00:02Visit Chandra's Beautiful Universe
00:05Chandra's 25th Anniversary
00:10To celebrate the 25th anniversary of its launch,
00:14NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is releasing
00:1625 never-before-seen views of a wide range of cosmic objects.
00:21These images, which all show data from Chandra,
00:25demonstrate how X-ray astronomy explores all corners of the universe.
00:30By combining X-rays from Chandra with other space-based observatories
00:33and telescopes on the ground, astronomers can tackle the biggest questions
00:37and investigate long-standing mysteries across the cosmos.
00:44On July 23, 1999, the space shuttle Columbia launched into orbit,
00:50carrying Chandra, which was then the heaviest payload ever carried by the shuttle.
00:55With Commander Eileen Collins at the helm,
00:57the astronomers aboard Columbia successfully deployed Chandra
01:01into its highly elliptical orbit that takes it nearly one-third of the distance to the Moon.
01:07X-rays are an especially penetrating type of light that reveals extremely hot objects
01:12and very energetic physical processes.
01:15Many fascinating regions in space glow strongly in X-rays,
01:19such as the debris from exploded stars and material swirling around black holes.
01:24Stars, galaxies, and even planets also give off X-rays that can be studied with Chandra.
01:31The new set of images is a sample of almost 25,000 observations Chandra has taken during its quarter century
01:38in space.
01:42In 1976, Ricardo Giacconi and Harvey Tannenbaum first proposed to NASA the mission that would one day become Chandra.
01:50Eventually, Chandra was selected to become one of NASA's great observatories,
01:54along with the Hubble Space Telescope, Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope,
02:01each looking at different types of light.
02:03Today, astronomers continue to use Chandra data in conjunction with other powerful telescopes,
02:09including the James Webb Space Telescope, Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, and many more.
02:15Chandra Science has led to over 700 PhDs and has supported a diverse talent pool of more than 3,500
02:22undergraduate and graduate students,
02:24about 1,700 postdocs, and over 5,000 unique principal investigators throughout the U.S. and worldwide.
02:32Demand for the telescope has consistently been extremely high throughout the entire mission,
02:37with only about 20% of the requested observing time able to be approved.
02:42Despite being in space for a quarter century, Chandra is operating remarkably well,
02:47and is still making discovery after discovery.
02:51Scientists are looking forward to using this exceptional telescope for years to come.
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