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The " once - in - a - life-time " comet that lately dismount up night skies for the first fourth dimension in millennia might be falling apart after being singed as it slingshotted around the sun , new pic advise . However , it is too early to secernate for sure .

Comet C/2024 G3 ( ATLAS ) made its closest attack to Earth on Jan. 14 and reached its minimal distance from the sun , known as perihelion , a day later . As a result , it shoneas promising as Venus for several daysand wasvisible across the globe . It has now begun its long journey back to the Oort Cloud — a artificial lake of comets and other polar objects near theedge of the solar organisation — and is not await to turn back for around 160,000 years .

A photo of a bright comet with a long tail shining in the night sky

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) was recently visible to the naked eye across the globe. This photo was taken in Argentina shortly after it reached its closest point to the sun.

Although the comet has now become too shadowy for mass to see with the naked eye , astrophotographers have go on to snap images of the comet as it travel back to the outersolar scheme — and matter are n’t looking undecomposed for the icy object .

Hungarian astrophotographerLionel Majzikphotographed the comet from the coloured sky of Chile over three sequent nights , between Jan. 18 and Jan. 20 . He remark that the comet ’s coma — the cloud around its core — had dim significantly during this time , suggest that the comet ’s head word may have set out break asunder , consort toSpaceweather.com .

The photos also showed a smart streak of lighting , or " streamer , " in the comet ’s can , which is a sign that declamatory amount of gas and junk are leaking out of the comet , potentially via new crevice in its nucleus .

Side-by-side photos of the comet across three days showing changes in its shape and brightness

Photos taken from Chile show that the comet’s nucleus, or head, has lost its brightness. The comet has also developed a bright “streamer” in its tail.

" Only one week ago , Comet ATLAS passed very tight to the sun , " Spaceweather.com reported . " The thermal tension may have been too much . "

Related:‘Totally awful ' astronaut photo capture comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS shooting past Earth from the ISS

The latest development is surprising , considering that initial observance of the comet after perihelion suggested it had remained unaffected by its " close - demise confrontation with the Sun,“Richard Miles , an astronomer and comet expert with the British Astronomical Association , sound out in astatement . However , it can be " quite hard to predict how the comet will carry " after such an coming upon , he added .

A photo taken from the ISS showing a bright comet and its streaking tail appearing to fall behind Earth’s horizon

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) was photographed by ISS astronaut Don Pettit shortly before reaching perihelion.

Simulations fromNicolas Lefaudeux , a Gallic technologist and amateur astronomer , propose that the comet ’s coma might recede luminosity between Jan. 19 and Jan. 26 " while the comet ’s head remains blot out in the sun ’s glare , " Spaceweather.compreviously reported . Although this could have caused the dimming in the new trope , it does not excuse the streamer in the comet ’s tail .

Therefore , more observation will be involve in the come week to accurately determine the comet ’s luck .

Comet disintegration

Comets like C/2024 G3 decay when high-pitched levels of solar radiation quip spread out their nucleus and induce grave outgassing . This slow destabilizes the object and causes it to split apart into fragments that are loosely bind together by gravitational attraction . Eventually , these shard separate and are dissipate across the comet ’s orbital tract .

For example , in October 2024 , the " Halloween comet " C/2024 S1 ( ATLAS ) was seendisintegrating as it made its closest approach to the Sunday .

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The last super - bright comet to visit Earth — comet C/2023 A3 ( Tsuchinshan - ATLAS ) — also showed signal of disintegratingen itinerary to its perihelion in October last year . When these polarity were first spotted , researchers noted that the comet ’s fragmentation may have begun 80,000 twelvemonth to begin with , during its previous solar slingshot .

Side by side images showing the comet brighten and then dim between April 3 and April 10

Therefore , C/2024 G3 might just be wounded by its recent close approach and may stay intact for the next 160,000 yr .

A photo of a bright green comet in space with a long tail

a small orb circles a large burning orb while leaving a trail of fire in its wake

An illustration of a small, dark planet leaving a tail of disintegrating matter behind it as it passes in front of a large star

a four-paneled illustration showing the progression of a planet orbiting closer to its star until it falls in

A photo of the ATLAS comet in the night sky

a black and white image of an irregularly-shaped comet

an illustration of a base on the moon

An aerial photo of mountains rising out of Antarctica snowy and icy landscape, as seen from NASA�s Operation IceBridge research aircraft.

A tree is silhouetted against the full completed Annular Solar Eclipse on October 14, 2023 in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.

Screen-capture of a home security camera facing a front porch during an earthquake.

Circular alignment of stones in the center of an image full of stones

Three-dimensional rendering of an HIV virus