NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory

Listening to the music of the Milky Way

26 September 2020 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have turned the 1s and 0s making up images from three space observatories into sound, allowing them to hear the “music” of the Milky Way.

Chandra shows off multiwavelength “treasure chest of cosmic delights”

7 September 2020 Astronomy Now

Multiwavelength astronomy offers a fresh look at familiar and unfamiliar targets alike.

Chandra X-ray telescope sheds new light on the Tycho supernova remnant

20 October 2019 Astronomy Now

New images from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveal the “lumpy” nature of the Tycho supernova remnant in spectacular detail, providing new insights into the evolution of Type 1a supernovae.

X-ray observations suggest dark energy may be growing stronger

30 January 2019 Astronomy Now

Using quasars as “standard candles,” astronomers say they’ve been able to measure the effects of dark energy back to within a billion years of the Big Bang.

An X-ray ‘cold front’ in Perseus galaxy cluster

29 October 2018 Astronomy Now

A vast cloud of gas being pulled away from the centre of the ancient Perseus galaxy cluster spans an arc stretching some two million light years in an ongoing phenomenon that began five billion years ago.

Gamma ray burst sheds light on gravity wave event

18 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers studying the aftermath of a gamma ray burst say it may represent a new class of events that generate powerful, short-lived jets of energetic particles.

A cosmic winter wonderland

22 December 2016 Astronomy Now

Although there are no seasons in space, this cosmic vista invokes thoughts of a frosty winter landscape. It is, in fact, a region called NGC 6357 where radiation from hot, young stars is energizing the cooler gas in the cloud that surrounds them.

A stellar circle of life near Cygnus X-3

22 November 2016 Astronomy Now

A discovery that provides a new way to study how stars form has been captured in a new portrait from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Smithsonian’s Submillimetre Array (SMA). A cloud that is giving birth to stars has been observed to reflect X-rays from Cygnus X-3, a source of X-rays produced by a system where a massive star is slowly being eaten by its companion black hole or neutron star.

Starvation diet for supermassive black hole dims brilliant galaxy

10 November 2016 Astronomy Now

Astronomers may have solved the mystery of the peculiar volatile behaviour of a supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy known as Markarian 1018 some 590 million light-years away. Combined data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other observatories suggest that the black hole is no longer being fed enough fuel to make its surroundings shine brightly.

Mysterious flaring X-ray objects discovered in nearby galaxies

26 October 2016 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found a pair of extraordinary cosmic objects that dramatically burst in X-rays, flaring up to become about a hundred times brighter in less than a minute, before returning to original X-ray levels after about an hour. This discovery may represent a new class of explosive events found in space.