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Chandra Fun Facts FileQ: What Space Shuttle was Chandra launched on?A: Chandra was launched on NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999. Q: How high does Chandra orbit? A: Chandra flies more than 1/3 of the way to the moon! Q: How quickly can Chandra move from one target to the next? A: Chandra can move more slowly than the minute hand on a clock. Q: How does Chandra compare in size to other satellites? A: At 45 feet long, Chandra is the largest satellite the shuttle has ever launched. Q: How smooth are Chandra's mirrors? A: If Colorado were as smooth as Chandra's mirrors, Pikes Peak would be less than one inch tall! Q: How much electricity does it take to operate Chandra? A: The electrical power required to operate the satellite is about 2000 watts, roughly the same power as a hair dryer. Chandra's power is generated by the satellite's solar panels. Q: What was the first NASA space shuttle mission commanded by a woman? A: STS-93, the space shuttle mission that deployed Chandra, was commanded by Col. Eileen Collins. Q: What are the largest cosmic objects that Chandra can observe? A: Chandra can image the X-rays from clouds of hot gas in galaxy clusters that are so vast that light takes five million years to go from one side to the other! Q: How far back in time can Chandra look? A: The light from some of the quasars Chandra can observe has been traveling through space for over 14 billion years. Q: How keen is Chandra's vision? A: Chandra's resolving power is equivalent to the ability to read the letters of a STOP sign at a distance of 12 miles! Q: What was the first imaging X-ray telescope? A: NASA's Einstein Observatory, launched in 1978, was the first X-ray telescope with mirrors that could image cosmic sources. An earlier telescope aboard Skylab made X-ray images of the Sun. Q: How does the CXO record cosmic X-rays so that images can be made and studied? A: The Observatory uses two different instruments–the high resolution camera, and the CCD imaging spectrometer–to record X-rays from cosmic sources. Q: What rare metal was used to coat the Chandra mirrors? A: The Chandra mirrors were coated a millionth of an inch thick with iridium, a rare metal more reflective than gold. Q: How clean are the Chandra mirrors? A: The Chandra mirrors are 99.999% clean. The equivalent of at most one speck of dust on an area the size of your computer screen. Q: How accurate is the alignment of the Chandra mirrors? A: The alignment of the mirrors from one end of the mirror assembly to the other (2.7 meters or 9 feet) is accurate to 1.3 micrometers (50 millionths of an inch) or about one fiftieth the width of a human hair! Q: How much would a teaspoonful of neutron star matter weigh? A: About 2.5 billion tons. Q: Who discovered X-radiation? A: X-radiation was discovered by German scientist Wilhelm Roentgen. Q: How are X-rays absorbed in Earth's atmosphere? A: Cosmic X-rays are absorbed in the atmosphere by Nitrogen and Oxygen molecules in a process called the photoelectric effect. Q: How is a black hole formed? A: By the collapse of a star much more massive than the Sun. Q: Will the Sun collapse to form a black hole? A: No. The Sun will collapse to form a white dwarf. Q: How hot must matter be to radiate in X-rays? A: Very high temperatures (millions of degrees Celsius) produce X-rays. Q: Are mirrors on X-ray telescopes the same shape as the mirrors on optical telescopes? A: No. X-ray telescope mirrors are shaped like barrels, because X-rays reflect off mirrors at grazing angles. Q: Why are X-ray observatories placed high above the Earth's surface? A: X-ray observatories must be above the Earth's atmosphere because cosmic X-rays are absorbed in the atmosphere. |
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