Space

Orbital ATK’s Atlas V rocket carrying an unmanned Cygnus cargo ship is all set to blast off from a NASA launch pad for delivering food and supplies for the astronauts living aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The Cygnus cargo ship carrying Atlas V rocket is poised to be launched during a thirty-minute launch window starting at 11:11 a.m. (1511 GMT) from a launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday.

Lyrid meteor shower will present a spectacular show for sky gazers this weekend. On Saturday, Lyrid meteor shower will be visible in pre-dawn sky. Astronomers suggest that the conditions will be perfect for watching meteor showers in case the sky remains clear.

The annual Lyrid meteor shower will peak on night of April 21/22. On an average, sky gazers can expect to see up to 20 ‘shooting stars’ per hour during peak time of Lyrid meteor shower. There won’t be any need for equipment or binoculars as the meteor showers can be viewed with naked eye.

A mile-wide ‘potentially hazardous’ asteroid is set to make a relatively close flyby to Earth on Wednesday this week, the U.S. space agency NASA has warned.

The asteroid dubbed the Rock, which is formally known as Object 2014 JO25, will pass by Earth at a distance of 1.1 million miles or roughly 4.6 times the distance between Earth and the Moon. The close flyby is due to take place at 8:24AM ET or 1:24PM BST on Wednesday.

NASA scientists have announced that the agency’s Cassini spacecraft has detected hydrogen gas in a plume gushing from a liquid water ocean hidden beneath the icy shell of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

Hydrogen is a key energy source for microbial life and its detection in Enceladus’ atmosphere has boosted scientists’ belief that some of Saturn’s moons could be supporting alien life in the form of microbes.

Two Canadian scientists claimed to have constructed a composite a picture of dark matter filaments that supposedly make up the so-called cosmic web.

Scientists believe that the universe may be anything but random and that the whole thing is actually organized and linked to one another in a manner similar to a colossal spider web.

The two scientists from Ontario, Canada-based University of Waterloo made use of a special technique dubbed weak gravitational lensing to construct a composite a picture of dark matter filaments.

Massive data collected by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is being sent to two supercomputers in the United States and Germany to help scientists determine if they have captured the very first image of a black hole.

The EHT is a highly ambitious project that links telescopes around Earth to create one planet-sized telescope. It is so efficient that it can count the stitches on a baseball from an altitude of 8,000 miles.

A massive image captured by astronomers and researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada suggests that galaxies are connected through an intricate web of dark matter. Dark matter hasn’t been clearly understood by astronomers yet and by using gravitational lensing, researchers have been able to figure out a web of dark matter. Gravitational lensing is used to analyze the light coming from distant galaxies. The composite image was created using several images and it suggests that galaxies are tied with a web of dark matter.

The first full moon of this spring, famously called the “Pink Moon,” is set to rise later this week, astronomers have predicted. April’s Pink Moon is also known as the Egg Moon, Easter Moon and Sprouting Grass Moon. It is named after wild pink-color flowers, called wild ground phlox, because these flowers bloom and become widespread across the United States around this time of year.

EarthSky.org also reported that Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, will continue to be in the neighborhood of Spica – the brightest star in the Virgo constellation.

The U.S. Air Force is open to use private aerospace and space technology firm Space Exploration Technologies' (SpaceX's) reusable rockets, General John "Jay" Raymond of the Air Force Space Command said.

General Raymond said that SpaceX has proven its ability to successfully use recycled rockets. He also noted that reusable rockets would help a lot in trimming costs of space missions.

Speaking on the topic, he said, "I would be comfortable if we were to fly on a reused booster. They've proven they can do it. ... It's going to get us to lower cost."

NASA astronomers have predicted that Jupiter, the biggest planet in the solar system, will reach its point of opposition tonight, 7th of April.

The gaseous giant will position itself in the constellation of Virgo almost in a straight line from the Sun, lighting up brightly in the night sky.

In addition, the planet will be at its closest point to Earth. According to a statement released by NASA astronomers, Jupiter will rise in the east along with the Sun and trudge across the heavens, eventually setting in the west at sunrise.