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

A Chandra press release was issued on Jan 18 describing continued observations of the neutron star merger GW170817, which was first detected with gravity waves and a short gamma-ray burst on Aug 17. Scientists had expected the X-ray and radio afterglow of the explosion to fade, but much to their surprise, Chandra observations in December showed a continued brightening. This implies that the source is more complex than initially imagined. One theory is that the merger launched a jet that shock-heated the surrounding gaseous debris, creating a hot cocoon around the jet that has glowed in X-rays and radio light for many months. For details see: http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/18_releases/press_011818.html

The schedule of targets for the next week is shown below and includes an observation of MXB 1659-298, which is a follow-up to a Target of Opportunity which was accepted on Mar 17.