Space images never get old, right?
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Chandra X-ray Observatory’s launch into space, NASA has released 25 new images captured by the telescope, capturing everything from supermassive black holes to supernova remnants. The telescope’s X-ray technology allows it to illuminate areas of the universe that scientists normally can’t see, such as material orbiting black holes or the remains of exploding stars.
“For a quarter century, Chandra has made one amazing discovery after another,” said Pat Slane, director of the Chandra X-ray Center. “Astronomers have used Chandra to explore exoplanets, dark energy, and other mysteries that were unknown when the telescope was built.”
You can see the full gallery here, but below we’ve selected five images and their descriptions to give you a sense of the atmosphere.
Mashable Lightspeed
Check out NASA’s next space station, which won’t be orbiting Earth.
NGC 6872
Credit: NASA
“In this composite image, a large spiral galaxy is losing some of its superheated gas to a smaller nearby galaxy. NGC 6872, in the center of the frame, is a large spiral galaxy with two elongated arms that stretch toward the upper right and lower left. Near the white dot in the galaxy’s center, neon purple clouds stain the arms, which appear steely blue at the tips. The purple represents the hot gas detected by Chandra. To the upper left of NGC 6872 is a second spiral galaxy. Its spiral arms are much smaller, but the bright white dot in its center is very large, suggesting a supermassive black hole. Some of the steely blue material and gas from NGC 6872’s lower arm appears to be drifting toward the smaller galaxy, possibly attracted by the supermassive black hole.”
NGC 1365
Credit: NASA
“This composite image provides an up-close look at the supermassive black hole at the center of the spiral galaxy known as NGC 1365. At the center of the image, the bright black hole glows white with its outer edges tinted a bright blue. Two thick, rope-like red arms spiral out from this center. The arms continue to spiral in a curve, stretching well beyond the edges of the frame. The image is dotted with a series of white dots with neon blue outer edges. These are stars paired with smaller black holes or neutron stars observed by Chandra.”
15-52th place
Credit: NASA
“In this composite image, the pulsar, pulsar wind nebula, and low-energy X-ray cloud combine to create the uncanny sight of a skeletal hand reaching for a glowing ember. The hand reaches out from the bottom of the image, its ghostly blue flesh and white bone representing the X-rays of the pulsar wind nebula observed by Chandra. The bright white dot on the wrist is the pulsar itself. Just beyond the fingertips of the hand, near the upper right, is a mottled yellow-orange shape that appears to be glowing from within. This is the low-energy X-ray cloud observed by Chandra.”
Jupiter
Credit: NASA
“In this composite image of Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun is surrounded by neon purple blobs against the darkness of space. Here, Jupiter is in crystal clear focus. More than a dozen swirling bands of gas crisscross its surface, each with a different texture and shade of gray. The gas giant is surrounded by a thin sky-blue ring, the same color as the large storm swirling on its surface at the lower right. The top edge of Jupiter, tilted slightly to the right of the center, is a neon purple band. A similar, smaller neon purple line can be seen on Jupiter’s bottom edge. This purple band covers the planet’s magnetic poles and represents the X-ray auroras that are created when high-energy particles collide with gas in the planet’s atmosphere. To the left and right, large fuzzy blobs of neon purple flank Jupiter on either side, some of which are larger than the gas giant itself. Auroras, these purple clouds represent the X-rays observed by Chandra.”
M16 (Eagle Nebula)
Credit: NASA
“This composite image shows a star-forming region known as the Pillars of Creation, where a long column of gray gas and dust emerges from the bottom edge of the image and stretches toward the upper right. Set against a backdrop of dark orange and pink mist, the cloud-like gray pillar is surrounded by dozens of softly glowing dots in white, red, blue, yellow and purple. These dots are young stars that emit X-rays and infrared light. Amid the swirling turbulent gas and dust, the pillar tilts to the right, with smaller branches pointing in the same direction. The misty glow, colorful stars and lifelike gray dust combine to create an image of a twilight cloud creature reaching out to something just outside the frame.”
