NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, launched in July 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. Chandra is designed to observe X-ray radiation from high-energy regions of the Universe, such as supernova remnants, black holes, and active galactic nuclei.
See the official press release from May 7, 2001.
Many Open Questions About the Black Hole XTE J1118+480
- Why are jets emitted by a black hole instead of disappearing into it?
- Why are these jets millions of light-years long and extremely thin?
- Why is matter in the jets accelerated by a force that appears to have no counterforce?
- Which force accelerates matter in the jets over increasing distances from the black hole?
- If the jets are millions of kelvin hot, why does Chandra not observe rapid cooling?
- If the jets are not hot, why do they emit X-rays along their entire length, similar to the solar corona?
- Why do the jets of radio galaxies contain knots that are not equally spaced?
- Why does the accretion disk emit X-rays even in its outer regions, where compression should be weak?
All of these questions are addressed in my book The Electric Universe (pp. 666–670).
Visit the official Chandra website at chandra.harvard.edu, or my own website dedicated to this satellite: