THE DISINTEGRATION OF COMET ATLAS
Some comets like it hot. Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3) is not one of them. After it flew past the sun on Jan. 13th, Comet ATLAS's overheated core began to dissolve. Using a remote-controlled telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile, astronomer Lionel Majzik recorded the disintegration.
His movie, which highlights the comet's nucleus (or "head"), tracks the breakup over a 6-day period. This may sound like bad news for comet observers, but there's an upside. All of the ice and dust formerly contained in the frozen head has billowed back into the tail. Indeed, now Comet ATLAS is a "headless wonder" visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere. Browse the Comet ATLAS photo gallery for the latest images.
https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=25&month=01&year=2025