Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2020 April 16
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                            Comet ATLAS Breaks Up
   Image Credit & [3]Copyright: Milen Minev (Bulgarian Inst. of Astronomy
    and [4]NAO Rozhen), Velimir Popov, Emil Ivanov ([5]Irida Observatory)

   Explanation: [6]Cruising through the inner solar system, Comet ATLAS
   C2019/Y4 has apparently [7]fragmented. Multiple separate condensations
   within its diffuse coma are visible in [8]this telescopic close-up from
   April 12, composed of frames tracking the comet's motion against
   trailing background stars. Discovered at the end of December 2019, this
   comet ATLAS showed a remarkably rapid increase in brightness in late
   March. Northern hemisphere [9]comet watchers held out hope that it
   would become a bright nake-eye comet as it came closer to Earth in late
   April and May. [10]But fragmenting ATLAS is slowly [11]fading in
   northern skies. [12]The breakup of comets is not uncommon though. This
   comet ATLAS is in an orbit similar to the Great Comet of 1844
   ([13]C/1844 Y1) and both may be fragments of a single larger comet.

                      Tomorrow's picture: The Starmill
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    Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([28]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply.
              [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC
                           & [34]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2004/C2019Y4_20.04.13_1100px.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. http://nao-rozhen.org/index_en.html
   5. http://www.irida-observatory.org/
   6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200321.html
   7. http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=13620
   8. http://www.irida-observatory.org/CCD/C2019Y4_2020.04.13/C2019Y4_20.04.13.html
   9. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/overview/
  10. https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/comet-atlas-will-it-become-a-naked-eye-object/
  11. http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2019Y4/2019Y4.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060504.html
  13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_near-parabolic_comets
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200415.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200416
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200417.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  34. http://www.mtu.edu/