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.

A growing black hole, called a quasar, is seen at the center of a faraway galaxy in this artist's concept. Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes discovered swarms of similar quasars hiding in dusty galaxies in the distant universe.

Chandra’s Tactile Products are a Big hit at the U.S. Space Camp SciVis Camp

September 29, 2022

The Chandra tactile products provided to the US Space Camp SciVis camp at the U.S. Science and Rocket Center were a huge hit. This camp is for nonvisual learners. Chandra was integrated into the science curriculum and the tactile plates …

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Chandra’s Golden Birthday

August 28, 2022

Chandra celebrated it’s 23rd Anniversary on July 23, 2022 – It’s golden birthday! Chandra’s initial goal was five years in orbit and after 23 years it is still providing ground breaking and exciting science.  This is a remarkable achievement. Congratulations …

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NASA Issues Image Release “Zeta Ophiuchi: A Star with a Complicated Past”

August 28, 2022

The most recent Chandra image release, “Zeta Ophiuchi: A Star With a Complicated Past” was issued on 7/25/22, and featured as NASA’s “Image of the Day” on 7/29/22.  Zeta Ophiuchi is a star with a complicated past, having likely been ejected from …

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Marshall Hosts Brazilian Science and Space Leaders

August 28, 2022

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) hosted a high-level delegation of leaders from the Brazilian science and space communities, 8/15-16/22, to mark recent and upcoming milestones for the Scintillation Prediction Observations Research Task (SPORT) mission, and to discuss cooperation and collaboration …

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Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Presentations at Two Conferences

August 28, 2022

IXPE was well represented at the 44th Scientific Assembly of COSPAR (Athens, Greece, 7/16-24/22) where 12 IXPE science presentations were given in the session ‘Observations and Prospects for X-ray Polarimetry’. During the same period, 4 IXPE technical presentations were given …

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