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X-ray Space Telescope Gets Longer Lease on Life
Credit: NASA/CXC.
An artist's interpretation of NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which launched in 1999 and has received an extended mission through at least 2013. The space telescope has captured amazing views of the universe in X-ray vision. Here's a taste of Chandra's cosmic views.
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Exploded Star Detailed in New X-ray Image
Credit: NASA/CXC/GSFC/U.Hwang et al.
In the new Chandra image of Cassiopeia A, gas billowing out from the supernova remnant is superheated, causing it to glow in X-rays. A reddish-colored jet of superfast matter can be seen shooting out of the upper left. A second jet, not notable in this image, was ferreted out in other data collected during the same observations.
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New X-ray Image Shows Jupiter's Powerful Sky Lights
Credit: NASA
X-ray auroras observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory overlaid on a simultaneous optical image from the Hubble Space Telescope.
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NASA Spots Most Crowded Space Collision Ever
Credit: NASA/CXC/IfA/STScI/C. Ma et al.
The most crowded collision of galaxy clusters has been identified by combining information from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The system MACSJ0717.5+3745 (or MACSJ0717 for short) is located about 5.4 billion light years from Earth.
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Cosmic Bullet Fired by Exploding Star
Credit: NASA/CXC/Penn State/S.Park et al
This annotated image from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory shows N49, the aftermath of a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and a bullet-like object ejected from the huge star explosion.
Full Story.
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X-ray Stripes in Tycho Supernova
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/K.Eriksen et al.; Optical: DSS
This image comes from a very deep Chandra observation of the Tycho supernova remnant. Low-energy X-rays (red) in the image show expanding debris from the supernova explosion and high energy X-rays (blue) show the blast wave, a shell of extremely energetic electrons. These high-energy X-rays show a pattern of X-ray "stripes" never previously seen in a supernova remant.
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Youngest Exploding Star Discovered
Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/NCSU/S.Reynolds et al.); Radio (NSF/NRAO/VLA/Cambridge/D.Green et al.)
The remnant known as G1.9+0.3 (shown here) came from the most recent supernova in our galaxy. To determine the age of the stellar explosion, astronomers tracked how quickly the remnant was expanding, by comparing a radio image from 1985 (blue) to an X-ray image taken in 2007 (orange).
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Galaxy's Ghostly Arms Finally Explained
Credit: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Maryland/A.S. Wilson et al. Optical: Pal.Obs. DSS; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech; VLA & NRAO/AUI/NSF
In this composite image of spiral galaxy M106, optical data is shown as yellow, radio data from the Very Large Array appears as purple, X-ray data from Chandra is coded blue and infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope appears red. The anomalous arms appear as purple and blue emission.
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On 10th Birthday, Chandra Spies Stellar Explosion
Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT/D.Dewey et al. & NASA/CXC/SAO/J.DePasquale)
This composite image of X-ray and optical data shows the remnant of supernova 1E 0102.2-7219, about 190,000 light-years away in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
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Arp 147 galaxies
Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT/S.Rappaport et al, Optical: NASA/STScI
This image of the two galaxies that form Arp 147 shows a vast cosmic ring of stars (blue) and black holes (pink) as seen by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope. Another galaxy is also visible (vertical at left), as well as a bright star and quasar (pink object at upper left). This image was released on Feb. 9, 2011.
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Colossal Cosmic Collision Reveals Mysterious Dark Matter
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/M.Markevitch et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al.; Lensing Map: NASA/STScI; ESO WFI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al.
Hot gas detected by Chandra in X-rays is seen as two pink clumps that contain most of the normal matter in the two clusters. The bullet-shaped clump on the right is hot gas from one cluster, which passed through the hot gas from the other larger cluster. Other telescopes were used to detect the bulk of the matter in the clusters, which turns out to be dark matter (highlighted in blue).
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Black Hole Belts Out Discordant Musical
Credit: NASA/CXC/CfA/W.Forman et al.
This Chandra image of M87 shows high energy X-rays. The faint, outer ring is about 85,000 light years across and gives an unambiguous signature of a weak shock wave (like a sonic boom) generated by an outburst from the supermassive black hole at the center of M87. The properties of the shock, including the change in temperature and density in the gas, are consistent with classical physics. The bright yellow, inner ring may be the gas just outside the "piston" that is powering the shock further out, and the ring in the middle was probably produced by another outburst.
