Comet G3 ATLAS Disintegrates

Comet G3 ATLAS Disintegrates

Image Credit:
Lionel Majzik

Explanation:
What’s happening to Comet G3 ATLAS?

After
passing near the Sun in mid-January,
the head of the comet has become dimmer and dimmer.

By late January, Comet
C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)
had become a
headless wonder — even though it continued to show
impressive
tails after sunset in the skies of
Earth‘s
Southern Hemisphere.

Pictured are images of Comet G3 ATLAS on successive January nights taken from
Río Hurtado,
Chile.

Clearly, the comet’s head is brighter and more
centrally condensed on the earlier days (left) than on later days (right).

A key reason is likely that the
comet’s nucleus of ice and rock, at the
head‘s center, has
fragmented.

Comet G3 ATLAS passed
well inside the orbit of
planet Mercury
when at its solar closest, a distance that where heat
destroys
many
comets.

Some of comet G3 ATLAS’ scattering remains
will continue to orbit the Sun.