Chandra X-Ray Observatory

What is Chandra?
Chandra is the third of NASA’s Great Observatories along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
and Hubble Space Telescope. It is the largest and most sophisticated X-ray observatory ever constructed.
After it is launched into orbit around Earth, Chandra will be able to detect X-ray sources that are billions
of light years away and produce images twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope.

Chandra’s focusing power

is equivalent to the ability
to read the headline of a newspaper at a
distance of half a mile!

Mission Specifications

Size: 45.3 ft x 64.0 ft Antennas: two low-gain, conical log

(solar arrays deployed) spiral antennas
Weight: 10,560 pounds Frequencies: transmit 2250 MHz,
receive 2071.8 MHz
Orbit: 6,200 x 86,000 miles Command Link: 2 kilobits per second (kbps)
28.5 deg. inclination
Ascending node: 200 degrees Data Recording: solid state recorder; 1.8 gigabits
(16.8 hrs) recording capability
Argument of perigee: 270 degrees Downlink: downloaded typically every
Operations: eight hours
Life: minimum 5 years
Contingency Mode: 23 kbps
Power: two 3-panel silicon solar
arrays (2350W) Safing: autonomous operation
three 40 amp-hour nickel
hydrogen batteries
 The Chandra Launch - STS 93 Astronaut Crew

The Chandra Observatory will be carried into orbit by the

Space Shuttle Columbia, on shuttle mission STS 93. The space
shuttle commander for this mission will be Col. Eileen Collins,
USAF, NASA. Colonel Collins will be the first woman to
command a space shuttle mission. The shuttle pilot will be
Cmdr. Jeff Ashby, USN, NASA. Dr. Steven Hawley, NASA,
Dr. Cady Coleman, Maj. USAF, NASA, and Col. Michel
Tognini, of the French Air Force and French Space Agency,
will be the mission specialists in charge of carrying out the
scientific objectives of the mission.

Eileen Collins was born in Elmira, New York. She is married to Pat Youngs. They have one child. She
enjoys running, golf, hiking, camping, reading, photography, and astronomy. She graduated from Elmira
Free Academy, Elmira, New York, and received degrees from Corning Community College and Syracuse
University and a master of arts degree in space systems management from Webster University. Before
becoming an astronaut, Col. Collins was an instructor pilot at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. She
has logged over 5,000 hours in 30 different types of aircraft, over 400 hours in space. In 1995 she became
the first woman to pilot the space shuttle.

Jeffrey S. Ashby was born in Dallas, Texas and raised in the Colorado mountains. In his spare time he
likes to ski, backpack and go fly-fishing. Major Ashby graduated from Evergreen High School,
Evergreen, Colorado, received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the
University of Idaho and a master of science degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee.
He is a Top Gun aviator and test pilot with over 6000 flight hours, 1000 carrier landings, and 33 combat
missions during Operation Desert Storm. This will be his first flight into space.

Steven A. Hawley was born in Ottawa, Kansas and grew up in Salina, Kansas. He is married to the
former Eileen Keegan. He enjoys basketball, softball, golf, running, playing bridge, and umpiring. Hawley
graduated from Salina (Central) High School; received a bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy
from the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of
California in 1977. This will be Dr. Hawley’s fifth flight on a space shuttle mission. Altogether, he has
logged 650 hours in space.

Catherine G. “Cady” Coleman was born in Charleston, South Carolina. Married, she enjoys flying, scuba
diving, sports, and music. She graduated from W.T. Woodson High School, in Fairfax, Virginia, received a
bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in
polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Coleman, who is also a
Major in the U.S. Air Force, was a mission specialist on a previous space shuttle Columbia flight, in 1995.