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Scientists Discover Stellar Bombs with Short Fuses
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/NCSU/K.Borkowski; Optical: NOAO/CTIO/MCELS
EM L238 and DEM L249 are two supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud. X-ray data from NASA's Chandra and ESA's XMM-Newton observatories suggest that the stars responsible for these debris fields were unusually young when they were destroyed by thermonuclear explosions.
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Supersonic Cosmic Winds Collide in Rare Scene
A Chandra X-ray Observatory close-up on HD 5980 - the star (in yellow) is surrounded by the remnants of a supernova explosion (in red). Credits: NASA/CXC/ Nazé et al.
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Slow-spinning Pulsar SXP 1062
Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton/ L.Oskinova/ M.Guerrero; CTIO/R.Gruendl/Y.H.Chu
The slow-spinning X-ray pulsar SXP 1062 shines brightly from within the shell of gas and dust rushing away from the supernova that formed it.
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Extreme Energy Burst Detected by Chandra Telescope
An X-ray image of the galactic cluster 3C438, with inset showing a powerful radio galaxy.
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Neutron Stars Spew Like Black Holes
Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss X-ray; Image: NASA/CXC/U. of Wisc/S. Heinz et al.
This artist's illustration depicts the jet of relativistic particles blasting out of Circinus X-1, with a Chandra image (inset) of the jets. Illustration
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Speeding Star to Escape from Milky Way
Credit: Chandra: NASA/CXC/Middlebury College/F.Winkler et al.; ROSAT: NASA/GSFC/S.Snowden et al.; Optical: NOAO/CTIO/Middlebury College/F.Winkler et al.
A view of the Puppis A supernova remnant with a close-up image of the fast-moving neutron star RX J0822-4300. X-ray data (pink) and optical data (purple) highlights oxygen emission.
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Galaxy Blasts Neighbor with Deadly Jet
Credit: X-ray: NASA/ CXC/ CfA/ D.Evans et al.; Optical/UV: NASA/ STScI; Radio: NSF/ VLA/ CfA/ D.Evans et al., STFC/ JBO/ MERLIN
A powerful jet from a supermassive black hole is blasting a nearby galaxy in the system known as 3C321, according to new results from NASA. This galactic violence, never seen before, could have a profound effect on any planets in the path of the jet and trigger a burst of star formation in the wake of its destruction.
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Echo of Ancient Cosmic Explosion Seen
Credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF/S.Points, C.Smith & MCELS
The Large Magellanic Cloud, which harbors the remnants of supernova 0509-67.5. Light echoes from an ancient explosion have been spotted bouncing off of nearby dust clouds.
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Powerful Cosmic Collision Creates Divorce of Matter
Credit: X-ray(NASA/CXC/Stanford/S.Allen); Optical/Lensing(NASA/STScI/UC Santa Barbara/M.Bradac)
Another powerful collision of galaxy clusters has been captured with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope. Like its famous cousin, the so-called Bullet Cluster, this clash of clusters shows a clear separation between dark and ordinary matter. This helps answer a crucial question about whether dark matter interacts with itself in ways other than via gravitational forces.
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Black Holes Caught in Tug-of-War
Credit: NASA/CXC/Harvard/J.Neilsen/Palomar DSS2
This optical and infrared image from the Digitized Sky Survey shows the crowded field around the micro-quasar GRS 1915+105 (GRS 1915 for short) located near the plane of our Galaxy. The inset shows a close-up of the Chandra image of GRS 1915, one of the brightest X-ray sources in the Milky Way galaxy.
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Chandra Telescope Spies X-ray 'Ghost' of Black Hole
Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/IoA/A.Fabian et al.); Optical (SDSS), Radio (STFC/JBO/MERLIN)
The diffuse blue object near the center of this composite image is believed to be a cosmic "ghost," called HDF 130, generated by a huge eruption from a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy.
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New Record For Most Distant Galaxy Cluster
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/S.Andreon et al Optical: DSS; ESO/VLT
This record-breaking object, known as JKCS041, is observed as it was when the Universe was just one quarter of its current age. This image contains X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, optical data from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and optical and infrared data from the Digitized Sky Survey.
