Tour: NASA's Chandra Opens Treasure Trove of Cosmic Delights
(Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)
[Runtime: 02:27]

With closed-captions (at YouTube)

Humanity has "eyes" that can detect all different types of light through telescopes around the globe and a flotilla of observatories in space. From radio waves to gamma rays, this "multiwavelength" approach to astronomy is crucial to getting a complete understanding of objects in space.

This compilation gives examples of images from different missions and telescopes being combined to better understand the science of the universe. Each of these images contains data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory as well as other telescopes. The collection includes various types of objects found throughout space. For example, Supernova 1987A and the Helix Nebula show how different the lives of stars can be. The former involved a star that exploded when it ran out of fuel in a violent explosion, while the other, the planetary nebula, shows the outer layers of a star that slowly puffed out into space. Eta Carinae is a double star system that has astronomers wondering what it will do next. M82 and the Cartwheel illustrate the life of galaxies, which come in different shapes and sizes and with histories of their own. And Abell 2744 is a galaxy cluster, one of the largest objects in the Universe held together by gravity.

Together, these images demonstrate the possibilities when data from across the electromagnetic spectrum are assembled.

Quick Look: NASA's Chandra Opens Treasure Trove of Cosmic Delights
(Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)
[Runtime: 1:12]

A new compilation of images of space illustrates the "multiwavelength" approach to astronomy that helps us get a more complete understanding of our Universe.

Each object in this collection contains X-rays from NASA's Chandra Observatory along with data from other telescopes that detect different kinds of light.

Messier 82, or M82, is a galaxy that is oriented edge-on to Earth undergoing a burst of star formation.

The Abell 2744 galaxy cluster is one of the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity.

Astronomers have watched Supernova 1987A, which was one of the brightest explosions seen in centuries, change over more than 30 years.

Eta Carinae is a double star system that might contain the next star to explode in our Milky Way galaxy.

Long ago, a smaller galaxy crashed through the Cartwheel Galaxy that led to the appearance of a bull's eye seen today.

In about 5 billion years, our Sun will enter a phase like the Helix Nebula when its outer layers will puff off into space.

All of these examples demonstrate the possibilities when data from across the electromagnetic spectrum are assembled.