HUBBLE ATLAS
Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)) — image from the Hubble Space Telescope

Solar System

Comet ATLAS

August 19, 2021 · NASA · C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)

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Breakup of Comet ATLAS

This pair of Hubble Space Telescope images of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), taken on April 20 and April 23, 2020, reveal the breakup of the solid nucleus of the comet. Hubble photos identify as many as 30 separate fragments. The comet was approximately 91 million miles from Earth when the images were taken. The comet may be a broken off piece of a larger comet that swung by the Sun 5,000 years ago. The comet has been artificially colored in this view to enhance details for analysis.

About the colours

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The color results from assigning the color red to a monochromatic (grayscale) image.

About the data

The HST observations include those from program 16111 (D. Jewitt)

More Hubble images of C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)