#ChandraScience

2024-07-24

This anniversary, we celebrate the team behind the mission. Thanks, Chandra team, for all you do!

(Shown here is a group shot of some of the team, past and present, at the party at our Control Center yesterday).
#Chandra25 #Astrodon #ChandraScience

A wide group shot of ~50 people in rows.
2024-07-23

Good morning, it is July 23 here in Cambridge, MA, meaning that today is our 25th BIRTHDAY!

What better way to start this party than a release of 25 images to celebrate 25 years: nasa.gov/missions/chandra/25-i

#Astrodon #Astronomy #Astrophysics #NASA #Science #Space #XRayAstronomy #ChandraScience #XRaysAreTheBestRays #25Years

This image shows a collection of 25 new space images celebrating the Chandra X-ray Observatory’s 25th anniversary. The images are arranged in a grid, displayed as five images across in five separate rows. Starting from the upper left, and going across each row, the objects imaged are: Crab Nebula, Orion Nebula, The Eyes Galaxies, Cat’s Paw Nebula, Milky Way’s Galactic Center, M16, Bat Shadow, NGC 7469, Virgo Cluster, WR 124, G21.5-0.9, Centaurus A, Cassiopeia A, NGC 3532, NGC 6872, Hb 5, Abell 2125, NGC 3324, NGC 1365, MSH 15-52, Arp 220, Jupiter, NGC 1850, MACS J0035, SN 1987A.
2024-04-11

We're here at the Main Event of #HEAD21 -- The #Chandra25 Session. We have three talks---by Daryl Haggard, Tea Temim, and Stephanie LaMassa---on Sgr A*, Supernovae, and AGN, respectively. #ChandraScience

Schedule of a session at a conference, showing three thirty minute talks.
2024-04-11

It's a full house at #HEAD21 to learn about the Chandra Source Catalog! CSC 2.1 just released last week, and you can access it at cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/csc/. #Astrodon #ChandraScience #XraysAreTheBestRays

A conference room viewed from the rear with five rows of tables, each filled with people sitting down watching a presentation.A view into a conference room with multiple rows of tables, seen from outside over the heads of people standing in the doorway.
2024-04-09

Are you at #HEAD21? Come swing by our booth! Get a brand-new #Chandra25 sticker, find out about the upcoming symposium (cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/cdo/sympos), ask your questions about the observatory, and find out about the great new work being done by our archives and source catalog teams!

#XRaysAreTheBestRays #ChandraScience #Astrodon

A man sitting at a long table with a black tablecloth. He is smiling at the camera. Behind him is an 8 foot tall / 8 foot wide backdrop, depicting the Chandra X-ray Observatory in space, with a cosmic nebula behind it. Across the table are various documents and handouts, a model of the spacecraft, and a prominent QR code. Following the advice of this toot, a man is standing at the left of the table, looking at material there.
2023-03-14

It's currently 6 PM EDT on Mar 14. There are now 24 hours remaining in the #ChandraCycle25 Call for Proposals. 🛰️
#ChandraScience #Astrodon

2023-03-09

Don't forget -- the #Chandra Cycle 25 Call for Proposals closes on March 15 at 6 PM EDT.

All the information you can need is given on our page for proposers: cxc.harvard.edu/proposer/, including a section on What's New and FAQs.

Still need help? We're answering your HelpDesk tickets with enhanced staffing. Submit your questions now: cxc.harvard.edu/helpdesk/

And remember -- your references now get their own page! #ChandraScience #Astrodon #XRayAstronomy #Astrophysics #Astronomy #NASA

2023-02-03

Did you catch our recent #ChandraScience image of Abell 2256, a spectacular merger of at least three galaxy clusters? The hot gas components of these clusters is traced with X-rays -- shown here in blue, using data from us (#Chandra) and our ESA-led friends at #XMM-Newton. This cosmic collision is also a source of radio emission, shown in red from #LOFAR, #GMRT, and the #VLA, produced via particle acceleration. For more details, see
chandra.si.edu/photo/2023/a225
#Astronomy #Astrodon #Astrophysics

Composite image of at least three galaxy clusters colliding in a jumbled scene. The resulting giant galaxy cluster, known as Abell 2256, resembles a grainy, pixelated, sky blue cloud topped with licks of flaming red hair. The cloud is adorned with red shapes and streaks, and set against a black background heavily dotted with colorful specks.
Near our lower left sits the oval-shaped, sky-blue cloud pixelated with white dots. This is the center of the combined galaxy cluster. 
Shooting out of the giant cluster, angled toward our upper-middle right, is a straight, thin red line. This is a jet; a stream of particles blasting away from a giant black hole. A second, much shorter jet, crosses the tip of the first jet near the right hand side of the image.
In the giant cluster, on the right hand side, are several irregular shapes. One resembles a bright white bean with a red outline. Beside it is a tangle of overlapping red shapes dangling out the bottom of the cloud. These are filaments, the result of jets interacting with gas. Three other irregular red filaments can be found to our left, just outside of the giant cluster.
At the upper right hand edge of the oval-shaped giant cluster are sweeping sheets of red, which resemble lapping flames or licks of red hair. These relics are the results of shockwaves, likely generated by the collision of gas from the different clusters.
2023-01-30

For further information, please see the original announcement concerning the anomaly: groups.google.com/a/cfa.harvar; the follow-up from two weeks later: groups.google.com/a/cfa.harvar; and the most recent previous update from this September: groups.google.com/a/cfa.harvar.

Summarizing these previous announcements: Last February, the HRC instrument was found to be in an anomalous state and was shut down. The issue was traced to the +/- 15 V power supply. #Chandra #ChandraXRay #ChandraScience

2023-01-30

An update on the HRC Return to Science. A text version is available here: groups.google.com/a/cfa.harvar

In short: following the anomaly of last year, science and engineering teams have devised a mode of operations that has been successful for four observations. This involves limiting durations of observing segments to 15 ks. We intend to begin scheduling HRC observations under these constraints the week of 06 March. #Chandra #ChandraXRay #ChandraScience #Astrophysics #Astrodon #Astronomy #NASA

Three paragraphs of text, reading as follows. 

Update on HRC Return to Science

The Chandra science and engineering teams are preparing to return the HRC to use for science observations. Following an investigation of the anomaly experienced on 09 February 2022, the teams have tested scenarios by which observations with the instrument can again commence. Four successful observations were carried out in the investigation, and the instrument behavior was nominal in each.

To avoid conditions encountered in the previous anomaly, thermal models will be used to limit observation durations that would lead to temperatures above a defined threshold. Observing segments will be limited to durations of 15 ks or less, with at least 30 ks intervals between successive observations with the instrument.

Current plans are to begin scheduling HRC observations in the regular spacecraft loads beginning with the week of 06 March 2023, although some testing of the schedule generation is still underway. The current Chandra long-term schedule (LTS) has been updated to include HRC observations, with all such targets from Cycle 22 and 23 targeted for completion by the end of the LTS (except for a few with constraints that require later observations). Some Cycle 24 HRC observations are in the current LTS as well. The remainder, along with remaining Cycle 24 ACIS observations, will be placed in the next LTS that will begin in November 2023.

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