Henize 2-10 is a dwarf galaxy, and it is the first dwarf galaxy ever discovered to contain a supermassive black hole at its center. This was surprising because the black hole is about one quarter of the size of the one at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. However, Henize 2-10 is only about1/1,000th the size of the Milky Way..
This image combines x-ray (Chandra), visible light (Hubble), and radio telescope (Very Large Array) views.
Image Credit: NASA / NRAO
This visualization takes the viewer to the center of our Galaxy, the position of the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole (Sgr A*). Supercomputer simulations using data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory show the effects of dozens of massive stars with fierce winds blowing off their surfaces in the region surrounding Sgr A*. Blue and cyan represent X-ray emission from ultra-hot gas with temperatures of tens of millions of degrees. Red shows ultraviolet emission from moderately dense regions of cooler gas with temperatures of merely tens of thousands of degrees, and yellow shows cooler gas with the highest densities and lowest temperatures. Use the widget in the upper left corner to pan and tilt around the simulation.
Video Credit: NASA
Video Credit: NASA
In 1054, observers around the world reported the appearance of a “new star” in the direction of the constellation Taurus. The remnant of that supernova is called the Crab Nebula, and it is powered by a quickly spinning, highly magnetized neutron star called a pulsar. The pulsar was formed when the massive star ran out of its nuclear fuel and collapsed. The combination of rapid rotation and a strong magnetic field in the Crab generates an intense electromagnetic field that creates jets of matter and anti-matter moving away from both the north and south poles of the pulsar and an intense wind flowing out in the equatorial direction.
This composite image of the nebula was created with data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue and white), the Hubble Space Telescope (purple), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (pink).
Image Credit: NASA
Video Credit: NASA
NGC 40 is one of a class of objects called planetary nebulas, so-called because they look like the disk of a planet when viewed with a small telescope. This composite X-ray (blue)/optical (red) image of the nebula NGC 40 shows that it is a bubble of hot gas around a dying Sun-like star. In another 30,000 years or so, the nebula will dissipate, leaving behind a smallt, ultradense white dwarf star about the size of Earth.
Image Credit: X-ray—NASA / CXC / RIT / J.Kastner & R.Montez.; Optical—NSF / AURA / NOAO / WIYN
When the Chandra X-ray Observatory took a look at Saturn, the images revealed that the rings sparkle in X-rays, shown here as blue dots superimposed over a visible light image. The likely source for this radiation is fluorescence caused by solar x-rays striking oxygen atoms in water molecules in the icy rings.
Image Credit: NASA
