Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO)

Why in news?

• Astronomers have detected X-rays from Uranus for the first time, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

About the observatory:

• The Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), previously known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), is a space telescope.
• Chandra is sensitive to X-ray sources 100 times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope, enabled by the high angular resolution of its mirrors.
• Since the Earth's atmosphere absorbs the vast majority of X-rays, they are not detectable from Earth-based telescopes; therefore space-based telescopes are required to make these observations.
• Chandra is an Earth satellite in a 64-hour orbit, and its mission is ongoing as of 2021.
• The telescope is named after the Nobel Prize-winning Indian-American astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.

About URANUS:

• Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System.
• Uranus is similar in composition to Neptune, and both have bulk chemical compositions which differ from that of the larger gas giants Jupiter and Saturn.
• Uranus's atmosphere is similar to Jupiter's and Saturn's in its primary composition of hydrogen and helium, but it contains more "ices" such as water, ammonia, and methane, along with traces of other hydrocarbons.
• It has the coldest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System, with a minimum temperature of 49 K (−224 °C; −371 °F), and has a complex, layered cloud structure with water thought to make up the lowest clouds and methane the uppermost layer of clouds.

Prelims Question

 Consider the following statements:
1.Chandra X ray observatory is a ground-based observatory of NASA.
2.It is placed in a geo stationary orbit.
Choose the correct statements from the codes given below:
(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to the Prelims Question