Seven lesser known facts about Chandra observatory of NASA

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a deep space observatory by launched by NASA in 1999, July 23. Though the observatory was intially meant to be named as Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), it was later named as Chandra in the honour of Nobel prize winning astrophysicist from India –  Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.

Here are some cool facts about telescope giant which helps man to peep into very distant parts of the universe.

• Chandra flies 200 times higher than Hubble – more than 1/3 of the way to the moon!
• Chandra can observe X-rays from clouds of gas so vast that it takes light five million years to go from one side to the other!
• Chandra is the largest satellite the shuttle has ever launched. On the contrary, Hubbles telescope is just 43 feet long

• Chandra’s resolving power is equivalent to the ability to read a traffic stop sign at a distance of twelve miles.
• The electrical power required to operate the Chandra spacecraft and instruments is 2 kilowatts, about the same power as a hair dryer.
• STS-93, the space mission that deployed Chandra, was the first NASA shuttle mission commanded by a woman!
• Chandra can observe X-rays from particles up to the last second before they fall into a black hole!!!

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Hubble Space Telescope captures stunning images of Bubble Nebula