Chandra

1. The Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA's premier X-ray Observatory

   For more information about the Chandra X-ray Observatory see the "About Chandra" page on the Chandra Science website or the Chandra Public website.

   Reference:

   Weisskopf M.C., O'Dell S.L. & van Speybroeck L.P., 1996, SPIE, 2805, 2

   
   
2. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar

   Indian-American Nobel laureate in physics. Widely known as "Chandra". One of the foremost astrophysicists of the twentieth century. Discoverer of the Chandrasekhar limit to the mass of a white dwarf (and much else besides).

   For more information about Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar see "The Man Behind the Name."

3. "Moon" or "luminous" in Sanskrit. The full name "Chandrasekhara" in Sanskrit is "Shiva" , one of the Hindu trinity. "Subrahmanya" is Shiva's son.