An overview of the Chandra mission and goals, Chandra's namesake, top 10 facts.
Classroom activities, printable materials, interactive games & more.
Overview of X-ray Astronomy and X-ray sources: black holes to galaxy clusters.
All Chandra images released to the public listed by date & by category
Current Chandra press releases, status reports, interviews & biographies.
A collection of multimedia, illustrations & animations, a glossary, FAQ & more.
A collection of illustrations, animations and video.
Chandra discoveries in an audio/video format.
Chandra 101: Overview for Teachers and Students
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A Look at X-Rays

What are x-rays?

X-rays are a highly energetic form of light, not visible to human eyes. Light can take on many forms -- including radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma radiation. Very low temperatures (hundreds of degrees below zero Celsius) produce mostly low energy radio and microwave photons, whereas cool bodies like ours (about 30 degrees Celsius) produce largely infrared radiation. Objects at very high temperatures (millions of degrees Celsius) emit most of their energy as x-rays.

Electromagnetic spectrum, showing wavelength and temperature