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Identity of Puzzling Star Revealed
Credit: NASA/CXC/Southampton/W.Ho;NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
A Chandra X-ray Observatory image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, with an artist's impression of the neutron star at the center of the remnant. The discovery of a carbon atmosphere on this neutron star resolves a ten-year old mystery surrounding this object.
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3 Telescopes Combine for Stunning Milky Way Photo
Credit: NASA, ESA, SSC, CXC, and STScI
In this spectacular image, observations using infrared light and X-ray light see through the obscuring dust and reveal the intense activity near the galactic core of the Milky Way. The image combines pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory.
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Black Hole's Mysterious Eating Disorder Solved
Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT/F.K. Baganoff et al.
This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the Milky Way's central black hole Sagittarius A* and the surrounding region is based on data from a series of observations lasting a total of about one million seconds, or almost two weeks, in May 2009 and Sept. 1999. It was released Jan. 5, 2009 and helps researchers understand why the black hole eats less material than expected.
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Star's Corpse Illuminated by High-Energy Wind
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/T.Temim et al.; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope shows the dusty remains of a collapsed star. The composite image of G54.1+0.3 shows X-rays from Chandra in blue, and data from Spitzer in green (shorter wavelength infrared) and red-yellow (longer wavelength infrared). Scientists think that a pulsar (the white source in the center) is sending off a wind that is heating up remnant supernova dust.
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Einstein (Still) Rules The Universe
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/A. Vikhlinin; ROSAT Optical: DSS Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA/IUCAA/J.Bagchi
This composite image of the galaxy cluster Abell 3376 shows X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the ROSAT telescope in gold, an optical image from the Digitized Sky Survey in red, green and blue, and a radio image from the VLA in blue.
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Two Black Holes Found Hard to Kill
Credit: Inset: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Tsinghua Univ./H. Feng et al.; Full-field: X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of AZ/C. Engelbracht
This composite image of the nearby galaxy M82 shows Chandra X-ray Observatory data in blue, optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope in green and orange, and infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope in red. The pullout is a Chandra image that shows the central region of the galaxy that contains two bright X-ray sources thought to be mid-sized black holes.
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Huge Chunk of Universe's Missing Matter Found
Credit: Spectrum: NASA/CXC/Univ. of California Irvine/T. Fang Illustration: CXC/M. Weiss
Scientists have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM- Newton to detect a vast reservoir of gas lying along a wall-shaped structure of galaxies about 400 million light years from Earth. In this artist's impression, a close-up view of the so-called Sculptor Wall is depicted. This discovery is the strongest evidence yet that the "missing matter" in the nearby Universe is located in an enormous web of hot, diffuse gas.
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Supernova remnant Casseopeia A Neutron Star
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/xx; Optical: NASA/STScI; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
This image presents a composite of X-rays from Chandra (red, green, and blue) and optical data from Hubble (gold) of Cassiopeia A, the remains of a massive star that exploded in a supernova. Inset: A cutout of the interior of the neutron star, where densities increase from the crust (orange) to the core (red) and finally to the region where the "superfluid" exists (inner red ball).
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Black hole structure looks like Eye of Sauron
Credit: NASA/CXC/CfA/J.Wang et al.; Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, La Palma/Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope; NSF/NRAO/VLA
The supermassive black hole at the center of the spiral galaxy NGC 4151 has created a structure that astronomers call the "Eye of Sauron," after the evil wizard in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" novels. This image is a composite of images taken by several different telescopes.
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X-rays Tycho Supernova Remnant
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/K.Eriksen et al.
This Chandra image shows the higher energy X-rays detected from the Tycho supernova remnant. These X-rays show the expanding blast wave from the supernova, a shell of extremely energetic electrons. Close-ups of two different regions are shown, region A containing the brightest stripes of tangled magnetic fields and region B with fainter stripes.
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Four-hour Chandra exposure of GRB 110328A on April 4
Credit: NASA/CXC/ Warwick/A. Levan
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory completed this four-hour exposure of GRB 110328A on April 4. The center of the X-ray source corresponds to the very center of the host galaxy imaged by Hubble (red cross).
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Repeated X-ray flares of explosion GRB 110328A
Credit: NASA/Swift/Penn State/J. Kennea
GRB 110328A has repeatedly flared in the days following its discovery by Swift. This plot shows the brightness changes recorded by Swift's X-ray Telescope.
