The Chandra X-ray Observatory (2009)

The Universe Darkly

March 06, 2008



When you look up at the night sky, you see a lot of things glowing like stars, planets, and galaxies. So it might sound strange to hear that most of the Universe is actually dark. The truth is the protons, neutrons and electrons that make up everything we can see, and that means everything with telescopes we've got, accounts for only about 4% of the mass and energy of the Universe. The rest is dark and mysterious. More specifically, about 70% of the Universe is what is known as dark energy; about 26% is so-called dark matter. Modern day astronomers have developed many tactics to explore the dark Universe, including using telescopes like Chandra.



Category: Science & Technology

Tags: NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory telescope astronomy stars galaxy dark energy

January 24, 2008



It has been only forty years since humanity has known the existence of the strange and dynamic x-ray universe, an invisible universe of million degree gas, immense jets of radiation, exploding stars and distant quasars. Join Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek's Lt. Uhura, as she guides you on the decades long odyssey to reveal this wondrous universe with NASA's largest X-ray telescope. [6/2000] [Science] [Show ID: 3847]

Category: Education

Tags: science NASA astronomy