|Our goals are to open access for anyone to be a learner and explorer of the Universe, to share new discoveries about the Universe with diverse audiences, engage the imaginations of students, teachers, and the greater public, and increase learning opportunities.|
Chandra provides a multifaceted Communications & Public Engagement program encompassing press relations, public outreach and education that reaches a large and diverse audience of national and international scope. Chandra's program plays a key role in increasing science literacy and contributing to science, mathematics, engineering and technology (STEM) education by synthesizing and disseminating results from NASA's exploration of the high-energy Universe.
A key component of the success of the program is the direct connection and established, close working relationships with the astrophysicists whose research forms the basis for all products from press to public outreach to education. Our strategy is to move Chandra science results from the sphere of public relations into public outreach and education applications. All Chandra communications products and programs are aligned to the goals in SMD's Education Strategic Framework and are integrated to move participants through the pipeline of STEM-related experiences and activities from inspiration to engagement to education and potential employment. All education products are rigorously evaluated and aligned with national STEM teaching and professional development standards. We collaborate with, leverage, and connect participants to a wide range of programs and resources at NASA, its education partners, and other science outreach and education organizations.
We have consistently documented best practices and outcomes of Chandra's Communications & Public Engagement program and its activities and projects in 11 journal articles in peer-reviewed publications such as the journals Science Communication, and Communicating Astronomy with the Public.
Chandra Communications & Public Engagement program has also received recognition for its projects and digital content through two international communication awards and a dozen US digital awards.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia in July of 1999, is one of the world's most sophisticated X-ray observatories. X-ray telescopes are the only way to observe extremely hot, turbulent regions of space where matter has temperatures of millions of degrees Celsius. Chandra's unique power and precision provide astronomers with detailed information about the remnants of exploded stars, active young stars in star clusters, neutron star powerhouses, matter swirling toward black holes, supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, and vast clouds of hot gas in clusters of galaxies.
The data from Chandra observations are enabling scientists to make significant advances toward solving problems of fundamental importance, including:
The life cycles of stars, from the birth of stars like our sun to the fiery destruction of massive stars in supernovae that disperse carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and other elements necessary for life.
The generation of winds and jets of high energy particles into interstellar and intergalactic space by rapidly rotating, highly magnetized neutron stars and accretion disks around black holes.
The flow pattern of matter near black holes and the nature of gravitationally warped space near black hole event horizons.
The formation of supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies and their role in the formation of galaxies.
The formation of galaxy clusters, the largest gravitationally bound objects in the universe, and the nature of the mysterious dark matter that comprises most of the mass of the universe.