Monday, June 29, 2026

CERN's Large Hadron Collider will shut down on June 29 for a four-year upgrade to become the High-Luminosity LHC, a major overhaul involving powerful new superconducting magnets that will increase collision rates tenfold when it restarts around 2030.^[1]

China's LineShine supercomputer has topped the TOP500 ranking as the world's fastest computer, achieving 2.198 exaflops of performance—the first system to exceed two exaflops using only CPUs, accomplished despite US technology export restrictions.^[2]

The James Webb Space Telescope has solved the decade-old mystery of the 'Pink Planet,' discovering that this world 57 light-years away contains water vapor, methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and exotic salt clouds—the first direct confirmation of salty clouds on such an object.^[3]

Astronomers have detected a star being torn apart by a wandering supermassive black hole located off-center from any visible galaxy, demonstrating a new method to study these hidden cosmic objects that would otherwise go undetected.^[4]

Canada won their first-ever FIFA World Cup knockout match, defeating South Africa 1-0 with a stoppage-time goal by Stephen Eustaquio to advance to the Round of 16 as the 2026 World Cup knockout stage began.^[5]

June's full Strawberry Moon rises tonight at 7:57 p.m. EDT, marking the first full moon of summer and tracking the lowest path of any full moon throughout the year due to its proximity to the summer solstice.^[6]

A record-breaking European heatwave has set new all-time temperature records in Germany (41.3°C), the UK, Denmark, and other countries, with the World Weather Attribution group finding such extreme June temperatures would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change.^[7]

A skydiving plane crash in Tomblaine, northeastern France, killed all 11 people aboard, including the pilot, five students, and five instructors, after the aircraft went down near the runway at the Nancy-Essey aerodrome on Sunday morning.^[8]

Burkina Faso's military junta has severed diplomatic relations with France, accusing the former colonial power of harboring 'neo-colonial ambitions' and supporting terrorist networks, while stating the decision does not affect historical and cultural ties between the two peoples.^[9]

Researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope have found unique chemical ratios of carbon and heavy hydrogen in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS that are not found in comets from our solar system, providing new clues about the origins of this visitor from another star system.^[10]