NASA study reveals suspected black hole is actually an ultraluminous pulsar

(Galaxy M82: the location of the pulsar – Photo Credit: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Toulouse/M. Bachetti/NOAO)

A new NASA study has revealed that an Ultraluminous X-ray Source (ULX) that astronomers had thought was a black hole is actually the brightest pulsar ever recorded.

Image of the Day: 17/9/14

(Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SAO)

The bright blue dot in this image is an energetic pulsar – the magnetic, spinning core of star that blew up in a supernova explosion – that was discovered by NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR).

Chandra X-ray Observatory discovers an exoplanet that ages its parent star

(This artist’s illustration depicts WASP-18b and its star – Photo Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss)

A new study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has found that a giant exoplanet, WASP-18b, is causing the star it orbits to act much older than it actually is, demonstrating that a massive planet can affect the behaviour of its parent star.

Image of the Day: 26/8/14

(Photo credit: NASA/CXC/GSFC/K.Hamaguchi, et al)

This is the Eta Carinae star system, a double star system which contains one of the biggest and brightest stars in the Milky Way. Eta Carinae was one of the first objects observed by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and 15 years after its launch, Chandra continues to monitor the star. The system is extremely volatile, is expected to have at least one supernova explosion in the future and it continues to reveal new clues about its nature through the X-rays it generates. 

Image of the Day: 21/8/14

(Photo Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/IAFE)

The results of a destructive supernova explosion have been captured in infrared and X-ray light in this image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton.

Chandra Observatory searches for the cause of nearby supernova

(Supernova SN 2014J – Photo Credit: NASA/SAO/CXC/R. Margutti et al)

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is helping determine what caused SN 2014J, one of the closest supernovas discovered in decades.

X-ray data, captured before and after the stellar explosion, has revealed information about the environment around the supernova, enabling scientists to learn more about the possible cause of the explosion. 

Chandra X-ray observatory celebrates 15th anniversary

(To celebrate the anniversary, these four new images of supernova remnants have been released – Photo Credit: NASA)

Fifteen years ago, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched and deployed into space by the Space Shuttle Columbia. Since then, Chandra’s amazing X-ray vision has helped revolutionize our understanding of the universe by not only photographing distant cosmic supernovas, but also aiding ground-breaking research on dark matter.