Chandra X-ray Observatory

space telescope · X-rays · astronomy

Launched in space. Chandra blasted off aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, and is still working today more than 25 years later.

Sees invisible light. Earth's atmosphere blocks X-rays, so Chandra orbits in space to detect these invisible rays coming from extremely hot things like exploded stars and black holes.

Super sharp vision. Chandra can see X-ray sources 100 times fainter than any telescope before it, thanks to special mirrors that focus X-rays with amazing precision.

Long, loopy orbit. Chandra takes 64 hours to complete one orbit around Earth, which is much longer and different from most other satellites.

Named after a genius. The telescope is named after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, an Indian-American scientist who won the Nobel Prize for his discoveries about stars.