Data Sonification: Carina Nebula (All) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-10-18 | Data Sonification: Carina Nebula (All)
Tour: Black Hole Destroys Star and Goes After Another Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-10-09 | A massive black hole has torn apart one star and is now using that stellar wreckage to pummel another star or smaller black hole that used to be in the clear. This discovery, made with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes, helps astronomers link two mysteries where there had previously only been hints of a connection.In 2019, astronomers witnessed the signal of a star that got too close to a black hole and was destroyed by the black hole’s gravitational forces. Once shredded, the star’s remains began circling the black hole in a disk in a type of stellar graveyard.Over a few years, however, this disk has expanded outward and is now directly in the path of a star, or possibly a stellar-mass black hole, orbiting the massive black hole at a previously safe distance. The orbiting star is now repeatedly crashing through the debris disk, about once every 48 hours, as it circles. When it does, the collision causes bursts of X-rays that astronomers captured with Chandra.Like a diver repeatedly going into a pool and creating a splash every time she enters the water, the star striking the disk creates a huge ‘splash’ of gas and X-rays. As the star orbits around the black hole, it does this over and over again.Scientists have documented many cases where an object gets too close to a black hole and gets torn apart in a single burst of light. Astronomers call these “tidal disruption events,” or TDEs. In recent years, astronomers have also discovered a new class of bright flashes from the centers of galaxies, which are detected only in X-rays and repeat many times. These events are also connected to supermassive black holes, but astronomers could not explain what caused the semi-regular bursts of X-rays. They dubbed these “quasi-periodic eruptions,” or QPEs.This discovery gives astronomers evidence that TDEs and QPEs can be different phases of the same phenomenon. In addition to Chandra, the researchers used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, NICER telescope aboard the International Space Station, and the Neil Gehrels Swift Telescope. Astronomers will continue to look for more of these events to learn more about how black holes grow, and to study the prevalence and distances of objects in close orbits around massive black holes.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/tde
Quick Look: Black Hole Destroys Star and Goes After Another Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-10-09 | A giant black hole has torn apart a star and now may be going after another one.The expanding debris field is pummeling an object as it orbits the black hole.This result links two cosmic mysteries scientists were not sure to be connected.Astronomers used NASA’s Chandra and other telescopes to make this discovery.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/tde
Tour: Chandra Finds Galaxy Cluster That Crosses the Streams Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-09-19 | Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have found a galaxy cluster has two pairs of streams of superheated gas crossing one another. This result shows that, unlike a famous line from a popular series of movies, crossing the streams does not necessarily end in disaster. In fact, it may lead to the creation of new structures.Researchers have discovered a pair of enormous, comet-like tails of hot gas — spanning over 1.6 million light-years long — trailing behind a galaxy within the galaxy cluster called Zwicky 8338, or Z8338 for short. This tail was spawned as the galaxy had some of its gas stripped off by the hot gas it is hurtling through.What makes this remarkable is that this is the second pair of tails trailing behind a galaxy in this system. Previously, astronomers discovered a shorter pair of tails from a different galaxy nearby to this latest one. This newer and longer set of tails was only seen because of a deeper observation with Chandra that revealed the fainter X-rays.Astronomers also found evidence that the streams trailing behind the speeding galaxies have crossed one another, causing the shorter pair of tails to be detached from the galaxy they are trailing.These galaxies are in motion because they were part of two galaxy clusters that collided with each other to create Z8338. This makes Z8338 a chaotic landscape of galaxies, superheated gas, and shock waves, which are similar to sonic booms created by supersonic jets.Why is this important? Z8338 is helping to teach astronomers how these galaxy clusters, which are some of the biggest objects in the Universe held together by gravity, evolve over time. More specifically, this result gives them information about how the galaxies that are part of the cluster interact. This includes how this complex system can allow new stars, planets, and other structures to grow in the future.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/z8338
Quick Look: Chandra Finds Galaxy Cluster That Crosses the Streams Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-09-19 | A galaxy cluster has two streams of superheated gas crossing each other.Unlike in the movies, crossing the streams in this cluster does not end in disaster.These streams come from galaxies hurtling through the cluster at high speeds.NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory captured this chaotic scene in X-ray light.More: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/z8338
Data Sonification: Cassiopeia A (Optical Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | Sonification Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9/
Data Sonification: NGC 6872 (Optical Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | Sonification Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9/
Data Sonification: 30 Doradus (Infrared Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | Sonification Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9/
Quick Look: New NASA Sonifications Listen to the Universes Past Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | Listen to these images in celebration of 25th anniversary of Chandra’s “First Light”.Sonification is a process that translates data from telescopes into sounds.These new sonifications include a supernova remnant, a nebula, and a galaxy.The Chandra X-ray Observatory has been exploring the Universe since 1999.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9
Data Sonification: 30 Doradus (X-ray Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | Sonification Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9/
