Thirty seconds after Chandra first peered at the leftover remains of an exploded star, astronomers in the telescopes control room burst into applause, knowing a 20-year dream to build the worlds most sophisticated X-ray observatory had come true.

"I was just astounded," said Martin Weisskopf, Chandra project scientist. "Its not real yet."

Like proud papas, Chandra scientists and managers Thursday unveiled the first images taken with the X-ray telescope, a stunning glowing ball of gas called Cassiopeia A that is believed to be the remains of a massive star that exploded in the late 17th century.

Chandra not only brought to light rich details of the expanding shell of glowing gas 10,000 light years from Earth; it also revealed a tantalizing, never-before-seen glowing white-hot object buried in Cassiopeias core that could be a long-theorized neutron star, or possibly even a black hole, that formed as a result of the explosion.

The image, which was taken over a 90-minute period last Thursday, is just a glimpse of Chandras true potential. The $1.6-billion telescope was carried into space by the shuttle Columbia crew last month.

"The bottom line, Im very happy to report, is that it works," said NASAs space science chief Ed Weiler.

The picture of Cassiopeia A was to be the only image shown to demonstrate the telescopes capabilities. However, when the telescope was aimed at a distant quasar as a focusing test, astronomers were astounded to see not just a point of light, but a jet-stream of X-ray emissions.

"An image like this raises as many questions as it answers," said Harvey Tananbaum, director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatorys Chandra Center.

The glowing jet could be evidence of a black hole that scientists believe lives at the center of the quasar.

Over the next four to five weeks, astronomers plan to continue refining Chandras focus and testing its light-splitting chemical analyzers.

Ultimately, Chandra could reveal the types, locations and amounts of heavy elements, such as gold, silicon, uranium and calcium, that were produced by the supernova explosion of Cassiopeia A.

Chandra is expected to begin 10 years of science observations next month. The telescope is the third member of a quartet of space-based observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA plans to develop to study the cosmos.