Episode Details

Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
- Consensus: AI for Research. Get a free month - https://get.consensus.app/automated_daily
- KrispCall: Agentic Cloud Telephony - https://try.krispcall.com/tad
- Prezi: Create AI presentations fast - https://try.prezi.com/automated_daily


Support The Automated Daily directly:
Buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/theautomateddaily

Today's topics:

Five-planet parade, new Moon - Skywatchers get a rare June 14, 2026 lineup: all five naked-eye planets spread across the evening sky, timed with a new Moon for unusually dark conditions. It’s a prime night for viewing the Milky Way and bright summer star patterns without moonlight washing out faint targets.

CMEs bring aurora chances - Solar eruptions from June 9 and 11 are expected to brush Earth around June 13–14, raising the odds of minor to moderate geomagnetic storms. That could mean brighter auroras and small operational impacts for satellites, radio, and power systems, with the strongest effects depending on the storm’s magnetic orientation.

Starlink launch, Falcon 9 milestone - A mid-June Starlink mission highlights how routine launches have become as Falcon 9 approaches roughly 650 flights and another booster recovery. The launch cadence underscores the scale of reusable rocketry and the rapid growth of large satellite constellations in low Earth orbit.

Artemis II, Roman launch date - NASA’s Artemis II is presented as the return of crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit, sending astronauts on a lunar flyby as part of a longer-term Moon program. In parallel, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has a confirmed late-August launch date, setting the stage for major dark-energy and exoplanet surveys.

Black-hole planets, JWST soot - New research suggests planet formation might occur in extreme places, including disks around active supermassive black holes, potentially producing vast numbers of exotic worlds. JWST-linked studies also show some sub-Neptune atmospheres may be packed with soot-like hazes, while cosmic-ray and dark-energy results refine how we understand star formation and the universe’s expansion.

Episode Transcript

Five-planet parade, new Moon
First up: an unusually good night for skywatching. Around the evening of June 14th, a rare “planet parade” is building—Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all in view across the sky, with Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter clustered low after sunset and Mars and Saturn farther along the ecliptic. The timing is especially convenient because the Moon reaches new phase late on June 14th, giving some of the darkest skies of the year for deep-sky observing—great conditions for spotting the Milky Way and bright summer landmarks like the Summer Triangle.

CMEs bring aurora chances
Next, the Sun is adding some drama. Coronal mass ejections launched earlier in the week—around June 9th and 11th—are expected to reach Earth around June 13th to 14th, with forecasts ranging from minor to moderate geomagnetic storm levels. Practically, that means auroras could brighten and spread to lower latitudes than usual if conditions line up, while most impacts to technology are expected to stay on the mild side—though satellite operators still watch these events closely because increased atmospheric drag can complicate low-Earth-orbit operations.

Starlink launch, Falcon 9 mi