Data Sonification: 30 Doradus (Composite) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | 30 Doradus is one of the largest and brightest regions of star formation close to the Milky Way. This sonification combines X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with infrared data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). X-rays from Chandra, which reveal gas that has been superheated by shock waves generated by the winds from massive stars, are heard as airy synthesizer sounds. Meanwhile, JWST’s infrared data show cooler gas that provides the raw ingredients for future stars.Sonification Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9/
Data Sonification: Cassiopeia A (Infrared Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | Sonification Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9/
Data Sonification: NGC 6872 (X-ray Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | Sonification Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9/
Data Sonification: Cassiopeia A (X-ray Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | Sonification Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9/
Data Sonification: Cassiopeia A (Composite) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | This sonification of Cas A features data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory as well as NASA’s James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes. The scan starts at the neutron star at the center of the remnant, marked by a triangle sound, and moves outward. X-ray data from Chandra are mapped to modified piano sounds, while infrared data from JWST, which detects warmed dust embedded in the hot gas, have been assigned to various string and brass instruments. Stars that Hubble detects are played with small cymbals.Sonification Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9/
Data Sonification: NGC 6872 (Composite) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | The large spiral galaxy called NGC 6872 has two elongated arms stretching to the upper right and lower left. Just to the upper left of NGC 6872 appears another smaller spiral galaxy. These two galaxies, each of which likely has a supermassive black hole at the center, are being drawn toward one another. X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, represented in sound by a wind-like sound, show multimillion-degree gas that permeates the galaxies. Meanwhile Hubble Space Telescope data reveal the galaxy’s spiral arms and background stars as low drone sounds and soft plucks and cymbals.Sonification Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9/
Tour: New NASA Sonifications Listen to the Universes Past Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-26 | A quarter of a century ago, the “First Light” images from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory were released to the public. This introduction to the world of Chandra’s high resolution X-ray imaging capabilities included an unprecedented view of Cassiopeia A, the remains of an exploded star located about 11,000 light-years from Earth. Over the years, Chandra’s views of Cassiopeia A have become some of the telescope’s best-known images.To mark the anniversary of this milestone and celebrate what discoveries are to come, new sonifications of three images — including Cassiopeia A (Cas A) — are being released. Sonification is a process that translates astronomical data into sound, similar to how these digital data are more routinely turned into images. This translation process preserves the science of the data from its original digital state but provides an alternative pathway to experiencing the data.This sonification of Cas A features data from Chandra as well as NASA’s James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes. The scan starts at the neutron star at the center of the remnant, marked by a triangle sound, and moves outward. X-ray data from Chandra are mapped to modified piano sounds, while infrared data from JWST, which detects warmed dust embedded in the hot gas, have been assigned to various string and brass instruments. Stars that Hubble detects are played with small cymbals.30 Doradus is one of the largest and brightest regions of star formation close to the Milky Way. This sonification again combines X-rays from Chandra with infrared data from JWST. X-rays from Chandra, which reveal gas that has been superheated by shock waves generated by the winds from massive stars, are heard as airy synthesizer sounds. Meanwhile, JWST’s infrared data show cooler gas that provides the raw ingredients for future stars.The final member of this new sonification triumvirate is the large spiral galaxy called NGC 6872 that has two elongated arms stretching to the upper right and lower left. Just to the upper left of NGC 6872 appears another smaller spiral galaxy. These two galaxies, each of which likely has a supermassive black hole at the center, are being drawn toward one another. Chandra’s X-rays, represented in sound by a wind-like sound, show multimillion-degree gas that permeates the galaxies. Meanwhile Hubble data reveal the galaxy’s spiral arms and background stars as low drone sounds and soft plucks and cymbals.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify9
Quick Look: NASA Telescopes Work Out Black Holes Snack Schedule Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-14 | A giant black hole finished a meal and scientists now know when its next snack will be.An orbiting star has chunks of material pulled off as it passes close to the black hole.NASA’s Chandra and other telescopes data reveal this black hole meal schedule.This helps scientists better understand how black holes get and consume fuel to grow.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/bhsnack
