Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS: Multiple Tails over Chile

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS: Multiple Tails over Chile

What is happening to Comet G3 ATLAS? After passing near the Sun in mid-January 2025, the head of the comet has become dimmer and dimmer. By late January, the comet had become a headless wonder—although it continued to show impressive tails after sunset in the skies of Earth's Southern Hemisphere. A key reason is likely that the comet's nucleus of ice and rock, at the head's center, has fragmented. Comet G3 ATLAS passed well inside the orbit of planet Mercury when at its solar closest, a distance that where heat destroys many comets. Some of comet G3 ATLAS' scattering remains will continue to orbit the Sun . . .

Image Description: In a gradient from orange-red to green-blue, this image captures the Comet C/2024 G3 around dusk. The background is covered by countless stars of all sizes. At the forefront, the comet appears as a white feather-shaped object. The core of the comet (its tip) is bright white. From there, two tails originate: towards the right projects a fainter tail, almost like a veil. Approaching the top, it projects a brighter tail, almost looking like the bushy tail of a cat. It becomes fainter the further you go from the comet’s core.

This impressive image of comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS was captured on January 29, 2025, from the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory by Abel de Burgos Sierra, ESO Fellow in Chile. Gas and dust particles are ejected from the nucleus and pushed away from the Sun by the solar wind and radiation, creating a spectacular display with multiple tails.

Credit: A. de Burgos Sierra/European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: Feb. 3, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Earth #Comets #Comet #CometC2024G3ATLAS #C2024G3 #Dusk #OortCloud #SolarSystem #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #ADeBurgosSierra #ParanalObservatory #AtacamaDesert #Chile #SouthAmerica #STEM #Education