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.
Q&A: X-ray Astronomy
What kind of polarization do X-rays have, linear or
circular?
X-rays, like other forms of electromagnetic radiation, can be
unpolarized or have linear, circular or elliptical polarization,
depending on the conditions under which they are produced. For
example, polarized X-rays are expected from accretion disks
around black holes, as well as from matter funneling onto the
surface of a highly magnetized neutron star. Unfortunately,
neither Chandra nor XMM-Newton has an X-ray polarimeter on
board.