Tour: NASA Telescopes Work Out Black Holes Snack Schedule Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-08-14 | Astronomers have correctly forecast when a giant black hole finished its last meal — and predicted when its next snack will occur.By using new data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory as well as ESA’s XMM-Newton, a team of researchers have made important headway in understanding how — and when — this supermassive black hole consumes material.This result is based on studies of a supermassive black hole — with about 50 million times more mass than the sun — in the center of a galaxy located about 860 million light-years from Earth.In 2018, the optical ground-based survey ASAS-SN noticed this system had become much brighter. After observing it with NASA’s NICER and Chandra, and XMM-Newton, researchers determined that the surge in brightness came from a “tidal disruption event,” or TDE, which signals that a star was completely torn apart and partially ingested after flying too close to a black hole. They called it AT2018fyk.When material from the destroyed star approached close to the black hole, it got hotter and produced X-ray and ultraviolet, or UV, light. These signals then faded, agreeing with the idea that nothing was left of the star for the black hole to digest.However, about two years later, the X-ray and UV light from the galaxy got much brighter again. This meant, according to astronomers, that the star likely survived the initial gravitational grab by the black hole and then entered a highly elliptical orbit with the black hole. During its second close approach to the black hole, more material was pulled off and produced more X-ray and UV light.Initially the researchers thought this was a garden-variety case of a black hole totally ripping a star apart. But instead, the star appears to be living to die another day.Based on what they had learned about the star and its orbit, a team of astronomers predicted that the black hole’s second meal would end in August 2023 and applied for Chandra observing time to check. Chandra observations on August 14, 2023, indeed showed the telltale sign of the black hole feeding coming to an end with a sudden drop in X-rays. The researchers also obtained a better estimate of how long it takes the star to complete an orbit, and predicted future mealtimes for the black hole.They think this process will repeats each time the star returns to its point of closest approach, which is approximately every 3.5 years, until the star is completely gone.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/bhsnack
25 Images to Celebrate Chandra 25th Anniversary Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-07-23 | To celebrate the 25th anniversary of its launch, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is releasing 25 never-before-seen views of a wide range of cosmic objects.Visual Description:This video begins with the Chandra 25 logo superimposed on an image made up of 25 space images arranged in a grid. As the music plays, regions of all 25 anniversary images are shown separately in an artful arrangement that includes panning the camera across some selections, zooming in close to display the details of others, and rotating a few of the images to provide a variety of perspectives. [No spoken words]More at: https://s.si.edu/Chandra25 #Chandra25Video Credit: NASA, SAO, Chandra X-ray CenterMusic Credit: "Petit Trianon" by Brice Davoli, Koka Media; Courtesy of Universal Production Music
Tour: 25 Images to Celebrate Chandras 25th Anniversary Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-07-22 | To celebrate the 25th anniversary of its launch, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is releasing 25 never-before-seen views of a wide range of cosmic objects.These images, which all show data from Chandra, demonstrate how X-ray astronomy explores all corners of the Universe. By combining X-rays from Chandra with other space-based observatories and telescopes on the ground, astronomers can tackle the biggest questions and investigate long-standing mysteries across the cosmos.On July 23, 1999, the Space Shuttle Columbia launched into orbit carrying Chandra, which was then the heaviest payload ever carried by the Shuttle. With Commander Eileen Collins at the helm, the astronauts aboard Columbia successfully deployed Chandra into its highly-elliptical orbit that takes it nearly one-third of the distance to the Moon.X-rays are an especially penetrating type of light that reveals extremely hot objects and very energetic physical processes. Many fascinating regions in space glow strongly in X-rays such as the debris from exploded stars and material swirling around black holes. Stars, galaxies, and even planets also give off X-rays that can be studied with Chandra.The new set of images is a sample of almost 25,000 observations Chandra has taken during its quarter century in space.In 1976, Riccardo Giacconi and Harvey Tananbaum first proposed to NASA the mission that would one day become Chandra. Eventually, Chandra was selected to become one of NASA’s “Great Observatories,” along with the Hubble Space Telescope, Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope, each looking at different types of light.Today, astronomers continue to use Chandra data in conjunction with other powerful telescopes including the James Webb Space Telescope, Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer and many more.Chandra science has led to over 700 Ph.Ds and has supported a diverse talent pool of more than 3,500 undergraduate and graduate students, about 1,700 postdocs and over 5,000 unique Principal Investigators throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Demand for the telescope has consistently been extremely high throughout the entire mission, with only about 20% of the requested observing time able to be approved.Despite being in space for a quarter century, Chandra is operating remarkably well and is still making discovery after discovery. Scientists are looking forward to using this exceptional telescope for years to come.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/25th
Quick Look: 25 Images to Celebrate Chandras 25th Anniversary Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-07-22 | There are 25 new images for the 25th birthday of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.Each of these images contains data from this powerful X-ray telescope.Chandra was launched into space by the Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999.So far, Chandra has studied thousands of objects and made many ground-breaking discoveries.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/25th
Tinkercad Tutorial Video, Accretion Disk Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-07-11 | Universe in 3D: Modeling and Printing Cosmic ObjectsFor more information, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/tinkercad/
