NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the world's largest and most powerful X-ray telescope, has been chosen as one of the "Best of What's New" items by Popular Science magazine. The Chandra Observatory is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Each year, the editors of Popular Science review thousands of new products, technology developments and scientific achievements to select the top 100 "Best of What's New." The December issue of the magazine, on sale today, highlights Chandra and all the winners. They are also featured on the magazine's Web site at: http://www.popsci.com .
The Chandra X-ray Observatory, named in honor of the late Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar of the University of Chicago, was launched in July. Chandra is already sending back images which astronomers are hailing as "fantastic" and of great benefit in understanding the mysteries of exploding stars, black holes and other celestial phenomena.
For more about the discoveries made with images taken by Chandra, visit the Web site: http://chandra.nasa.gov .
TRW Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, Calif., is leader of the industry team that built Chandra. That team includes Raytheon Optical Systems in Danbury, Conn., Optical Coating Laboratory in Santa Rosa, Calif., Eastman Kodak in Rochester, N.Y., and Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colo.
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., manages the Chandra science program and controls the observatory for NASA.
Note to Editors / News Directors: Interviews, photos and video supporting this release are available to media representatives by contacting Steve Roy of the Marshall Media Relations Department at (256) 544-0034. For an electronic version of this release, digital images or more information, visit Marshall's News Center on the Web at: http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news