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13 photos from NASA’s most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe

July 24, 20240
Messier 74, nicknamed “the Phantom Galaxy” for its dimness, comes to life when Chandra revealed its X-ray activity (purple) alongside observations from Hubble and Webb.

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; IR NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team; Image Processing: N. Wolk and K. Arcand

“Often you get like a gas cloud that’s glowing, and then there’s this X-ray source in the middle that’s pumping the energy into it that’s causing it to glow,” Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who leads science data systems for Chandra, called Sagittarius A*, is spinning rapidly.

In fact, Chandra discovered, the black hole is spinning so fast that it’s squishing space-time down like a football.

Chandra may be nearing the end of its mission after drastic budget cuts.
This supernova remnant is the leftovers from an exploded star called 3C 58. The bright, elongated, white object at the center is a dense, fast-spinning neutron star.

X-ray: NASA/CXC/ICE-CSIC/A. Marino et al.; Optical: SDSS; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major

By studying Chandra detections of the X-ray emissions of neutron stars — like the one at the center of this supernova remnant —scientists recently discovered that neutron stars may contain a new type of ultra-dense matter.

Chandra could reveal even more invisible secrets of the cosmos in its remaining years.