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Markarian 739 or NGC 3758 Galaxy
Credit: SDSS
Viewed in visible light, Markarian 739 resembles a smiling face. It actually is a pair of merging galaxies which lies 425 million light-years away.
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Abell 2744, or Pandora's Cluster, as seen by Hubble, Chandra and the VLT
Credit: NASA, ESA, ESO, CXC, and D. Coe (STScI)/J. Merten (Heidelberg/Bologna)
Composite image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744, also known as Pandora's Cluster, taken by the Hubble and Chandra space telescopes and the Very Large Telescope in Chile. Hot intracluster gas is shown in pink, and the blue overlay maps the location of dark matter.
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Pulsar PSR J0357+3205 Has a Long Blue Tail
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/IUSS/A.De Luca et al; Optical: DSS
This pulsar, known as PSR J0357+3205 (or PSR J0357 for short), apparently has a long, bright X-ray tail streaming away from it.
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Star Blasting Planet With X-Rays
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Hamburg/S.Schröter et al; Optical: NASA/NSF/IPAC-Caltech/UMass/2MASS, UNC/CTIO/PROMPT; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
Image (left) of the nearby star CoRot-2a. The star is pummeling a close-orbiting planet with a barrage of X-rays 100,000 times more intense than Earth receives from the sun, as the artist's concept (right) shows.
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NASA's Chandra Finds Largest Galaxy Cluster in Early Universe
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/J.Hughes et al, Optical: ESO/VLT/Pontificia Universidad. Catolica de Chile/L.Infante & SOAR (MSU/NOAO/UNC/CNPq-Brazil)/Rutgers/F.Menanteau, IR: NASA/JPL/Rutgers/F.Menanteau
A composite image shows El Gordo in X-ray light from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in blue, along with optical data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in red, green, and blue, and infrared emission from the NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in red and orange. Image released Jan. 10, 2012.
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Milky Way's Black Hole Gobbles up Asteroids
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/F. Baganoff et al.; Illustrations: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
This image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory shows the center of our galaxy, which hosts a supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A* for short). Chandra has detected X-ray flares about once a day from Sgr A*; they may result from the black hole gobbling up asteroids, as the artist's concept on the right depicts.
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Supernova Explosion Turns Star Inside Out
Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss; X-ray: NASA/CXC/GSFC/U.Hwang & J.Laming
A "before" artist's illustration (left) and observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (right) show how an explosion turned the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A inside out.
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Black Hole Booted from Home Galaxy
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/F.Civano et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Optical (wide field): CFHT, NASA/STScI)
System CID-42, located about four billion light-years away from Earth, harbors a supermassive black hole that is apparently being booted out of its home galaxy.
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Youngest Black Hole Home: Supernova W49B
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/L.Lopez et al; Infrared: Palomar; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA
The highly distorted supernova remnant W49B in this image may contain the youngest black hole in the Milky Way galaxy. The image combines X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in blue and green, radio data from the NSF's Very Large Array in pink, and infrared data from Caltech's Palomar Observatory in yellow. Image released Feb. 13, 2013.
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Quasar GB1428
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/NRC/C.Cheung et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA
This composite image shows the most distant X-ray jet ever observed. X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory are shown in blue, radio data from the NSF's Very Large Array are shown in purple and optical data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are shown in yellow.
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Chandra Image of NGC 7662
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIT/J.Kastner et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI
This image is of planetary nebula NGC 7662 as seen with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. A planetary nebula is a phase of stellar evolution that the sun should experience several billion years from now, when it expands to become a red giant and then sheds most of its outer layers, leaving behind a hot core that contracts to form a dense white dwarf star. This image was released Oct. 10, 2012.
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The Cat's Eye Nebula or NGC 6543
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIT/J.Kastner et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI
This image is NGC 6543 known as the Cat's Eye Nebula as it appears to the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and Hubble Telescope. A planetary nebula is a phase of stellar evolution that the sun should experience several billion years from now, when it expands to become a red giant and then sheds most of its outer layers, leaving behind a hot core that contracts to form a dense white dwarf star. This image was released Oct. 10, 2012.
