Chandra
Liftoff
July 23, 1999
Still Exploring
Mission Info
The Chandra X-ray Observatory is part of NASA's fleet of Great Observatories. It’s operating orbit takes it 200-times higher than the Hubble Space Telescope. During each 64-hour orbit of the Earth, Chandra travels one-third of the way to the Moon.
Currently the world's most powerful X-ray telescope, Chandra has eight-times greater resolution and is able to detect sources more than 50 times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope. Chandra allows scientists from around the world to obtain extraodinary X-ray images and spectra of violent, high-temperature events and objects to help us better understand the structure and evolution of our universe.
Key Facts
Columbia
Kennedy Space Center, Fl
Chandra is sensitive to X-ray sources 50-100 times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope
The light from some of the quasars observed by Chandra will have been traveling through space for ten billion years.
Mission Images
Mission News
Event Horizon Telescope collaborationSagittarius A*, at the centre of the Milky Way
A trio of NASA telescopes, in conjunction with others on the ground, is helping astronomers learn more about the Milky Way's supermassive black hole. A celestial object that has the mass of 4 million suns but could fit comfortably within the orbit of Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.
