Q&A: Chandra Mission
Q:
How sensitive is Chandra?
A:
Chandra is sensitive to energies of about 0.2 to 10 kiloelectron-volts, or keV. This corresponds to a wavelength range of about 1 to 60 angstroms (an angstrom is 10 raised to the minus 10 meters, so 0.0000000001 of a meter!! Very small!). Small wavelengths of light have higher energies - so a 1 angstrom wavelength photon (a photon is a "particle" of light) has an energy of about 1 keV. Similarly, longer wavelengths are lower energy, so a 60 angstrom wavelength photon has an energy of about 0.2 keV.
An electron-volt is a unit of energy that is convenient for X-ray astronomers to use - a kiloelectron-volt is 1000 of these units.
More information on the Chandra mission is available at http://chandra.harvard.edu/about/
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.