Tour: Take a Summer Cosmic Road Trip With NASAs Chandra and Webb Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-07-11 | It’s time to take a cosmic road trip using light as the highway and visit four stunning destinations across space. The vehicles for this space get-away are NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope.In each of the images, the colors represent different wavelengths of X-ray, optical or infrared light.The first stop on this tour is the closest, Rho Ophiuchi, at a distance of about 390 light-years from Earth. Rho Ophiuchi is a cloud complex filled with gas and stars of different sizes and ages. Being one of the closest star-forming regions, Rho Ophiuchi is a great place for astronomers to study young stars. In this image, X-rays from Chandra are purple and reveal the hot, outer atmospheres of infant stars.The next destination is the Orion Nebula. Still located in the Milky Way galaxy, this region is a little bit farther from our home planet at about 1,500 light-years away. If you look just below the middle of the three stars that make up the “belt” in the constellation of Orion, you may be able to see this nebula through a small telescope. With Chandra and Webb, however, we get to see so much more. Chandra reveals young stars that glow brightly in X-rays, while Webb shows the gas and dust that will help build the next generation of stars here.It's time to leave our galaxy and visit another at a much greater distance of some 36 million light-years away. Like the Milky Way, NGC 3627 is a spiral galaxy that we see at a slight angle. NGC 3627 is known as a “barred” spiral galaxy because of the rectangular shape of its central region. From our vantage point, we can also see two distinct spiral arms that appear as arcs. X-rays from Chandra in purple show evidence for a supermassive black hole in its center as well as other dense objects like neutron stars and black holes pulling in matter from companion stars. Meanwhile Webb, plus optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope, finds the dust, gas, and stars throughout the galaxy.Our final stop is the biggest and the farthest about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth. MACS J0416 is a galaxy cluster, which are the largest objects in the Universe held together by gravity. Galaxy clusters like this can contain hundreds or even thousands of individual galaxies all immersed in massive amounts of superheated gas that Chandra can detect. In this view, Chandra’s X-rays show this reservoir of hot gas while Hubble and Webb pick up the individual galaxies. The long thin lines are caused by matter in the cluster distorting the light from galaxies behind MACS J0416 in a process known as gravitational lensing.We hope you enjoy this cosmic road trip!More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/chandrawebb3
Quick Look: Take a Summer Cosmic Road Trip with NASAs Chandra and Webb Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-07-11 | Take a cosmic road trip this summer with NASA’s Chandra and Webb telescopes.These new images take us from nearby in our Milky Way to billions of light-years away.A cloud complex, star-forming region, galaxy, and galaxy cluster are the stops.Each image is color coded to reveal the different kinds of light collected.More: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/chandrawebb3
Tour: NASAs Chandra Peers Into Densest and Weirdest Stars Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-06-20 | Astronomers have taken an important step toward understanding some of the densest and strangest objects in the Universe by using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton. These results show that the interiors of neutron stars may contain a special type of ultra-dense matter that does not exist anywhere else in the universe.Neutron stars are the dense cores that can form after massive stars collapse. They are so dense that a teaspoon of their matter weighs about a trillion pounds.The team in this new study analyzed previously released data from neutron stars to determine the so-called equation of state. This refers to the basic properties of the neutron stars including the pressures and temperatures in different parts of their interiors.The authors used machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence, to compare the data to different equations of state. Their results imply that a significant fraction of the equations of state — the ones that do not include the capability for rapid cooling at higher masses — can be ruled out.The researchers capitalized on some neutron stars in the study being located in supernova remnants, including 3C 58. Since astronomers have age estimates of the supernova remnants, they also have the ages of the neutron stars that were created during the explosions that created both the remnants and the neutron stars. The astronomers found that the neutron star in 3C58 and two others were much cooler than the rest of the neutron stars in the study.The team thinks that part of the explanation for the rapid cooling is that these neutron stars are more massive than most of the rest. Because more massive neutron stars have more particles, special processes that cause neutron stars to cool more rapidly might be triggered.One possibility for what is inside these neutron stars is a type of radioactive decay near their centers where neutrinos — low mass particles that easily travel through matter — carry away much of the energy and heat, causing rapid cooling. Another possibility is that there are types of exotic matter found in the centers of these more rapidly cooling neutron stars.These are objects that seem to just get more interesting the more scientists look at them!More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/3c58
Quick Look: NASAs Chandra Peers Into Densest and Weirdest Stars Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-06-20 | Neutron stars could contain ultra-dense matter not found anywhere else in the Universe.They are dense cores left behind by giant stars that have collapsed onto themselves.Astronomers examined data from NASA’s Chandra and ESA’s XMM-Newton.They used machine learning and found evidence for exotic matter inside these objects.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/3c58
Quick Look: Coming in Hot: NASAs Chandra Checks Habitability of Exoplanets Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-06-12 | X-ray telescopes are helping astronomers identify the best exoplanets to target.Stars can destroy a planet’s atmosphere if they give off too much X-ray radiation.A team has used X-ray data to narrow down the most hospitable nearby exoplanets.The astronomers used NASA’s Chandra and ESA’s XMM-Newton for this research.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/exoplanets
