Marshall Space Flight Center Right in the Middle of it ALL
I cannot let something that normally goes unseen in North Alabama to pass without great congratulations and thanks. Much of what is below has literally been taken verbatim from NASA and the MSFC in Huntsville.
“Ten years ago this week, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia and successfully deployed into orbit, ushering in an unprecedented decade of discovery for the high-energy Universe. As one of NASA’s “Great Observatories” — along with the Hubble Space Telescope, Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope — Chandra has now doubled its original five-year mission. With its unrivaled ability to create high-resolution X- ray images, Chandra has enabled astronomers to investigate phenomena as diverse as comets, black holes, dark matter and dark energy.
“Chandra’s discoveries are truly astonishing and have made dramatic changes to our understanding of the universe and its constituents,” said Martin Weisskopf, Chandra project scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
The science that has been generated by Chandra — both on its own and in conjunction with other telescopes in space and on the ground — has had a widespread, transformative impact on 21st century astrophysics. Chandra has provided the strongest evidence yet that dark matter must exist. It has independently confirmed the existence of dark energy and made spectacular images of titanic explosions produced by matter swirling toward supermassive black holes.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Chandra, three new versions of classic Chandra images will be released during the next three months. These images, the first of which is available Thursday, provide new data and a more complete view of objects that Chandra observed in earlier stages of its mission. The image being released today is of E0102-72, the spectacular remains of an exploded star.”
While most of what you have read above is taken directly from NASA, and from writings including teams of people at the Marshall Space Flight Center, I am amazed at what this project has shown scientists all over the world. While I must admit to not fully understanding most of what Chandra sees and how the images are scrutinized, it is moving our knowledge of science forward at light speed and my thanks and appreciation goes to all those in Huntsville and around the world involved in Chandra for how you are taking lessons learned and applying them to improve our lives here on Earth.
Thank You.
Brad Huffines, Chief Meteorologist / Storm Force 31
