Chandra has doubled its original five-year mission, ushering in an unprecedented decade of discovery for the high-energy universe. With its unrivaled ability to create high-resolution X-ray images, Chandra has enabled astronomers to investigate phenomena as diverse as comets, black holes, dark matter and dark energy.

The science that has been generated by Chandra - both on its own and in conjunction with other telescopes in space and on the ground - has had a widespread, transformative impact on the 21st century astrophysics.

Chandra has provided the strongest evidence yet that dark matter must exist. It has independently confirmed the existence of dark energy and made spectacular images of titanic explosions produced by matter swirling toward supermassive black holes.

'Chandra's discoveries are truly astonishing and have made dramatic changes to our understanding of the universe and its constituents,' said Martin Weisskopf, Chandra project scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre in Alabama.