NASA Releases Phenomenal Unseen Images of the Universe

NASA did just that, sharing never-before-seen images of the universe to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their X-ray observatory. But what do these images show?

One of these telescopes is known as Chandra. The newly released images come from Chandra, which has worked with the other telescopes to clarify the images and determine what each one is.

Chandra has to orbit above the X-rays as they are easily absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere. As it has been orbiting for 25 years, NASA released some very special photographs that have never been seen before so the public can see what work it does.

Of those four, only Chandra and Hubble are still in space. Chandra is used to investigate previously unknown aspects of space and the universe, including exoplanets and dark energy.

Chandra was finally ready to begin its mission over two decades later. However, the wait was worth it, as it has the highest-quality X-ray mirrors ever manufactured, which enable it to capture high-quality images.

For example, it took Chandra 64 days and 370 observations over roughly 20 years of the Milky Way before it was able to take a clear image of its center. This is 26,000 light years away from Earth. 

Thanks to Chandra, astronomists have now been able to clarify that this haze is actually a collection of distant black holes. Blurrier telescopes had merged the emissions together to make it look like a haze, but thankfully, Chandra can clarify what it actually is.

This image is the remains of a supernova explosion. At its core is a pulsar, a rotating neutron star that emits electromagnetic radiation. The white dots have been created by particles that were driven away from the pulsar and collided with gas in the nebula, which produces the X-rays. 

The shadow roughly spans 200 times the diameter of the entire solar system. Back in 2020, astronomers studying it noticed a shadow that looked like it was “flapping like the wings of a bird,” which they believe was a planet pulling on the disk and warping it.

Of all the stars within the Cat’s Paw Nebula, the brightest are located right in the center. The released image was taken 40.3 light-years across and is roughly 4,370 light years from Earth. 

Orange and pink mist surrounds multicolored dots, which are young stars emitting X-ray and infrared light. The columns and stars combine to make the image look like a hand reaching out for something not featured in the image.

Each galaxy is resembled by white dots, disks, or glowing outer rings. The white and pink dots are the M86 galaxy, which is traveling through the cluster at three million miles per hour. The neon purple streak is hot gas being pulled from the traveling galaxy.

The image shows that Cassiopeia A has neon blue and white rings that emit gold streaks. Chandra was also able to pick up debris from the exploding star and the blast wave that resulted from the explosion. 

They were also able to find “superfluid” within the star. This fluid suggests that the original star may have turned inside out when it exploded. All of this helps astronomers gain a better understanding of the violent evolution of stars.

It is around 30 times heavier than the sun and 15,000 light-years away from Earth. The reds and purples in the image are dense wind clouds that form around the star, which scientists believe are stopping Chandra from spotting a companion neutron star within it.

Chandra can also detect neutron stars that pull material from their companion stars. The image shows the black hole glowing in the center, red arms throughout it and various light blue dots.

Faint clouds go around the lines of the speckled arms, and a bright white dot with a neon purple ring around it represents the black hole. The dot and the ring represent the hot gas around the black hole.

There is a small, glowing pink circle in the center of the image, located within a large Magellanic Cloud. The circle represents material that was ejected thousands of years before the explosion and the blast wave that caused it.

They are also known as NGC 4438 and NGC 4435. NGC 4438 is surrounded by a neon purple cloud of hot gas, whereas a neon purple ring surrounds NGC 4435.

Chandra could pick up on the swirling bits of gas encircled by a light blue ring. The bits of purple in the image represent X-ray auroras, which are created when high-energy particles collide with the gas in Jupiter’s atmosphere. 

The Milky Way has a row of bright spots and swirls amongst stars and red and purple clouds. The threads are sources of radio waves and can create clusters, streaks, and ribbons.

It is 1,500 light-years away and is one of the closest star-forming regions to Earth. We can even see it on Earth without a telescope; however, this is only possible at night.

A yellow dot represents the nebula, which is inside some light blue veins. This is a lightning cluster. The X-ray cloud is neon purple and represents the debris from the star that was destroyed during the supernova explosion.

There is a worry that these cuts could shorten Chandra’s mission by the end of the decade. Should this happen, and with no other telescopes set to take its place, the future of astronomy could really suffer.