Chandra is an X-Ray telescope that launched in 1999 whose purpose is to detect emissions from exploding stars, or matter around black holes. It works by detecting X-rays striking the hollow shells in mirrors. So far it has observed the region near the super massive black hole in our galaxy and is contributing to dark matter/energy studies. Chandra orbits around the Van Allen belts as it produces images with high quality resolution. The mirrors are product of painstaking work as they have to have the smoothness of a few atoms. It works with the use of four instruments: The ACIS (Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer), the HRC, and two high resolution spectrometers. The ACIS is used to make the X-ray images as well as measure their energy. According to Harvard, the HRC focuses the telescope to see and image with detail as small as two arc-seconds. The two high resolution spectrometers diffract the incoming X-rays in a direction dependent on its energy, which is then measured by the ACIS and focused by the HRC. Here's an example of what Chandra can do:
3 points.
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