Chandra Release - May 28, 2015

Visual Description: BR 0331-1622

The graphic features a six panel of X-ray images plus an artist's illustration of quasars, which are luminous sources produced by matter falling towards supermassive black holes in the centers of some galaxies. X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory are shown as blue dots on black backgrounds in each of the images. The artist's illustration depicts how the foamy structure of space-time may appear, showing tiny bubbles quadrillions of times smaller than the nucleus of an atom that are constantly fluctuating and last for only infinitesimal fractions of a second.  The observations of X-rays (and gamma-rays, which are not shown here) from very distant - to test models of the smoothness and structure of space-time. Chandra's X-ray detection of six quasars, shown in the upper part of the graphic, at distances of billions of light years, rules out one model, according to which photons diffuse randomly through space-time foam in a manner similar to light diffusing through fog.