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Telescope System
The Chandra telescope system consists of four pairs of mirrors
and their support structure.
X-ray telescopes must be very different from optical telescopes.
Because of their high-energy, X-ray photons penetrate into a
mirror in much the same way that bullets slam into a wall.
Likewise, just as bullets ricochet when they hit a wall at a
grazing angle, so too will X-rays ricochet off mirrors.
The mirrors have to be exquisitely shaped and aligned nearly
parallel to incoming X-rays. Thus they look more like glass
barrels than the familiar dish shape of optical telescopes.
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