Check out stunning photos from the $2 billion space telescope that captures the invisible universe — and that NASA plans to defund

Morgan McFall-JohnsenApr 16, 2024, 21:23 IST

Messier 74, nicknamed "the Phantom Galaxy" for its dimness, comes to life when Chandra revealed its X-ray activity (purple) alongside observations from Hubble and Webb.X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; IR NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team; Image Processing: N. Wolk and K. Arcand

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory faces budget cuts that may end its mission.
Chandra still makes new black-hole discoveries and joins forces with the Webb and Hubble telescopes.

One of NASA's top space telescopes may be facing an untimely end due to budget cuts.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory has been orbiting Earth for 25 years, peering at the universe in X-ray light that's invisible to the human eye.

Through its stunning images, the telescope has revealed that the cosmos is teeming with black holes, discovered direct evidence for the existence of dark matter, and spotted the light of colliding neutron stars that warped space-time.

Check out some of Chandra's best photos, including collaborations with the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is one of NASA's flagship space telescopes.

The Tarantula Nebula, imaged by the Chandra and Webb space telescopes. Chandra's X-ray observations (in royal blue and purple) reveal gas that was heated to millions of degrees by shock waves from the wind of massive stars.X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/JWST ERO Production Team

But in its budget request for the 2025 fiscal year, NASA slashed Chandra's funding from $68 million to $41 million.

Combined data from Chandra and Webb revealed new details of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A.X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Milisavljevic et al., NASA/JPL/CalTech; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt and K. Arcand

That budget plan is not enough to keep the telescope running at full capacity.

Chandra revealed X-ray emissions (pink) on Uranus for the first time, either from its rings, from auroras on the planet, or from its atmosphere scattering the sun's X-rays.X-ray: NASA/CXO/University College London/W. Dunn et al; Infrared: W.M. Keck Observatory

The observatory still makes new discoveries, like the record-setting black hole in this image.

The James Webb and Chandra telescopes teamed up to produce this X-ray image of the most distant black hole ever discovered.X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/Ákos Bogdán; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare & K. Arcand

Chandra also complements Webb and Hubble photos by imaging ultra-hot material that's invisible to those telescopes.

The "Pillars of Creation," a formation of dusty clouds where new stars are born, as imaged by the James Webb and Chandra space telescopes.X-ray: NASA/CXO/SAO; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image processing: L. Frattare.

For instance, take the bright X-ray footprint at the center of the Milky Way in this image.

Chandra spotted Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.NASA/CXC/Univ. of Wisconsin/Y.Bai, et al.

Chandra is also key to studying explosive, fleeting cosmic events like supernovae or the collisions of dead stars.

Here Chandra made the first X-ray detection of a gravitational wave source — a collision of neutron stars called GW170817.X-ray: NASA/CXC/Northwestern U./W. Fong & R. Margutti et al. & NASA/GSFC/E. Troja et al.; Optical:NASA/STScI

Rubin will open an entirely new field of astronomy.

Chandra joined forces with other telescopes to map this remnant of a supernova explosion that suddenly appeared in the night sky 800 years ago.X-ray: (Chandra) NASA/CXC/U. Manitoba/C. Treyturik, (XMM-Newton) ESA/C. Treyturik; Optical: (Pan-STARRS) NOIRLab/MDM/Dartmouth/R. Fesen; Infrared: (WISE) NASA/JPL/Caltech/; Image Processing: Univ. of Manitoba/Gilles Ferrand and Jayanne English

NASA had to trim down somewhere.

A mosaic of the center of the Milky Way, using data from Chandra (shown in orange, green, and purple) and the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa (gray).X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass/Q.D. Wang; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKAT

NASA's budget document suggested Chandra should scale down to "minimal operations."

Chandra captured the two tails of superheated gas (in blue) that this galaxy leaves behind as it barrels through space at 1.5 million miles per hour.X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville/M. Sun et al.; H-&alpha: ESO/MUSE; Optical/IR: NASA/STScI/HST

Patrick Slane, director of the Chandra X-ray Center, took issue with that explanation.

Chandra revealed mysterious clumps throughout the Tycho supernova remnant.X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIKEN & GSFC/T. Sato et al; Optical: DSS

"I'm unclear whether I still have a job in October, or whether I can keep it one more year," McDowell said.

This Chandra image of a galaxy cluster shows a clear separation between the normal matter seen as hot gas in X-rays (pink) and where astronomers find most of the mass in the cluster (blue). The blue regions must be dark matter.X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/M.Markevitch et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al.; Lensing Map: NASA/STScI; ESO WFI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al.

Astronomers are pushing to save Chandra.

The Kepler supernova remnant is the remains of a white dwarf that exploded after undergoing a thermonuclear explosion. Chandra (blue) shows a powerful blast wave that ripped through space after the detonation.NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: SDSS; NASA/ESA/STScI; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Spitzer; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk, K. Arcand

NASA's 2025 budget won't be final until Congress approves it later this year.

Chandra's data (pink) reveals over a dozen individual X-ray sources, mostly young stars, in the "Cosmic Cliffs" formation of the Carina Nebula.X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. Observ. Munich/T. Preibisch et al.; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI

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Check out stunning photos from the $2 billion space telescope that captures the invisible universe &mdash; and that NASA plans to defund