Image Credit & Copyright: Milen Minev (Bulgarian Inst. of Astronomy and NAO Rozhen), Velimir Popov, Emil Ivanov (Irida Observatory)
Explanation: "Cruising through the inner solar system, Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4) has apparently fragmented. Multiple separate condensations within its diffuse coma are visible in 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 comet watchers held out hope that it would become a bright naked-eye comet as it came closer to Earth in late April and May. But fragmenting ATLAS is slowly fading in northern skies. The breakup of comets is not uncommon though. This comet ATLAS is in an orbit similar to the Great Comet of 1844 (C/1844 Y1) and both may be fragments of a single larger comet."
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200416.html
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=C%2F2019%20Y4;old=0;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=0#orb
"Comets are notoriously unpredictable, so it's not shocking that Atlas is falling apart. It's also a little uncertain what will became of it next. It could just continue to fragment into smaller and smaller bits until it becomes impossible to see, or it might fly right into the sun, perhaps putting on one last show for us after all."
https://www.cnet.com/news/comet-atlas-is-now-in-an-all-out-death-dive-towards-the-sun/
https://www.popastro.com/main_spa1/blog/2020/03/19/bright-comet-by-may/
"Confirmation of this came on April 11, when images of ATLAS revealed that its nucleus had broken into at least three pieces. It is not yet clear exactly what caused the comet to break apart, but this is likely the beginning of the end for ATLAS. The comet continues to show indications of breaking up as well as slowly fading away. Indeed, as Bortle had suggested, there may be nothing left when ATLAS makes its closest pass at the sun on May 31."
https://www.space.com/comet-swan-arrives-as-comet-atlas-crumbles.html
