chandra x ray

Celebrating the four centuries of astronomical advancement since Galileo took his first telescopic view of the heavens, NASA today unveiled this unique view of the heart of our galaxy as captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The 6-foot-by-3-foot prints were unveiled at more than 150 planetariums, museums, libraries, and centers of learning across the land, and man, is it ever a view.

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NASA today released a new, panoramic mosaic of the Milky Way, and frankly, it rivals anything snapped during the Hubble's early days. Taken by the Chandra X-ray space telescope, the picture shows the massive energy released by neutron stars and black holes more vividly than any previous picture.

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"We are all made of star stuff," said Carl Sagan, describing how dead stars birthed the building blocks of life. Astronomers have theorized that titanic star explosions create carbon, oxygen and other elements, then eject them into nearby interstellar space. Now researchers say a newly observed dispersal mechanism likened to a galactic sprinkler system may be strong enough to hurl the "star stuff" far beyond local galaxies, seeding the universe with the ingredients of life.

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