During the last week the observing schedule was interrupted owing to a scheduled LETG insertion on Jan 11 that did not complete as expected. Current assessment indicates that the grating motion terminated in the correct position, but the control software declared the move failed after using the maximum number of motions without having detected a corresponding reading from the LETG insert microswitch. The science observation completed correctly but, with the OTG fault flag set, the LETG did not retract and subsequent science observations were incorrectly configured. Accordingly, science loads were stopped on the next pass by commanding SCS-107 on Jan 12 at 9:37AM EST. At subsequent passes on Jan 12 realtime procedures were executed to move the LETG to fully engage the insert microswitch and to clear the LETG failed move flag. Further realtime procedures were executed on Jan 13 to retract the LETG, and on Jan 14 to dump and clear the EPS glitch counters preceding the winter 2025 eclipse season.

Science resumption loads were uplinked and running as of Jan 15 at 1:25AM EST. Observations impacted by the interruption will be rescheduled in future weeks.

The winter 2025 eclipse season contains 20 eclipses and runs from Jan 15 to Mar 7. Chandra passed through the first eclipse of the season on Jan 15, with nominal power and thermal performance.

Chandra press and image releases were issued on Jan 14 describing an innovative method, based on Chandra data taken over two decades, for deriving the 3-D structure of molecular clouds near the center of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, at a distance of about 26,000 light years from Earth. X-ray flares from the Galaxy's central supermassive black hole (SMBH) illuminate surrounding molecular clouds in all directions. Because the flares are brief, successive layers of the clouds are illuminated sequentially as the X-ray pulses move outward from the SMBH, allowing a reconstruction of the clouds in three dimensions. For details see: https://chandra.harvard.edu/press/25_releases/press_011425.html

Additional Chandra press and image releases were issued on Jan 16 describing Chandra and XMM-Newton data on Wolf 359, a red dwarf with a mass about a tenth that of the Sun. At a distance of only 7.8 light-years away, Wolf 359 is also one of the closest stars to the solar system. The Wolf 359 system is plausibly the home of one or more exoplanets. The investigation considered the ability to sustain Earth-like life in the "habitable zone", the region around a star where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. The combined effects of steady X-ray and UV radiation and X-ray flares means that any planet located in the habitable zone of Wolf 359 is unlikely to have a significant atmosphere long enough for multicellular life to develop. For details see: https://chandra.harvard.edu/press/25_releases/press_011625.html

The schedule of targets for the next week is shown below, and includes observations of OrionNebulaCluster coordinated with VLBA, observations of PS15bvaKISS15s coordinated with VLA, and an observation of TWHya coordinated with HST and JWST.