NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date.

Chandra is designed to observe X-rays from high-energy regions of the universe, such as the remnants of exploded stars. The two images of the Crab Nebula supernova remnant and its pulsar shown below illustrate how higher resolution can reveal important new features.

Crab Nebula - ROSAT Credit: S. L. Snowden USRA, NASA/GSFC

Crab Nebula - Chandra Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO

The image on the left is from the High Resolution Imager on the Rontgensatellite (Rosat), the observatory with the best imaging capability before Chandra. The image on the right, taken by the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) on Chandra, has approximately fifty times better resolution (pixel area fifty or more times smaller) than the one on the left. In the Chandra image, new details-rings and jets in the region around the pulsar-provide valuable information for understanding how the pulsar transmits energy to the nebula as a whole.