Michel Tognini was born in Vincennes, France. He is married to the former Elena Vassilievna. They
have four children. Hobbies include Aeroclub, parachuting and parenting, tennis, wind-surfing,
water-skiing, snow-skiing, cross-country running, wave-surfing and microcomputers. Col. Tognini was
educated at Lycee de Cachan, Paris. He received an advanced mathematics degree from Epa Grenoble,
and an engineering degree from Ecole de l’Air (the French Air Force Academy). He is an experienced
test pilot and made his first space flight on board the Soyuz spacecraft.
 CHANDRA

The Man Behind The Name

NASA’s premier X-ray observatory was named the Chandra X-ray Observatory in honor of
the late Indian-American Nobel laureate, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Known to the world
as Chandra (which means “moon” or “luminous” in Sanskrit), he was widely regarded as one of
the foremost astrophysicists of the twentieth century.

Chandra immigrated in 1937 from India to the United States, where he joined the faculty of the
University of Chicago, a position he remained at until his death. He and his wife became
American citizens in 1953.

Trained as a physicist at Presidency College, in Madras, India and at the University of

Cambridge, in England, he was one of the first scientists to combine the disciplines of physics
and astronomy. Early in his career he demonstrated that there is an upper limit - now called the
Chandrasekhar limit - to the mass of a white dwarf star. A white dwarf is the last stage in the
evolution of a star such as the sun. When the nuclear energy source in the center of a star such
as the sun is exhausted, it collapses to form a white dwarf. This discovery is basic to much of
modern astrophysics, since it shows that stars much more massive than the sun must either
explode or form black holes.

Chandra was a popular teacher who guided over fifty students to their Ph.D’s. His research
explored nearly all branches of theoretical astrophysics and he published ten books, each covering
a different topic, including one on the relationship between art and science. For 19 years, he
served as editor of the Astrophysical Journal and turned it into a world-class publication. In
1983, Chandra was awarded the Nobel prize for his theoretical studies of the physical processes
important to the structure and evolution of stars.

According to Nobel laureate Hans

Bethe, “Chandra was a first-rate
astrophysicist and a beautiful and
warm human being. I am happy to
have known him.”

“Chandra probably thought longer

and deeper about our universe
than anyone since Einstein,” said
Martin Rees, Great Britain’s
Astronomer Royal
 Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Why does Chandra have to

be in space?
Earth’s atmosphere absorbs
X-rays coming from very
hot cosmic matter. Even if
Chandra were on a moun-
taintop like most optical
telescopes, no cosmic
X-rays could be detected.

What is unusual about

Chandra’s orbit?
Chandra will not be in low-
Earth orbit like the Hubble
Space Telescope. After
launch, a built in propulsion
system will boost Chandra
into a large elliptical orbit
around Earth. In this orbit,
the distance of Chandra
from Earth will range from
10,000km (6,200 miles) to
more than a third of the way to the moon. The time to complete an orbit will be 64 hours and 18 min-
utes. This allows for observation times as long as 52 hours, much longer than can be achieved with the
low-Earth orbit of a few hundred kilometers used by most satellites.

When Chandra is in orbit, how will the observatory be operated?

The Observatory will be operated by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center (CXC) located in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), and staffed by personnel from
SAO, MIT, and TRW. The CXC is responsible for mission planning and science operations. The CXC’s
Operations Control Center will be responsible for controlling the flight operations of the observatory,
for executing the observing plan, and for receiving the data that Chandra sends back.

?
How many days is 52 hours? What would happen if you left ordinary camera film exposed
for this long? What does this tell you about the brightness of distant cosmic X-rays sources?
What other types of radiation (besides X-rays) does our atmosphere block out? What types
of radiation does it let through?
 The X-ray Universe
What is the X-ray Universe?
Light produced by matter in space comes in many forms: radio waves, infrared radiation, visible light,
ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays. The starlight our eyes can see in the night sky is visible light.
The X-ray universe refers to the universe as observed with telescopes designed to detect X-rays. We could
equally well speak of the radio universe or the visible universe. These are not separate universes they are
just different ways of observing the same universe.

Why observe the cosmos with different types of telescopes?

Many objects cannot be seen by even the most powerful optical telescopes which detect radiation in the
form of visible light. Radio and infrared telescopes can observe cool clouds of gas and dust that are invisible
to optical telescopes. X-ray telescopes observe extremely hot matter with temperatures of millions of degrees
Celsius. Without different types of telescopes, we would miss important discoveries about the universe.

Does an X-ray telescope take X-rays of the cosmos?

No, X-ray telescopes do not work like X-ray machines. An X-ray machine in a doctor’s or dentist’s office
produces X-rays. An X-ray telescope does not produce X-rays. Instead, the telescope collects and focuses
X-radiation from cosmic X-ray sources onto detectors. The data from these detectors are then used to
make an image of the cosmic X-ray source.

What are some examples of cosmic X-ray sources?

X-rays are produced when a star explodes, or when matter is heated to millions of degrees near a black
hole or neutron star.
The largest cosmic X-ray sources
are vast clouds of hot gas in galaxy clusters that contain enough
matter to make several hundred trillion stars.

An optical picture of the cluster of galaxies A1367 shows many galaxies. The X-ray picture of the same cluster reveals hot gas
filling the space between the galaxies. The gas has enough mass to make hundreds of galaxies. The color gradations represent
differences in brightness of the X-rays due to differences in the density of the hot gas.

?
If our eyes could somehow see X-rays, would we be able to see peoples’ bones? If we took a
Chandra image of a person, would we be able to see his or her skeleton? Why or why not?
 The Chandra Telescope & Scientific Instruments

Why does an X-ray telescope need to be different from an optical telescope?

The high energy of X-rays causes them to reflect off mirrors only if they strike at grazing angles, like
a stone skipping across a pond. For this reason, X-ray mirrors have to be carefully shaped and aligned
nearly parallel to incoming X-rays. The Chandra telescope is an assembly of four pairs of glass,
barrel-shaped mirrors. By nesting the mirrors inside one another, the collection area – and therefore
the sensitivity – of the telescope is increased.

Chandra’s mirrors are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest X-ray
mirrors ever constructed. How smooth are the mirrors? If the surface of the Earth were
polished to the same relative smoothness, Mt. Everest would be less than one foot tall!
What happens to the X-rays collected by the mirrors?
The telescope mirrors will reflect cosmic X-rays into a small region of the telescope called the focus.
The science instruments that will be used at the focus are the High Resolution Camera and the CCD
Imaging Spectrometer. These instruments record the number, position and energy of the cosmic X-rays
– information which can be used to make an X-ray image and to study other properties of the source.

Besides the science instruments used to detect X-rays at the focus, Chandra will have two sets of
finely-ruled gold gratings, which can be swung into position between the mirrors and the focal plane.
When used with either of the science instruments, the gratings will allow precise determination of the
energies of the X-rays.

?
Imagine an Earth with nothing over one foot tall. What kinds of natural and man-made things
would be impossible? Why do the Chandra mirrors have to be so smooth?
 The Chandra Spacecraft

What kind of protection does the Chandra telescope need in space?

Direct light from the sun will damage the delicate scientific instruments, so the spacecraft has a sunshade
door that remains closed until Chandra has achieved pointing control in orbit. After being opened it
shadows the entrance of the telescope to allow it to point as close as 45 degrees to the sun.

The Chandra spacecraft is protected from the extreme heat and cold of space by special thermal
coatings, insulation blankets, radiators, and electrical heaters. This equipment is designed to keep the
temperature near the mirrors and science instruments as constant as possible.

Will astronauts operate Chandra?

No – astronauts will help to launch Chandra from the Columbia Space Shuttle, but once it is in orbit
Chandra will be operated remotely from the Operations Control Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
A system of onboard computers in the spacecraft module will automatically:

✭ Keep track of the position of the spacecraft in its orbit,

✭ Monitor the spacecraft sensors to track temperature, power, etc.,

✭ Receive and process commands from the ground for the operation of the observatory,

✭ Store and process information gathered by the science instruments so that it can be transmitted to
the ground.

How does the spacecraft get the power it needs to operate?

Two solar arrays with a wingspan of 64 feet generate 2 kilowatts of electrical power. The energy is stored
in three nickel-hydrogen batteries.

How accurately can the Chandra telescope be pointed?

Precise control of the spacecraft’s attitude, or orientation in space, is critical for making scientific
observations, for communicating with the ground, and for collecting solar power. Chandra uses gyros
and sensitive cameras which locate known “guide” stars to tell where it is pointing at any given moment.
The spacecraft can be maneuvered to a desired pointing and held there steadily.

