Chandra Digest (June 11): AAS update

Exciting Chandra results on elliptical galaxies & neutron stars were on
display at the 200th American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting, held
in Albuquerque, NM, from June 2-6:

**1E 1207.4-5209:

X-rays Probe Gravitational Field Of A Neutron Star**

With NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have detected
features that may be the first direct evidence of the effect of gravity
on radiation from a neutron star. This finding, if confirmed, could
enable scientists to measure the gravitational field of neutron stars
and determine whether they contain exotic forms of matter not seen on Earth.
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/1132/

**NGC 4697, NGC 4649, and NGC 1553:

Black Holes In Distant Galaxies Point To Wild Youth**
Like ‘flower power’ tattoos on aging ex-hippy baby boomers, unexpectedly
large numbers of neutron stars and black holes in elliptical galaxies
suggest some of these galaxies lived through a much wilder youth. The
discovery by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory may require a revision of
how elliptical galaxies evolved.
http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/02_releases/press_060402.html

NEW & NOTEWORTHY!

++ Major Milestones in X-ray Astronomy

In 1962, a team of scientists used a small X-ray detector to discover
Scorpius X-1, the first source of X-rays outside our solar system. Forty
years later, over 100,000 X-ray sources have been detected, the most
distant of which is 13 billion light years from Earth.
http://chandra.harvard.edu/chronicle/0202/40years/

++ All recent New & Noteworthy features are available at
http://chandra.harvard.edu/new.html