During the last week Chandra completed the observing schedule as planned.

A real-time procedure was executed on Jan 27 to test the HRC-S response to gradually increased detector voltage. Observations with the HRC-S detector have been suspended since the HRC-S High-Voltage anomaly on Oct 23, 2025.

Chandra passed through the 5th, 6th and 7th eclipses of the season on Jan 23, 26 and 29 respectively, with nominal power and thermal performance.

A Chandra image release was issued on Jan 23, describing the Chandra Source Catalog which contains the X-ray data detected by Chandra, from its launch in 1999 up to the end of 2021. The latest version of the Chandra Source Catalog, known as CSC 2.1, contains over 400,000 unique compact and extended sources and over 1.3 million individual detections in X-ray light. The image is a new depiction of the Galactic Center which illustrates the capabilities of the CSC 2.1, showing 3,300 Chandra sources in this field of view that spans just 60 light-years across. For details see: https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2026/csc/

Chandra press and image releases were issued on Jan 28, describing the discovery of what may be the most distant protocluster ever found. Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory together with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have netted an important piece in the history of the universe: when galaxy clusters, the largest structures held together by gravity, begin to form. The object, known as JADES-ID1, has a mass about 20 trillion times that of the Sun. Astronomers classify JADES-ID1 as a “protocluster” because it is currently undergoing an early, violent phase of formation and will one day turn into a galaxy cluster. However, JADES-ID1 is found at a much larger distance — corresponding to a much earlier time in the universe — than astronomers expected for such systems, providing a new mystery of how it could form so quickly. For details see: https://chandra.harvard.edu/press/26_releases/press_012826.html

The schedule of targets for the next week is shown below and includes observations of the Orion Nebula coordinated with JWST, and observations of SN2025sei, which is a follow-up to a Target of Opportunity accepted on Aug 11.