Chandra’s pointing system is extremely precise – from a

kilometer (0.6 miles) away, it would be able to find the center
of a bull’s-eye to within three
millimeters – about the size of a pinhead!

?
Think of some appliances in your home. Can you identify some that use as much power
(2 kw) as Chandra? Start with something simple: how much power does the light bulb in your
bedroom use? How many of those light bulbs could be powered by the Chandra solar arrays?
 Chandra will Investigate:
Black Holes.

What is a black hole?

When a collapsed star has more than three times the mass of the Sun, Einstein’s general theory of
relativity requires that it will collapse forever to form one of the weirdest objects in the universe: a
black hole.

A black hole does not have a surface in the usual sense of the word. There is simply a region in space
around a black hole beyond which we cannot see, because nothing – not even light – can escape from
this region. The boundary between what we can see and what we can’t see is called the event horizon.

How can scientists observe

black holes?
Scientists can’t observe black holes
directly. They can observe light in the
form of X-rays produced by
matter as it swirls toward a black
hole.

Why does matter falling toward a

black hole produce X-rays?
As gas and dust particles swirl toward
a black hole, they speed up and form
a flattened disk. Collisions between
the particles heat them to extreme
temperatures. Just before particles
pass beyond the event horizon, their
temperature rises to many millions of
degrees – hot enough to produce X-rays. An X-ray telescope is the only way to observe this process, and
Chandra’s increased sensitivity will allow scientists to see details of this process as never before.

Do Black holes grow when matter falls into them?

Yes, a black hole in the center of a galaxy where stars are crowded together may grow to a billion times
the mass of the Sun.

The energy released from large clouds of gas as they fall into these
supermassive black holes can be stupendous – greater than the output of
an entire galaxy with a hundred billion stars!

?
The average speed of particles in a 100 million degree gas is over 2 million miles per hour.
Why do you think the gas around a black hole gets so hot? (Hint: a black hole has extremely
strong gravity.)
 Chandra Will Investigate:
The Creative Violence of Supernovae

What is a supernova?
A supernova is a catastrophic explosion of a massive star. In our galaxy this occurs, on average, about
once every 50 years.

What causes a massive star to explode?

When a massive star uses up its nuclear fuel, it collapses. The interior of the star is crushed to higher
and higher densities, eventually reaching temperatures of billions of degrees. Under these extreme
conditions, more energetic nuclear reactions occur violently and the collapse is reversed. A
thermonuclear shock wave races through the now expanding stellar debris, fusing lighter elements
into heavier ones, and producing a brilliant visual outburst that can be as intense as the light of ten
billion suns!

Why are supernovae important to our existence?

Without supernovae many of the elements necessary for life would not be available on Earth. Elements
such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen are manufactured deep in the interior of stars. They remain there
until a supernova spreads them throughout the galaxy.

Elements heavier than iron, such as gold or iodine, cannot be produced from reactions in normal stars.
A supernova is the only process in the universe energetic enough to form these heavier elements.

Why is an X-ray telescope useful for observing the effects of a supernova?

The shell of matter thrown off by a supernova plows through the surrounding matter and creates a
bubble of multimillion-degree gas. This hot gas will expand and produce X-radiation for thousands of
years. Chandra will make it possible to study, better than ever before, the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen,
silicon, calcium, iron, and other elements created by stars and spread by supernovae.

Supernovae are creative flashes that renew

the galaxy. They seed the interstellar gas with heavy
elements, heat it with the energy of
their radiation, stir it up with the force of
their blast waves and cause new stars to form.

Tycho Supernova
Remnant

?
Look at a periodic table of the elements and find the elements numbered higher than iron.
How would life be different if there were no supernovae and these elements were never created?
 Chandra will Investigate:

Clusters of galaxies and dark matter.

Are galaxies spread evenly throughout space?

No – most galaxies clump together in groups. A group of galaxies can contain anywhere from a few
galaxies to a few thousand galaxies; the larger groups are called clusters of galaxies. More than half of all
galaxies are members of groups or clusters. Our own Milky Way is part of a group of galaxies called the
Local Group.

