This is a true color image from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) of N132D showing the remnant of an explosion of a massive star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby galaxy about 180,000 light years from Earth. The colors represent different ranges of X-rays, with red, green, and blue representing low, medium, and higher X-ray energies respectively. The horseshoe shaped remnant is thought to be due to shock waves from the collision of the supernova ejecta with cool giant gas clouds. As the shock wave moves through the gas, it is heated to millions of degrees, producing the glowing x-ray shell. The CXO, formerly the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), was renamed the CXO in honor of the late Indian-American Novel Laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar in 1999. The CXO is the world's most powerful and most sophisticated x-ray telescope ever built. It produces picture-like images of x-ray emissions analogous to those made in visible light, as well as gathers data on the chemical composition of x-ray radiating objects. The CXO helps astronomers worldwide better understand the structure and evolution of the universe by studying powerful sources of x-rays such as exploding stars, matter falling into black holes, and other exotic celestial objects. The Observatory has three major parts: (1) the x-ray telescope, whose mirrors will focus x-rays from celestial objects; (2) the science instruments that record the x-rays so that x-ray images can be produced and analyzed; and (3) the spacecraft, which provides the environment necessary for the telescope and the instruments to work. TRW, Inc. was the prime contractor for the development the CXO and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center was responsible for its project management. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations of the CXO for NASA from Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Observatory was launched July 22, 1999 aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-93 mission.
