Go to: X-RAY SPECS A water droplet or glass prism can spread out visible light into a colorful rainbow. X-ray light too can be distributed into a spectrum ordered by energy. Instead of water or glass, the Chandra X-ray Observatory uses more than 400 gold gratings to spread out the X-ray energy of distant celestial objects. This false-color example here shows a star system thought to contain a sun-like star and a black hole. (10/02/02)