Marshall Space Flight Center News Release 00-250 (8-22-00): "
For Release: August 22, 2000
Release: 00-250

One year later: Chandra 'changes way we look at the universe'
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is marking its first year in orbit with an impressive list of astronomy 'firsts.'

Through Chandra's images, humans witnessed for the first time the full impact of a blast wave from an exploding star, a flare from a brown dwarf -- or failed -- star, and a small galaxy in the process of being cannibalized by a larger galaxy.

'Our goal is to identify never-before-seen phenomena, whether it's new or millions of years old. All this leads to a better understanding of our universe, ' said Martin Weisskopf, chief project scientist for the Chandra program. 'Indeed, Chandra has changed the way we look at the universe.'

Chandra was launched in July 1999 and recorded its first images in mid-August 1999. After only two months in space, the observatory revealed a brilliant ring around the heart of the Crab Pulsar in the Crab Nebula --the remains of a stellar explosion -- providing clues about how the nebula is energized by a pulsing neutron, or collapsed, star."