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A Planetary Nebula Gallery Composite
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIT/J.Kastner et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI
This gallery shows four planetary nebulas from the first systematic survey of such objects in the solar neighborhood made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The planetary nebulas shown here are NGC 6543, also known as the Cat's Eye, NGC 7662, NGC 7009 and NGC 6826. This image was released Oct. 10, 2012.
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Optical Emission of Planetary Nebula
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIT/J.Kastner et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI
This gallery shows four planetary nebulas from the first systematic survey of such objects in the solar neighborhood made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The planetary nebulas included here are NGC 6543 (aka the Cat's Eye), NGC 7662, NGC 7009 and NGC 6826. Optical emission from the Hubble Space Telescope is colored red, green and blue. This image was released Oct. 10, 2012.
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X-ray Emission Image of Planetary Nebula Gallery
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIT/J.Kastner et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI
This gallery shows four planetary nebulas from the first systematic survey of such objects in the solar neighborhood made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The planetary nebulas included here are NGC 6543 (aka the Cat's Eye), NGC 7662, NGC 7009 and NGC 6826. X-ray emission from Chandra is colored purple and optical emission. This image was released Oct. 10, 2012.
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The Crab Pulsar
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/J. Hester (ASU); Optical: NASA/ESA/J. Hester & A. Loll (ASU); Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Gehrz (Univ. Minn.)
This image, which combines data from the Hubble Space Telescope (visible light), Spitzer Space Telescope (infrared) and Chandra X-ray Observatory (X-rays) shows the Crab Pulsar. The X-ray emissions (in blue) show the location of high-energy phenomena around the rapidly spinning star. The visible and infrared light (shown in red) traces the location of debris thrown out by the supernova that destroyed the Crab Pulsar's progenitor star.
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Chandra Superbubble
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U.Mich./S.Oey, IR: NASA/JPL, Optical: ESO/WFI/2.2-m
This superbubble in the N44 nebula inside the Large Magellanic Cloud was carved out by exploding stars. The photo, released in August 2012, comes from the Chandra X-ray Space Telescope, combined with data collected by observatories covering other wavelengths.
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Chandra's X-ray View of a Pulsar
Credit: O. Kargaltsev
X-ray image of the vicinity of pulsar J1740+1000 obtained by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The image is color-coded so that harder X-ray emission looks bluer and softer X-ray emission appears redder. The angular distance of 4 arcminutes (shown) corresponds to 5.3 light-years.
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SN 1957D in M83: X-Rays Discovered from Young Supernova Remnant
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/STScI/K.Long et al., Optical: NASA/STScI
This new Chandra image of M83 is one of the deepest X-ray observations ever made of a spiral galaxy beyond our own. This full-field view of the spiral galaxy shows the low, medium, and high-energy X-rays observed by Chandra in red, green, and blue respectively. Image released July 30, 2012.
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Spiral Galaxy M83
Credit: ASA/CXC/Curtin University/R.Soria et al.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has discovered an extraordinary outburst by a black hole in the spiral galaxy M83, located about 15 million light years from Earth.
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X-Ray Images in the Eagle Nebula
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U.Colorado/Linsky et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/ASU/J.Hester & P.Scowen
Chandra's X-ray Observatory reveals x-ray images in the Eagle Nebula, although few are visible within the Pillars of Creation
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Black Hole Outburst in Galaxy M83
Credit: Left image - Optical: ESO/VLT; Close-up - X-ray: NASA/CXC/Curtin University/R. Soria et al., Optical: NASA/STScI/Middlebury College/F. Winkler et al.
At left is an optical view of M83. At right is a composite image showing X-ray data from Chandra in pink and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope in blue and yellow. The ULX is located near the bottom of the composite image.
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Pulsar PSR J1841-0500
Credit: Shami Chatterjee
While studying the globelike supernova remnant, astronomers discovered a new pulsar, PSR J1841-0500. After shining for at least a year, the pulsar, located inside the white circle, abruptly disappeared. The left image was provided by the Multi-Array Galactic Plane Imaging Survey, the right by CHANDRA.
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Celestial Ornament: Pulsar SXP 1062
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al & ESA/XMM-Newton; Optical: AURA/NOAO/CTIO/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al
Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton were combined to find this young pulsar, r, known as SXP 1062, in the remains of a supernova located in the Small Magellanic Cloud 180,000 light-years from Earth. The image was released on Dec. 20, 2011.