Tour: Coming in Hot: NASAs Chandra Checks Habitability of Exoplanets Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-06-12 | Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton, astronomers are testing how habitable exoplanets are based on whether they receive lethal radiation from the stars they orbit. This type of research will help guide observations with the next generation of telescopes aiming to make the first images of planets like Earth.A team of researchers examined stars that are close enough to Earth that telescopes set to begin operating in the next decade or two could take images of planets in their so-called habitable zones, defined as orbits where the planets could have liquid water on their surfaces.Any images of planets will be single points of light and will not directly show surface features like clouds, continents and oceans. However, their spectra — the amount of light at different wavelengths — will reveal information about the planet’s surface composition and atmosphere.There are several other factors influencing what could make a planet suitable for life as we know it. One of those factors is the amount of harmful X-rays and ultraviolet light they receive, which can damage or even strip away the planet’s atmosphere.A team of astronomers began with a list of stars that are close enough to Earth that future ground and space-based telescopes could make images of planets in their habitable zone. These future telescopes include the Habitable Worlds Observatory and ground-based Extremely Large Telescopes.Based on X-ray observations of some of these stars using data from Chandra and XMM-Newton, the researchers examined which stars could have hospitable conditions on orbiting planets for life to form and prosper.The team studied how bright the stars are in X-rays, how energetic the X-rays are, and how much and how quickly they change in X-ray output, for example, due to flares. Brighter and more energetic X-rays can cause more damage to the atmospheres of orbiting planets.They identified stars where the habitable zone’s X-ray radiation environment is similar to or even milder than the one in which Earth evolved. Such conditions may play a key role in sustaining a rich atmosphere like the one found on Earth.Observing time on the next generation of telescopes will be precious and extremely difficult to obtain. These X-ray data are helping to refine and prioritize the list of targets and may allow the first image of a planet like the Earth to be obtained more quickly.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/exoplanets
Quick Look: Super Star Cluster Shines in New Look From NASAs Chandra Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-06-07 | Westerlund 1 is the biggest and closest “super” star cluster to Earth.Billions of years ago, most stars in the Milky Way formed in clusters like this.Today astronomers study Westerlund 1 and others like it to peek back in history.This image contains 12 days’ worth of data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/wd1
Tour: Super Star Cluster Shines in New Look From NASAs Chandra Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-06-07 | Westerlund 1 is the biggest and closest “super” star cluster to Earth. New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, in combination with other NASA telescopes, is helping astronomers delve deeper into this galactic factory where stars are vigorously being produced. These are the first data to be publicly released from a project called the Extended Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey, or EWOCS.Currently, only a handful of stars form in our galaxy each year, but in the past the situation was different. The Milky Way used to produce many more stars, likely hitting its peak of churning out dozens or hundreds of stars per year about 10 billion years ago and then gradually declining ever since. Astronomers think that most of this star formation took place in young massive clusters of stars, known as “super star clusters,” like Westerlund 1. These are young clusters of stars that contain more than 10,000 times the mass of the sun.Only a few super star clusters still exist in our galaxy, but they offer important clues about this earlier era when most of our galaxy’s stars formed. Westerlund 1 is the biggest of these remaining super star clusters in the Milky Way and contains a mass between 50,000 and 100,000 suns. It is also the closest super star cluster to Earth at about 13,000 light-years.These qualities make Westerlund 1 an excellent target for studying the impact of a super star cluster’s environment on the formation process of stars and planets as well as the evolution of stars over a broad range of masses.This new deep Chandra dataset of Westerlund 1 has more than tripled the number of X-ray sources known in the cluster. Before the EWOCS project, Chandra had detected 1,721 sources in Westerlund 1. The EWOCS data found almost 6,000 X-ray sources, including fainter stars with lower masses than the Sun. This gives astronomers a new population to study and learn from.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/wd1
Tour: Spotted: Death Star Black Holes in Action Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-05-22 | Huge black holes are firing powerful beams of particles into space — and then changing their aim to fire at new targets. This discovery, made using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Long Baseline Array, shows what kind of widespread impact black holes can have on their surrounding galaxy and beyond.A team of astronomers looked at 16 black holes in galaxies surrounded by hot gas detected in X-rays by Chandra. Using radio data, they studied the directions of beams — also known as jets — of particles fired a few light-years away from the black holes. This gave the scientists a picture of where each beam is currently pointed, as seen from Earth. Each black hole fires two beams in opposite directions.The team then used Chandra data to study pairs of cavities, or bubbles, in the hot gas that were created in the past by the beams pushing gas outwards. The locations of large outer cavities indicate the pointing direction of beams millions of years earlier. The researchers then compared the directions of the radio beams with the directions of the pairs of cavities.They found that about a third of the beams are now pointing in completely different directions than before. These so-called death star black holes are swiveling around and pointing at new targets.The X-ray and radio data indicate that the beams can change directions over nearly 90 degrees in some cases, and over timescales between one million years and a few tens of millions of years. Considering that these black holes are likely more than 10 billion years old, astronomers consider a large change in direction over a few million years to be fast.Scientists think that beams from black holes and the cavities they carve out play an important role in how many stars form in their galaxies. The beams pump energy into the hot gas in and around the galaxy, preventing it from cooling down enough to form huge numbers of new stars. If the beams change directions by large amounts, they can tamp down star formation across much larger areas of the galaxy.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/deathstars
