Space items
Comet Atlas Breaking Up
FRAGMENTS OF COMET ATLAS RACE TOWARD THE SUN: Has Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4) undergone mitosis? Amateur astronomers taking a close look at the comet's core are seeing two nearly identical fragments racing toward the sun. Jose De Queiroz and Michael Deyerler send this picture taken April 15th from Switzerland's public Mirasteilas Observatory:
"We used the observatory's 90cm remote-controlled telescope with an SBIG STL-11000 camera," explains Deyerler. "We have been monitoring the comet with this large public telescope since early April." Their images show the beginning of ATLAS's breakup on April 1st, followed by increasing fragmentation on April 11th, 14th, and 15th.
The fragmentation of Comet ATLAS has unfortunately not multiplied its brightness. According to the Comet Observation Database, Comet ATLAS has dimmed by 2 magnitudes (a factor of ~6) since the breakup began. The disintegrating nucleus seems to be exhausting its stores of gas and dust very rapidly and, indeed, the comet may not survive much longer. Continued monitoring is encouraged.
Meteor Shower next Week
LYRID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is approaching a stream of debris from Comet Thatcher (C/1861 G1), source of the annual Lyrid meteor shower. If forecasters are correct, the Lyrids will peak on the night of April 21-22 with as many as 15 meteors per hour. These meteors are best seen from the northern hemisphere where the radiant is high in the sky before dawn.
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-lyrid-meteor-shower
https://www.spaceweather.com/