  We present the main results from our 940 ksec observation of the Chandra Deep
Field South (CDFS), using the source catalog described in an accompanying paper
(Giacconi et al. 2001). We extend the measurement of source number counts to
5.5e-17 erg/cm^2/s in the soft 0.5-2 keV band and 4.5e-16 erg/cm^2/s in the
hard 2-10 keV band. The hard band LogN-LogS shows a significant flattening
(slope~=0.6) below ~1e-14 erg/cm^2/s, leaving at most 10-15% of the X-ray
background (XRB) to be resolved, the main uncertainty lying in the measurement
of the total flux of the XRB. On the other hand, the analysis in the very hard
5-10 keV band reveals a relatively steep LogN-LogS (slope ~=1.3) down to 1e-15
erg/cm^2/s. Together with the evidence of a progressive flattening of the
average X-ray spectrum near the flux limit, this indicates that there is still
a non negligible population of faint hard sources to be discovered at energies
not well probed by Chandra, which possibly contribute to the 30 keV bump in the
spectrum of the XRB. We use optical redshifts and identifications, obtained
with the VLT, for one quarter of the sample to characterize the combined
optical and X-ray properties of the CDFS sample. Different source types are
well separated in a parameter space which includes X-ray luminosity, hardness
ratio and R-K color. Type II objects, while redder on average than the field
population, have colors which are consistent with being hosted by a range of
galaxy types. Type II AGN are mostly found at z<~1, in contrast with
predictions based on AGN population synthesis models, thus suggesting a
revision of their evolutionary parameters.
