Comet ATLAS disintegrates into pieces

Comet ATLAS (formally known as C/2019 Y4) has disintegrated before our very eyes, and two new images from the Hubble Space Telescope show the comet has crumbled into 25 pieces.

After the comet was discovered on Dec. 29, 2019 by the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) robotic survey system, it started to quickly brighten.

However, in mid-March the comet started to abruptly dim and, as ATLAS later confirmed, its icy core started to break apart and disintegrate 91 million miles (146 million kilometers) from Earth.

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(Image credit: NASA, ESA, STScI and D. Jewitt (UCLA))

Two images of Comet Atlas, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. On the left is the comet in 30 pieces on April 20, 2020 and on the right is the comet on April 23 in 25 pieces.

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The disintegrating comet was approximately 146 million kilometers from Earth when the latest Hubble observations were taken.

If any of it survives, the comet will make its closest approach to Earth on May 23 at a distance of about 116 million kilometers.

Eight days later it will skirt past the Sun at 40 million kilometers.