The Big, Bad & Beautiful Universe with Chandra

Narrator (Chris Camilleri): In fifteen years of operation, the Chandra X-ray Observatory has given us a view of the universe that is largely hidden from telescopes sensitive only to visible light.

Chandra has captured galaxy clusters – the largest gravitationally bound objects in the universe – in the process of forming, and provided the best evidence yet that the cosmos is dominated by a mysterious substance called dark matter.

Chandra has observed gas circling near a black hole’s event horizon. The atoms of this gas are doomed to destruction by the extreme gravity of the black hole.

Most of the elements necessary for life are forged inside stars and blasted into interstellar space by supernovas. Chandra has tracked these elements with unprecedented accuracy.

Young stars are crackling with X-ray flares and other energetic radiation. By monitoring clusters of young stars, Chandra can give us a sense of what our young Sun was like when life was evolving on Earth.

Chandra: Taking us on a unique voyage into the big, bad and beautiful universe.

Credit: NASA/CXC. Produced by A.Hobart (CXC), Directed by K.Arcand (CXC), Script by W.Tucker (CXC), Narration by Chris Camilleri;