All articles tagged with #chandra
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory released three new sonifications translating X-ray data from Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus into sound to celebrate a February planetary parade, using data from Hubble, Cassini, and Keck to create woodwind, siren, and cello-inspired audio that maps brightness and position in the images to pitch and volume.
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory detected an astrosphere around HD 61005, the first image of a Sun-like star’s wind-blown bubble. Located about 120 light-years away and ~100 million years old, HD 61005’s wind is ~3× faster and ~25× denser than the young Sun’s, creating a bubble roughly 200 AU across as it moves through surrounding interstellar gas. The star, nicknamed the “Moth” for its dusty infrared wings, offers a glimpse into the Sun’s past and how its heliosphere may have looked billions of years ago.
Using JWST's infrared data and Chandra's X-ray observations, astronomers report JADES-ID1, a massive protocluster about 12.7 billion light-years away, containing at least 66 galaxies and a surrounding hot gas cloud; its mass is estimated at ~20 trillion suns and it spans ~1.1 million light-years, existing when the universe was ~1 billion years old, challenging models that such large structures should form later by 2–3 billion years after the Big Bang.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed that a star, Cassiopeia A, experienced violent internal upheaval just hours before its explosion, with layers of silicon and neon breaking into each other, which may have influenced the shape and dynamics of the supernova remnant and its explosion mechanism.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has observed that the young exoplanet TOI 1227 b, located 330 light-years away, is losing its atmosphere rapidly due to intense X-ray radiation from its host star, which could strip the planet down to a rocky core within a billion years, with significant mass loss occurring every 200 years.
The Biden-Harris administration's budget for the 2025 fiscal year proposes to terminate NASA's flagship X-ray observatory, Chandra, despite its continued high-impact scientific contributions and potential for another decade of operation. The budget's reasons for this decision are factually inaccurate, and the fate of Chandra now rests with Congress. Without adequate funding, the loss of Chandra would significantly hinder X-ray astronomy, and efforts are underway to advocate for its preservation.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope have captured stunning composite images of two galaxies, a nebula, and a star cluster. The images combine Chandra's X-rays with infrared data from Webb, both of which are invisible to the unaided eye. Additional data from Hubble, Spitzer, XMM-Newton, and the European Southern Observatory's New Technology Telescope is also used. The images reveal details of gas, dust, and stars in these cosmic wonders, providing a glimpse into the universe's true colors.
A new study using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes has found that X-rays from supernova explosions could significantly damage the atmospheres of planets within about 160 light-years, potentially impacting life as we know it. Earth is currently in a safe space, but may not have been in the past. The study suggests that the areas within the Milky Way galaxy where conditions would be conducive for life as we know it would be smaller. Follow-up observations of interacting supernovae are urged for months and years after the explosion.