Comet Borisovhas been predominate the comet headlines latterly , with good reason – it is the first interstellar comet ever detected in the Solar System . However , not to be outdone , the “ doomed ” comet C/2019 Y4 ( ATLAS ) has put on a dramatic display for us as it met its fatal end , disintegrate into as many as 30 man , each more or less the size of a business firm .
Luckily , NASA’sHubble Space Telescopewas on deal to charm this result when the comet was approximately 146 million kilometers ( 91 million miles ) from Earth , inside the orbit of Mars .
“ This is really exciting — both because such events are exceedingly cool to find out and because they do not happen very often , ” Quanzhi Ye , leader of one of the Hubble observe teams from the University of Maryland , said in astatement . “ Most comet that shard are too dumb to see . event at such scale only happen once or twice a decade . ”
Discovered mighty at the conclusion of last year , ATLAS was expect to be just another “ muddied sweet sand verbena ” visit to the inside Solar System , too faint to see with the human oculus . However , uranologist ’s interests were top out when itsmagnitude suddenly jumped100 - fold in a few days in March . This put it on course to be one of the most spectacular comet seen in the last 20 twelvemonth , visible to the naked eye .
deplorably , after abruptly dimming , shard of the comet were spotted on April 11 by inexpert astronomer Jose de Queiroz , whilst ATLAS journeyed around the Sun . A silver medal liner of the situation was that now on Hubble ’s radar , ATLAS ’ death could be captured in crisp resolution . Around 30 sherd were identified on April 20 , and 25 pieces on April 23 .
“ Their visual aspect modification substantially between the two days , so much so that it ’s quite difficult to connect the dots , ” David Jewitt , prof of planetary skill and uranology at UCLA , California , and leader of the other team who photographed the comet with Hubble , explain . “ I do n’t know whether this is because the individual pieces are flashing on and off as they reflect sunlight , roleplay like winkle lights on a Christmas tree , or because different fragments appear on different days . ”
The team ’s observations of ATLAS suggest that comet fragmentation may well be the primary reason behind the end of a comet ’s upstanding , icy lens nucleus . But why this happen still remains somewhat of a mystery . One suggestion is that the Sun ’s warming influence “ unglues ” the comet as it enters the inner Solar System . An alternative proposal , is that the comet ’s nucleus spun itself apart , as jets of warming gas bring out from sublime icing broke it aside .
“ Further depth psychology of the Hubble data might be able-bodied to show whether or not this mechanism is responsible , ” Jewitt continued . “ Regardless , it ’s quite extra to get a look with Hubble at this dying comet . ”
Although our dreams of witness ATLAS with the human eye were literally shattered , there ’s a novel comet on the block quicken our comet - hunting hopes . Watch this space .