Quick Look: Spotted: Death Star Black Holes in Action Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-05-22 | Powerful beams blasting out of black holes can change directions over millions of years.Astronomers used NASA’s Chandra and the NSF’s Very Long Baseline Array data to make this discovery.They compared the beam’s directions in the past, using Chandra data, with the current directions using radio data.This discovery shows the widespread impact black holes can have on their galaxy and beyond. The beams can prevent large numbers of stars from forming.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/deathstars
Tour: NASAs Chandra Notices the Galactic Center is Venting Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-05-09 | Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have located an exhaust vent attached to a “chimney” of hot gas blowing away from the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The chimney and vent are about 26,000 light-years from Earth. The chimney begins at the center of the galaxy and stands perpendicular to the Milky Way’s spiral disk.The research team thinks that eruptions from the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center called Sagittarius A* — or Sgr A* for short — may have created this chimney and exhaust vent.Previously, other astronomers had found a structure in X-ray data from Chandra and XMM-Newton that seemed to be acting as a chimney, moving hot gas away from the center of the Galaxy. This latest result shows how this hot gas escaping into the rest of the galaxy.The new Chandra data reveals what astronomers think are the walls of a cylindrical tunnel that is pumping hot gas into the Milky Way about 700 light-years away from Sgr A*. The researchers think this hot gas is being driven upwards when material gets dumped onto Sgr A* and causes eruptions.It’s too early to tell just how often Sgr A* is being fed. Is this energy and heat are stoked by a large amount of material being dumped onto Sgr A* at once, like a bunch of logs being dumped on a fire at once? Or does it come from multiple small loads being fed into the black hole similar to kindling being regularly tossed in? Future observations may provide answers.In the meantime, the discovery of this exhaust vent might point astronomers to the origin of two mysterious and much larger structures around the center of the Milky Way: the Fermi Bubbles seen in gamma-rays by NASA’s Fermi Telescope Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the eROSITA Bubbles, detected by ESA’s newest X-ray telescope. Both of these are pairs of structures extending thousands of light-years away from the center of the Galaxy.Chandra continues to show how fascinating and complex the center of our Milky Way galaxy is.
Quick Look: NASAs Chandra Notices the Galactic Center is Venting Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-05-09 | Astronomers have discovered an “exhaust vent” near the Milky Way’s center.This structure helps funnel hot gas, likely from eruptions from the giant black hole.Researchers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to identify this vent.This finding helps us show how the giant black hole interacts with the galaxy we live in.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/vent
Chandra Listens to the Symphony of Space Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-05-08 | Where Parallel Lines Converge is a sonic rendering of a composite image of the Galactic Center, the center of our Milky Way galaxy, with data from NASA’s Chandra, Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. The composition highlights three astronomical objects or moments in the image: an X-ray binary, arched filaments, and the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. This video takes you on a tour through the image, stopping at each of those locations in the data, with a slightly deeper visual dive as the composition plays. It ends with the poem "Relativity" by Sarah Howe that inspired the composition piece's title. The music was composed by Sophie Kastner, with Dr. Kimberly Arcand as principal investigator of the project. Credits:Images: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; IR: Spitzer NASA/JPL-Caltech;Animations: NASA/CXC/SAO/A. Jubett; Univ. of Exeter/Matthew Bate; NASA/ESO/Nick Risinger; Steer & NASA/GSFC;Edited by: NASA/CXC/SAO/April Jubett;“Where Parallel Lines Converge”Sonic rendering of our Milky Way’s center Composed by Sophie KastnerTitle inspired by “Relativity” a Poem by Sarah HoweSonification of Galactic Center:NASA/CXC/Dr. Kim Arcand & SYSTEM Sounds/Dr. Matt Russo & Andrew Santaguida
Explore Cosmic AR Experiences with Chandra & Smithsonian Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-04-18 | Jump into the cosmos and share a supernova selfie with our new augmented reality (AR) experiences! The new effects feature cosmic objects imaged by Chandra. Try out the effects yourself: 1) On Instagram, visit @NASAChandraXray or @Smithsonian and tap the "3 stars" icon to explore all five effects. 2) Not an Instagram user? Visit https://si.edu/cosmicjourney to explore the cosmos in 3D with Smithsonian! #CosmicJourney #Chandra25For more about this project, visit: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/ar/
Tour: Travel Through Data From Space in New 3D Instagram Experiences Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-04-18 | A new project provides special 3D “experiences” on Instagram using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes through augmented reality, allowing users to travel virtually through objects in space. These new experiences of astronomical objects — including the debris fields of exploded stars — are being released to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of operations from Chandra, NASA’s flagship X-ray telescope.In recent years, Instagram experiences — previously referred to as filters — of NASA mission control, the International Space Station, and the Perseverance Rover on Mars have allowed users to virtually explore what NASA does. This new set of Chandra Instagram filters joins this space-themed collection.The new Instagram experiences are created from 3D models based on data collected by Chandra and other telescopes along with mathematical models. Traditionally, it has been very difficult to gather 3D data of objects in space due to their two-dimensional projection on the sky. New instruments and techniques, however, have allowed astronomers in recent years to construct data-driven models of what these distant objects look like in three dimensions.These advancements in astronomy have paralleled the explosion of opportunities in virtual, extended, and augmented reality. Such technologies provide virtual digital experiences, which now extend beyond Earth and into the cosmos.This new set of Chandra Instagram filters was made possible by a collaboration including NASA, the Smithsonian Institution, as well as students and researchers at Brown University.Setting this Chandra set apart from other Instagram experiences, they will include an option to also listen to sonifications of data of the same object. Sonification is the process of translating data into sounds and notes, instead of colors as is typically done in communicating astronomical data. This is a project that Chandra has led on behalf of NASA.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/ar
