Apr 25 2000
From The Space Library
NASA announced that a team of scientists had used the Chandra X-ray Observatory to solve one of astronomy's fundamental problems-determining the distance from Earth to a cosmic object. Peter Predehl, the lead researcher on the project, had found that by scattering x-rays between Earth and a given object, the dust grains and scattered materials between the two points could serve as measuring posts to determine the distance covered by the x-ray. Because of the Chandra Observatory's superior resolution and strength, particles that scientists could not otherwise have observed would serve as points of context. Researchers were confident that they could use the new approach to help determine the size of nearby galaxies. Furthermore, the newly devised means of measuring the distance between objects and Earth had implications for understanding the universe and its age.
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