Chandra Reveals Critical Evidence of Elusive Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
Scientists have taken major steps in their hunt to find black holes that are neither very small nor extremely large. Finding these elusive intermediate-mass black…
Chandra X-ray Observatory
Chandra Reveals First Evidence of Young Star RW Aur A Devouring a Planet
Chandra data indicates that a young star, known as RW Aur A, has likely destroyed and consumed an infant planet. If confirmed, this would be…
Chandra Reveals Cluster of X-Ray Binary Stars Near the Galaxy’s Center
A binary star system is one that contains a pair of stars orbiting each other. A black hole X-ray binary is a binary system in…
‘Red Nuggets’ – Relics of the First Massive Galaxies
The central black holes may be the driving force in how much star formation occurs in a certain type of rare galaxy. ‘Red nuggets’ are…
New Evidence of the Existence of an Elusive Type of Black Hole
Scientists have been able to prove the existence of small black holes and those that are super-massive but the existence of an elusive type of…
Chandra Scouts Alpha Centauri for Possible Hazards
Chandra observations indicate the two brightest stars in Alpha Centauri are not pummeling any orbiting planets with large amounts of X-rays. Alpha Centauri is a…
Chandra Reveals a Special Kind of Neutron Star for the First Time
Astronomers have discovered a special kind of neutron star for the first time outside of the Milky Way galaxy, using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray…
Chandra Views Black Hole Bounty in the Center of the Milky Way
Astronomers have discovered evidence for thousands of black holes located near the center of our Milky Way galaxy using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory….
Amazing Chandra X-Ray Observatory Images From 2018
Perseus Cluster A gigantic and resilient “cold front” is hurtling through the Perseus galaxy cluster according to data from Chandra & other X-ray observatories. This…
Chandra Identifies Sun-Like Stars in Stellar Cluster NGC 6231
Astronomers think that our Sun was born in a stellar cluster about 4.6 billion years ago that quickly dispersed. Chandra’s image of the stellar cluster…
Chandra Discovers White Dwarf Stars and Other Exotic Binaries in 47 Tucanae
Cataclysmic variable stars (CVs) are white dwarf stars that are accreting from an orbiting, low mass binary companion star. The accretion is facilitated by the…
Astronomers Surprised By Gigantic ‘Cold Front’ in Perseus Galaxy Cluster
Astronomers have used Chandra to study a gigantic and resilient “cold front” in the Perseus galaxy cluster. This structure spans about 2 million light years,…
Astronomers Reveal a Magnificent New Composite Image of the Crab Nebula
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory launch into space. The Crab Nebula was one of the first objects that Chandra…
Chandra X-Ray Observatory Reveals New Clues As To How ULXs Shine So Brightly
In the 1980s, scientists started discovering a new class of extremely bright sources of X-rays in galaxies. These sources were a surprise, as they were…
Outbursts From Supermassive Black Hole Transform Exoplanets
A team of astrophysicists and planetary scientists has predicted that Neptune-like planets located near the center of the Milky Way galaxy have been transformed into…
Chandra Shows Supermassive Black Holes Are Outgrowing Their Galaxies
The biggest black holes in the Universe are growing faster than the rate of stars being formed in their galaxies, according to two new studies…
Chandra Identifies X-Ray Emission from the Nuclear Region of Arp 220
The galaxy Arp 220 is ultraluminous (defined as having more than about 300 times the luminosity of our own galaxy) and, at a distance of…
Chandra Reveals Supermassive Black Hole ‘Turning Off and On’
A rapidly growing black hole — known as an active galactic nuclei — has been seen turning off and then on again. This supermassive black…