that our galaxy's supermassive black hole, called Sagittarius A*, is spinning rapidly.

In fact, Chandra discovered, the black hole is spinning so fast that it's squishing space-time down like a football.

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Chandra may be nearing the end of its mission after drastic budget cuts.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (15)

NASA's 2025 budget request slashed Chandra's funding from $68 million to $41 million. After that, the budget proposes to give the observatory $26.6 million per year until a drastic plummet to $5.2 million in 2029.

Chandra's operating team has said that's just the amount it would need to decommission the telescope and end its operations.

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Chandra is still fully functional, though, and continues to make visually stunning discoveries.

13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (16)

By studying Chandra detections of the X-ray emissions of neutron stars —like the one at the center of this supernova remnant —scientists recently discovered that neutron stars may contain a new type of ultra-dense matter.

Chandra could reveal even more invisible secrets of the cosmos in its remaining years.

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13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe (2024)

FAQs

What is the most powerful NASA launched X-ray telescope? ›

Johnson Space Center. On July 23, 1999, space shuttle Columbia took to the skies on its 26th trip into space, to deliver its heaviest payload ever – the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

What is the most powerful telescope in the world? ›

The Spacecraft

The Webb Space Telescope is the largest, most powerful and most complex telescope ever launched into space . It's design and development history stretches back before the Hubble Space Telescope was launched.

Why do powerful telescopes give us a picture of the universe long ago? ›

Very distant galaxies are billions of light-years away. At that distance, their light tells what the universe was like billions of years ago. Since the age of the universe is about 13.8 billion years, these distant observations allow astronomers to measure changes over the lifetime of the universe.

Is the Chandra X-ray observatory still in space? ›

But one technological success – Chandra – is still going strong, and still so powerful that it can read a stop sign from 12 miles away." The mission, which was initially designed to last five years and then extended to at least 10, still has a decade of life left.

Is Webb more powerful than Hubble? ›

Webb's larger primary mirror has six times the light-gathering power of Hubble's primary mirror. This is important at the longer, dimmer wavelengths of light Webb looks at. Hubble can see some infrared wavelengths, but it was optimized to see shorter ultraviolet and visible light.

What is the biggest telescope future? ›

The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is an astronomical observatory under construction. When completed, it will be the world's largest optical/near-infrared extremely large telescope. Part of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) agency, it is located on top of Cerro Armazones in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.

How far back in time can we see? ›

We can see light from 13.8 billion years ago, although it is not star light – there were no stars then. The furthest light we can see is the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which is the light left over from the Big Bang, forming at just 380,000 years after our cosmic birth.

How far back in time can the James Webb telescope see? ›

For me, and for thousands of space scientists, the James Webb Space Telescope is a window to that unknown universe. Just how far back can JWST peer into the cosmos and into the past? About 13.5 billion years.

How far can the most powerful telescope see? ›

The most powerful telescopes on Earth and in space can see objects billions of light-years away, such as galaxies and quasars. The Hubble Space Telescope, for example, has observed galaxies that are more than 13 billion light-years away.

Are we looking back in time in space? ›

When astronomers view an object 3000 light years away, they are looking at light that left that celestial object 3000 years ago. Hence they are looking at history or back in time.

Which telescope can see back in time? ›

Webb is able to see what the universe looked like around a quarter of a billion years (possibly back to 100 million years) after the Big Bang, when the first stars and galaxies started to form.

Can we see the birth of the universe? ›

Existing technology doesn't yet allow astronomers to literally peer back at the universe's birth, much of what we understand about the Big Bang comes from mathematical formulas and models. Astronomers can, however, see the "echo" of the expansion through a phenomenon known as the cosmic microwave background.

What is the #1 cool fact about Chandra? ›

The Chandra, which is named after Nobel prize winner Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, orbits up to 200 times higher above Earth than the Hubble—about a third of the distance to the moon! Chandra is the third in NASA's series of four great observatories designed to explore the universe from Earth's orbit.

Is there still a space station in space? ›

As of 2024, two stations are orbiting Earth with life support system in place and fully operational.

How does the Chandra X-ray communicate with Earth? ›

After carrying out the planned observations, the Chandra spacecraft transmits scientific data and monitoring information to the OCC, via the Deep Space Network, approximately every eight hours.

What is the name of the X-ray telescope launched by NASA? ›

the fleet of "Great Observatories." NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is a telescope specially designed to detect X-ray emission from very hot regions of the Universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and matter around black holes.

Which new NASA telescope will provide X-ray views of the universe? ›

It launched on Sept. 6, 2023. It's designed to detect X-rays with energies up to 12,000 electron volts and will study the universe's hottest regions, largest structures, and objects with the strongest gravity. For comparison, the energy of visible light is 2 to 3 electron volts.

What telescope will be 10 times more powerful than the Hubble? ›

Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)

The GMT, set to be complete in 2029, could produce images 10 times clearer than Hubble.

How powerful is NASA telescope? ›

It can detect objects up to 100 times fainter than Hubble can, and objects much earlier in the history of the universe, back to redshift z≈20 (about 180 million years cosmic time after the Big Bang).

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