What is the Chandra X-Ray Observatory?
The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a space telescope designed to detect x-ray sources in outer space. It is part of NASA’s Great Observatories program, which includes the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. The Chandra X-ray Observatory is named after the Indian-American physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who worked out the mass limit for white dwarfs to become neutron stars. The concept of a space telescope was first articulated in the 1940s, shortly after the end of WWII. It was not until the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 that this was finally realized. Chandra was launched in 1999, the third of the Great Observatories to be put into operation. Because the atmosphere absorbs the majority of x-rays, Chandra is in a unique position to do x-ray astronomy. X-rays are produced in abundance by energetic astronomical objects and phenomena, such as black holes, neutron stars, and supernovae. Chandra has looked into the cente
It is a 4 1/2 story telescope observatory that was launched by the recent space shuttle, Columbia, to orbit the Earth about a third of the distance to the moon. Chandra’s improved sensitivity will make possible more detailed studies of black holes, supernovas, and dark matter and hopefully add to our understanding of where planet Earth came from and where it’s going. It’s a large piece of equipment, but operates on only 2 kilowatts of electricty–about the same as a hair dryer. Ratzlaff says that “Chandra helps us study the high energy, violent processess of the universe.” Thanks Pete, for helping to monitor what’s going on out there!