Quick Look: Travel Through Data From Space in New 3D Instagram Experiences Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-04-18 | New 3D “experiences” on Instagram let you travel through objects in space.They were made using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes.These Chandra Instagram experiences use augmented reality to share information.In a first for Instagram experiences, the set also includes sonifications of these data. More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/ar
Tour: NASAs Chandra Releases Doubleheader of Blockbuster Hits Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-04-14 | New movies of two of the most famous objects in the sky — the Crab Nebula and Cassiopeia A — are being released from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Each includes X-ray data collected by Chandra over about two decades. They show dramatic changes in the debris and radiation remaining after the explosion of two massive stars in our galaxy.The Crab Nebula, the result of a bright supernova explosion seen by Chinese and other astronomers in the year 1054, is 6,500 light-years from Earth. At its center is a neutron star, a super-dense star produced by the supernova. As it rotates at about 30 times per second, its beam of radiation passes over the Earth every orbit, like a cosmic lighthouse. As the young pulsar slows down, large amounts of energy are injected into its surroundings. In particular, a high-speed wind of matter and anti-matter particles plows into the surrounding nebula, creating a shock wave that forms the expanding ring seen in the movie. Jets from the poles of the pulsar spew X-ray emitting matter and antimatter particles in a direction perpendicular to the ring.Over 22 years, Chandra has taken many observations of the Crab Nebula. With this long runtime, astronomers see clear changes in both the ring and the jets in the new movie. Previous Chandra movies showed images taken from much shorter time periods — a 5-month period between 2000 and 2001 and over 7 months between 2010 and 2011 for another. The longer timeframe highlights mesmerizing fluctuations, including whip-like variations in the X-ray jet that are only seen in this much longer movie. A new set of Chandra observations will be conducted later this year to follow changes in the jet since the last Chandra data was obtained in early 2022.The second billing in this doubleheader is just as spectacular. Cassiopeia A (Cas A for short) is the remains of a supernova that is estimated to have exploded about 340 years ago in Earth’s sky. While other Chandra movies of Cas A have previously been released, including one with data extending from 2000 to 2013, this new movie is substantially longer featuring data from 2000 through to 2019.The outer region of Cas A shows the expanding blast wave of the explosion. The blast wave is composed of shock waves, similar to the sonic booms generated by a supersonic aircraft. These expanding shock waves are sites where particles are being accelerated to energies that are higher than the most powerful accelerator on Earth, the Large Hadron Collider. As the blast wave travels outwards it encounters surrounding material and slows down, generating a second shock wave that travels backwards relative to the blast wave, analogous to a traffic jam travelling backwards from the scene of an accident on a highway.These two movies show Chandra’s capabilities of documenting changes in astronomical objects over human timeframes. Such movies would not be possible without Chandra’s archives that serve as public repositories for the data collected over Chandra’s nearly 25 years of operations.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/timelapse
Quick Look: NASAs Chandra Releases Doubleheader of Blockbuster Hits Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-04-14 | A pair of blockbuster movies is now available from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.These two movies contain X-ray data of the Crab Nebula and Cassiopeia A spanning decades.Each of these objects is the remains of an exploded star in the Milky Way galaxy.Chandra shows that important changes in these debris fields have occurred over time.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/timelapse
Tour: NASAs Chandra Identifies an Underachieving Black Hole Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-03-21 | Astronomers have revealed that a brilliant supermassive black hole is not living up to expectations. Although it is responsible for high levels of radiation and powerful jets, this giant black hole is not as influential as many of its counterparts in other galaxies.A new study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory looked at the closest quasar to Earth that is in a cluster of galaxies. Quasars are a rare and extreme class of supermassive black holes that are furiously pulling material inwards, producing intense radiation and sometimes powerful jets. Known as H1821+643, this newly-studied quasar is about 3.4 billion light-years from Earth and contains a black hole weighing about four billion times that of the Sun.Most growing supermassive black holes pull material in less quickly than those in quasars. Astronomers have studied the impact of these more common black holes by observing ones in the centers of galaxy clusters. Regular outbursts from such black holes prevent the huge amounts of superheated gas they are embedded in from cooling down, which limits how many stars form in their host galaxies and how much fuel gets funneled toward the black hole.Astronomers know much less about how much influence quasars in galaxy clusters have on their surroundings. This new study with Chandra found that H1821+643 appears to have relinquished much of the control imposed by more slowly growing black holes. In other words, the black hole’s appetite is not matched by its influence.The giant black hole is generating a lot less heat than most of the others in the centers of galaxy clusters. This allows the hot gas to rapidly cool down and form new stars, and also act as a fuel source for the black hole.While this black hole may be underachieving by not pumping heat into its environment, the current state of affairs will likely not last forever. Eventually the rapid fuel intake by the black hole should increase the power of its jets and strongly heat the gas. The growth of the black hole and its galaxy should then drastically slow down.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/h1821