Why were X-ray observations of clusters of galaxies a big surprise?

The X-ray observatories discovered very hot, X-ray emitting gas between the galaxies. The mass of this
gas in any one cluster is tremendous – greater than all the stars in all the galaxies in the cluster.

A cluster of galaxies that contains multimillion-degree gas poses a puzzle. Hot gas expands, and the
combined gravity from the galaxies and gas in the cluster isn’t enough to prevent the gas from escaping.
Scientists conclude there must be some unobserved, dark matter providing additional gravity to hold the
gas in the cluster.

How much dark matter is needed to hold the hot gas in a cluster?
An enormous amount is needed – about three to ten times the total mass observed in the gas and
galaxies combined. Most of the matter in the universe may be in the form of dark matter!

What could dark matter be?

Dark matter could be collapsed stars, planets or black
holes. Or it could be subatomic particles that – unlike
the particles that make up normal matter – produce
no light, and can only be detected through their
gravity. The exact nature of dark matter is a mystery
at this time. Detailed measurements of the size and
temperature of the hot gas clouds in clusters of
galaxies by Chandra will help to unveil the nature of
dark matter and give scientists new clues to the
origin, evolution and destiny of the universe.

An optical image of a Cluster of galaxies overlayed with

contours showing the hot gas trapped in the Cluster.

?
Astrophysicists cannot visit clusters of galaxies to take direct measurements of the dark
matter. Suppose you were asked to describe the weather today without going outside. Think
of some creative ways you could estimate the wind speed, the temperature, or the amount
of rain or snow from inside your house.
 For the Classroom

The picture on the left shows an optical photograph of the Coma Cluster of galaxies which is about 300
million light years from Earth. The optical image shows many individual galaxies, but that is only part of
the story.

By coloring in the numbers on the grid on the right according to the following code:

3 = Red, 2 = Yellow, 1 = Blue, 0 = Black

you can make an X-ray image of the same region. The color code represents the brightness of the X-ray
emissions due to the concentration of hot gas, from very bright (3) to none (0). The false-color X-ray
image reveals the presence of vast clouds of hot gas which contain more mass than all the stars in the
galaxies put together. This enormous cloud of hot gas is several million light years across. (One light year
is equal to the distance light travels in a year – 6 trillion miles!)

Advanced Activity: How much gas is there?

Assuming that the gas cloud shown above can be approximated as a sphere with a radius of 8 million
light years, calculate its volume in cubic light years.

Measurements with X-ray telescopes have helped estimate the mass density in the hot gas in the Coma
Cluster. The average mass density for this gas is vastly smaller than Earth’s average mass density. In fact,
a volume of this gas with mass equal to the mass of the Earth would fill up a sphere one light year in
radius! Using this information, determine how many Earths could be made with the total mass from the
gas cloud above.

The mass of the Earth is about 0.0003 percent of the mass of the Sun. How many Suns could be made
with this cloud of hot gas?
Top Ten Amazing Facts
About Chandra

#1 Chandra will fly 200 times higher than Hubble - more than 1/3 of the way
to the moon!

#9 Chandra will be observing X-rays from clouds of gas so vast that it takes light
five million years to go from one side to the other!

#8 During maneuvers from one target to the next, Chandra slews more slowly than
the minute hand on a clock.

#7 At 45 feet long, Chandra is the largest satellite the shuttle has ever launched.

#6 If Colorado were as smooth as Chandra's mirrors, Pikes Peak would be less

than one inch tall!

#5 Chandra’s resolving power is equivalent to the ability to read the headline of

a newspaper at the distance of half a mile.

#4 The electrical power required to operate the Chandra spacecraft and instruments
is 2 kilowatts, about the same power as a hair dryer.

#3 The light from some of the quasars observed by Chandra will have been traveling
through space for ten billion years.

#2 STS-93, the space mission that will deploy Chandra, is the first NASA shuttle
mission commanded by a woman.

#1 Chandra can observe X-rays from particles up to the

last second before they fall into a black hole!!!!