The "Chandra" X-ray telescope is named after the renowned astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. He was an Indian-American scientist who made significant contributions to the field of astrophysics and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983.

Chandrasekhar`s work focused on understanding the behavior and properties of stars, particularly the processes involved in stellar evolution. He made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of white dwarf stars, which are the remnants of low- to medium-mass stars after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel.

Chandrasekhar`s most notable contribution was his theory on the "Chandrasekhar limit," which describes the maximum mass that a white dwarf star can have before it undergoes gravitational collapse and explodes as a supernova. This limit, based on the degenerate electron pressure that supports the star, is approximately 1.4 times the mass of the Sun.

To honor his remarkable achievements and contributions to astrophysics, NASA named the X-ray telescope launched in 1999 as the "Chandra X-ray Observatory" or simply "Chandra" after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. The Chandra X-ray Observatory has provided groundbreaking observations and insights into the universe by capturing high-resolution X-ray images and data from celestial objects such as supernova remnants, black holes, and galaxies, further advancing our understanding of the cosmos.