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X-ray Telescope Optics: Grazing-Incidence Wolter Mirrors

Interactive 3D demo of why X-ray space telescopes (Chandra, XMM-Newton) cannot use a normal parabolic mirror: X-rays are absorbed at steep incidence, so the optics instead use nested cylindrical shells that reflect X-rays twice at extremely shallow grazing angles to bring them to a focus.

Space & Astronomy3DModerate60 FPS

A 3D demonstration of why X-ray space telescopes look nothing like optical ones: high-energy X-rays are absorbed by a normal parabolic mirror instead of reflecting, so real observatories like Chandra use nested cylindrical shells that reflect X-rays twice at a shallow grazing angle to bring them to a focus.

⚙ Under the hood

Interactive 3D demo of why X-ray space telescopes like Chandra cannot use a normal parabolic mirror: X-rays are absorbed instead of reflected at steep incidence, so real optics use nested cylindrical shells that reflect X-rays twice at extremely shallow grazing angles to bring them to a focus.

Three.jsX-ray AstronomyWolter OpticsGrazing IncidenceSpace TelescopeChandra

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install