Admire 25 stunning images celebrating the 25th birthday of the Chandra telescope

July 23 marks the 25th anniversary of one of the lesser-known, but most influential, space telescopes in the world: the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (Chandra). Chandra was launched on July 23, 1999, and over the past two and a half decades of nonstop operation, it has beamed back hundreds of stunning images of space. Here are 25 new images released to commemorate the occasion.

Unlike the famous Hubble Space Telescope, which observes primarily at the same wavelengths as the human eye (known as the optical or visible light band), or James Webb, which sees in the infrared, Chandra observes the universe at the X-ray end of the spectrum. This allows it to see the effects of high-energy events like kilonovae, and study objects like supermassive black holes. Chandra’s capabilities also give researchers a different perspective on supernovae and the remnants they leave behind.

Chandra’s ability to detect X-rays also makes it crucial for complex astronomical missions. In its quarter-century of operation, Chandra has made many other surprising discoveries, even helping to probe mysteries that scientists didn’t even expect when they built the telescope—including exoplanets and dark energy.

The stunning new set of images includes a wide range of cosmic objects, including nebulae, galaxies, and even a snapshot of Jupiter in our own solar system. Many of the images combine data from Chandra with data from other telescopes, such as Hubble, Webb, or Spitzer. These telescopes provide background images of the stars, while Chandra shows the X-rays visible at the center of the image, often in bright purple and red hues.

You can view a high resolution version of the image HERE .