Comet ATLAS May Be Broken-Off Piece of Larger, More Ancient Visitor
The near-Sun comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) is the first member of a long-period comet group observed to disintegrate well before its closest approach to the Sun. Using images obtained by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope campaign, astronomers have identified two fragment clusters produced by the comet’s disintegration in 2020. This pair of Hubble images of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), taken on April 20...