Credit: TRW and NASA/CXC/SAO
The Chandra X-ray Observatory
The Chandra X-ray Observatory is the
third of NASA's "Great Observatories" (the other two being the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma Ray
Observatory). Chandra is designed to make measurements of the
X-radiation emitted by stars, galaxies, black holes, white dwarfs, neutron
stars (and perhaps some as-yet-to-be discovered objects). Chandra was
launched into a
highly elliptical orbit (stretching a third of the way to the moon) by
Space Shuttle Columbia in July of 1999. Chandra contains the best X-ray
mirrors ever devised; the images Chandra will obtain, like
this image of the supernova remnant Cas A, are twenty-five times
sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. This focusing power is
equivalent to the ability to read a newspaper at a distance of half a mile.
The focal plane science instruments, the Advanced
CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS)and the High
Resolution Camera (HRC) are well matched to capture the sharp images
formed by the mirrors and to provide information about the incoming X-rays:
their number, position, energy and time of arrival. Two additional science
instruments, the Low Energy
Transmission Grating (LETG) and the High
Energy Transmission Grating (HETG)provide detailed information about
the X-ray emission energy. These grating arrays can be flipped into the
path of the X-rays just behind the mirrors, where they redirect (or
diffract ) the X-rays according to their energy. The science instruments
have complementary capabilities to record and analyze X-ray images of
celestial objects and probe the physical conditions at high energies with
unprecedented accuracy. Chandra and its instruments were developed and
built by teams at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), the
Marshall Space Flight Center, MIT, Penn State, the Space Research Institute
in the Netherlands and Max Planck Institute in Germany; the prime
contractor was TRW. SAO provides support for the Chandra X-ray Center and
general mission support.
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Page Author: Dr. Michael F.
Corcoran
Last modified May 26, 2001
