Salty Skies on a Pink Planet, Black Holes Burp, and a Lunar Lander for Moon Base 2
Welcome back to Astronomy Daily! In today's episode, Anna and Avery cover six of the biggest stories in space and astronomy for Friday June nineteenth, twenty twenty-six — from a salty surprise on a mysterious pink world to a little rover completing a marathon on Mars. Story 1: JWST Reveals Salty Clouds on the 'Pink Planet' GJ504b Northwestern University astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to finally crack open the spectrum of GJ504b — the so-called 'Pink Planet' 57 light-years away. The discovery, published in The Astronomical Journal on June 18, reveals an atmosphere filled with exotic chemistry and salt clouds unlike anything previously observed. At just 550°F, it's the coldest planetary-mass companion ever directly imaged. Whether it's a giant planet or a brown dwarf remains an open question, but its salty skies are a first for astronomy. Study led by Aneesh Baburaj, Northwestern University's CIERA. Story 2: Astronomers Solve the Mystery of Black Holes' Delayed Radio 'Burps' Using the NSF's Very Large Array, a team led by Kate Alexander (University of Arizona) has found that roughly 40% of all tidal disruption events — moments when a supermassive black hole shreds a passing star — produce a powerful delayed radio burst months to years after the initial flare. The study, announced June 16, also identifies a chemical fingerprint in early optical spectra that can predict which black holes are likely to produce these late-stage outbursts, giving astronomers a roadmap for long-term monitoring. Story 3: SpaceX Launches NROL-179 — the 14th NRO Proliferated Architecture Mission SpaceX launched NROL-179 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in the early hours of June 19, making it the 14th mission dedicated to building out the National Reconnaissance Office's 'proliferated architecture' — a constellation of small, resilient surveillance satellites. It was the 71st Falcon 9 launch of 2026. Mission details including satellite count and orbit remain classified. Story 4: Astrobotic Unveils Griffin-1: NASA's Moon Base II Lander Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic publicly revealed its Griffin-1 lunar lander on June 15, ahead of environmental testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Designated 'Moon Base II' by NASA, Griffin-1 is a 650kg-capacity infrastructure-class lander targeting the lunar south pole region. It will carry 10 payloads from 6 nations, led by Astrolab's FLIP rover (500kg), and is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy in Q4 2026. Astrobotic has been recently acquired by Voyager Technologies. Story 5: Lucy Reveals the Life Story of Double-Lobed Asteroid Donaldjohanson Results from NASA's Lucy spacecraft's April 2025 flyby of asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson were published in Science on June 18. The study, led by Simone Marchi (Southwest Research Institute), reveals a contact binary with a surface over 40 million years old and a younger neck (under 20 million years) built by slow-motion landslides triggered as sunlight gradually braked the asteroid's rotation from a few hours to its current 252.6-hour period. Donaldjohanson is likely a fragment of the Erigone family's parent body, destroyed ~155 million years ago. Story 6: Perseverance Rover Completes a Marathon Distance on Mars NASA's Perseverance rover has driven more than 26.2 miles (42.2 km) on Mars since landing in Jezero Crater in February 2021 — completing a marathon distance. The rover continues science operations beyond the crater's western rim, studying some of the oldest rocks in the mission's history. Perseverance is approaching Opportunity's all-time distance record of 45.16 km for a rover on another world. Mission operations are funded through at least 2028. Links & References • JWST Pink Planet (GJ504b): The Astronomical Journal, June 18 2026 — Northwestern University / CIERA • TDE Radio Burps: NSF VLA / University of Arizona — Kate Alexander et al., announced June 16 2026 • NROL-179: space.com / spaceflightnow.com — launched June 19 2026 • Griffin-1: astrobotic.com / spacenews.com / spaceflightnow.com — unveiled June 15 2026 • Lucy / Donaldjohanson: Science journal, June 18 2026 — Simone Marchi, Southwest Research Institute • Perseverance Marathon: space.com — June 18 2026