Quick Look: NASAs Chandra Identifies an Underachieving Black Hole Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-03-21 | Astronomers have found a quasar not living up to expectations.Quasars are rapidly growing supermassive black holes pulling in lots of material.The quasar H1821+643 is not as influential as many slower-growing giant black holes.This discovery was made using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/h1821
Tour: Listen to the Universe: New NASA Sonifications and Documentary Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-02-28 | Three new sonifications of images from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes have been released.Sonification is the process of translating data into sounds. In the case of Chandra and other telescopes, scientific data are collected from space as digital signals that are commonly turned into visual imagery. The sonification project takes these data through another step of mapping the information into sound.The three new sonifications feature different objects observed by NASA telescopes. IC 443 is a supernova remnant, or the debris of an exploded star, which astronomers have nicknamed the Jellyfish Nebula. A visual composite image of IC 443 includes X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the German ROSAT X-ray telescope, along with radio data from the NSF’s Very Large Array, and optical data from the Digitized Sky Survey. The sounds in the sonification of IC 443 sounds are mapped to colors in the image with red colors heard as lower pitches, green as medium pitches, and the blue light as the higher pitches. This creates notes that sweep up and down in pitch continuously. The background stars in the optical image have been converted to water drop sounds in the sonification. Messier 74 is a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way, which is seen face-on from Earth’s vantage point some 32 million light-years away. In the image, X-rays from Chandra have been combined with an infrared view of M74 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope as well as optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. In sonifying these data, the Chandra sources correspond to relatively high musical pitches of glassy, ethereal clear plucked sounds. The Webb data are represented by low, medium, and high frequency ranges of pitches respectively and the brightest stars are percussive sounds. The Hubble data have been turned into breathy synthesizer sounds, along with thin, metallic plucked sounds for bright stars and clusters.The third new sonification is of MSH 15-52, a cloud of energized particles blown away from a dead, collapsed star. This image includes X-rays from the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE, as well as Chandra. These data have been combined with infrared data from the Dark Energy Plane Survey 2. In sound, the scan goes from the bottom to the top. The brightness of the Chandra data of the cloud have been converted into rough string-like sounds. The blast wave is represented by a range of pitches of firework-type noises. The IXPE data are heard as wind-like sounds. The infrared data are mapped to musical pitches of a synthesizer sound.More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify8/
Data Sonification: MSH 15-52 / PSR B1509-58 (Composite) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-02-28 | MSH 15-52 is a cloud of energized particles blown away from a dead, collapsed star. This image includes X-rays from the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE, (purple) as well as Chandra (orange, green, and blue). These data have been combined with infrared data from the Dark Energy Plane Survey 2 (red and blue). In sound, the scan goes from the bottom to the top. The brightness of the Chandra data of the cloud have been converted into rough string-like sounds, while the blast wave is represented by a range of pitches of firework-type noises. The IXPE data are heard as wind-like sounds. The infrared data are mapped to musical pitches of a synthesizer sound. The light curve, or brightness over time, from the dead star’s collapsed core is heard in pulses that occur almost 7 times every second as it does in the original data.Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify8/
Data Sonification: MSH 15-52 / PSR B1509-58 (IXPE Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-02-28 | Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify8/
Data Sonification: IC 443 / Jellyfish Nebula (Nebula Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-02-28 | Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify8/
Data Sonification: MSH 15-52 / PSR B1509-58 (Sources Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-02-28 | Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify8/
Data Sonification: MSH 15-52 / PSR B1509-58 (Chandra Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-02-28 | Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify8/
Data Sonification: M74 / Phantom Galaxy (Composite) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-02-28 | Messier 74 is a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way, which is seen face-on from Earth’s vantage point some 32 million light-years away. X-rays from Chandra (purple) have been combined with an infrared view of M74 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (green, yellow, red, and magenta) as well as optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (orange, cyan, and blue). In sonifying these data, a clockwise-moving radar-like scan starts around 12 o’clock. The distance from the center controls the frequencies of sound with light farther from the center being higher pitched. The Chandra sources correspond to relatively high musical pitches of glassy ethereal and clear plucked sounds. In the Webb data, large, medium, and small features are represented by low, medium, and high frequency ranges of pitches respectively with the brightest stars being heard as percussive sounds. The Hubble data have been turned into breathy synthesizer sounds along with thin metallic plucked sounds for bright stars and clusters.Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify8/
Data Sonification: IC 443 / Jellyfish Nebula (Stars Only) Chandra X-ray Observatory 2024-02-28 | Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/sonify8/
