WASHINGTON – This year, 2015, is being called the International Year of Light by the United Nations.

Included in the distinction are light-based technologies. The UN hopes to bring focus to sustainable ways light can make a difference in health, agriculture, education and energy.

In celebration, NASA has released images taken by its Chandra X-ray observatory. This special telescope detects X-ray emissions from “hot regions of the Universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies and matter around black holes.”

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