APOD: 2025 February 2 – Comet G3 ATLAS Disintegrates

Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to this Ground Hog Day edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for February 2, 2025.

Our friends in the Southern Hemisphere have done an admirable job documenting Comet G3 ATLAS and its visit to the inner Solar System over the last few weeks. This collection of images was taken in Chilé, and suggests that the central core of Comet G3 ATLAS has broken apart on its way back to interstellar space. There does appear to be a larger fragment that remains, due to the consistent brighter streak in the more diffuse tail.

Note: if you are a member of Facebook, you might enjoy the archive of Comet G3 ATLAS photos that APOD has posted in its archive.