Astrophysics Branch
Marshall Space Flight Center's Astrophysics Branch uses space and ground-based observatories to peer back to the earliest epochs of the universe, unravel its mysteries, and study the most violent explosions in our galaxy and beyond. Our goal is to help discover how the universe works, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around other stars.
The most recent Chandra press and image release “Chandra Helps Astronomers Discover a Surprisingly Lonely Galaxy” was released on 3/8/23. A distant — and lonely — galaxy appears to have pulled in and assimilated all its former companion galaxies. This …
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On 3/7/23, NASA posted “Vela Pulsar Wind Nebula Takes Flight in New Image From NASA’s IXPE”, which included superposed Chandra and IXPE images of the Vela pulsar wind nebula – the remnant and aftermath of a supernova explosion from approximately …
NASA recently released new Chandra/IXPE collaborative imagery entitled “Unlocking the Mysteries of the Historic Tycho Supernova” on 2/28/23. Chandra has repeatedly observed the Tycho supernova remnant over its decades of operations, helping researchers make landmark discoveries about this fascinating formation. …
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The most recent Chandra press and image release “NASA’s Chandra Discovers Giant Black Holes on Collision Course” was released on 2/22/23. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory helped identify two pairs of dwarf galaxies on track to merge. Dwarf galaxies, which are …
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On 3/14/23, at 7:30pm CDT, the Glowbug payload was successfully launched to ISS on a Space-X resupply mission. Glowbug is a gamma-ray burst experiment led by Eric Grove (Naval Research Laboratory). Glowbug primary science objective is to detect and localize …