Question 1

True or false: Chandra is named after an Indian astrophysicist who won the Nobel Prize for black hole theory.

Accepted Answer

False. It’s named after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who won the Nobel for work on stellar structure, not specifically black holes.

Question 2

True or false: Chandra was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1999.

Accepted Answer

True. Chandra was launched on July 23, 1999, aboard Space Shuttle Columbia during mission STS-93.

Question 3

True or false: Chandra operates in a highly elliptical orbit that takes it one-third of the way to the Moon.

Accepted Answer

True. Chandra's orbit extends about 139,000 km from Earth, roughly one-third the distance to the Moon, avoiding radiation interference.

Question 4

True or false: Chandra’s mirrors are the largest ever built for an X-ray telescope.

Accepted Answer

True. NASA states that Chandra's mirrors are the largest, most precisely shaped, and smoothest X-ray telescope mirrors ever built. The outer mirror is 1.2 meters in diameter.

Question 5

True or false: Chandra can observe X-rays emitted by objects as close as the Moon.

Accepted Answer

True. Chandra has observed X-rays from the Moon, which are produced by solar wind hitting its surface, a surprising capability for a distant observatory.

Question 6

True or false: Chandra helped confirm the existence of dark matter by imaging galaxy cluster collisions.

Accepted Answer

True. Chandra’s X-ray images of the Bullet Cluster showed hot gas separated from visible matter, providing key evidence for dark matter’s presence.

Question 7

True or false: Chandra’s X-ray detectors must be cooled to near absolute zero to function.

Accepted Answer

False. Only the ACIS detector uses cooling (to about -120°C, far from absolute zero). The HRC operates at room temperature, and no detector is cooled near absolute zero.

Question 8

True or false: Chandra can see X-rays from matter just before it falls into a black hole.

Accepted Answer

True. Chandra detects X-rays from superheated gas in accretion disks around black holes, revealing the material’s final moments before crossing the event horizon.

Chandra X-ray Observatory Trivia Questions