{"id":496018,"date":"2026-05-21T16:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T16:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/496018\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T16:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T16:06:09","slug":"nasas-hubble-accidentally-witnesses-a-comet-shattering-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/496018\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Hubble Accidentally Witnesses a Comet Shattering in Space"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NASA<\/a>Hubble accidentally captured a comet in the middle of breaking apart, an event scientists have tried for years to observe. (Comet illustration.) Credit: NASA<\/p>\n

In a stunning stroke of luck, Hubble witnessed a comet splitting apart almost in real time. The rare observation is giving scientists an unprecedented look inside one of the solar system\u2019s ancient icy leftovers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an extraordinary stroke of luck, NASA\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope observed a comet breaking apart in real time. The odds of Hubble catching such an event at exactly the right moment are incredibly small. The discovery was published in the journal Icarus.<\/p>\n

The comet, officially named C\/2025 K1 (ATLAS)\u2014not to be confused with interstellar comet 3I\/ATLAS\u2014was not even the original target of the observation campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes the best science happens by accident,\u201d said co-investigator John Noonan, a research professor in the Department of Physics at Auburn University in Alabama. \u201cThis comet got observed because our original comet was not viewable due to some new technical constraints after we won our proposal. We had to find a new target \u2014 and right when we observed it, it happened to break apart, which is the slimmest of slim chances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Comet<\/a>This series of Hubble Space Telescope images of the fragmenting comet C\/2025 K1 (ATLAS), or K1 for short, was taken over the course of three consecutive days: November 8, 9, and 10, 2025. Captured by Hubble\u2019s STIS (Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph) instrument, the sequence shows the progressive disintegration of the comet over this brief period. This is the first time Hubble has witnessed a comet so early in the process of breaking up. Hubble caught K1 fragmenting into at least four pieces, each with a distinct coma, the fuzzy envelope of gas and dust that surrounds a comet\u2019s icy nucleus. Hubble cleanly resolved the fragments, but from the ground they only appeared as barely distinguishable blobs. Credit: NASA, ESA, D. Bodewits (Auburn). Image processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)Scientists Realize the Comet Has Split<\/p>\n

Noonan only discovered the breakup after reviewing Hubble\u2019s images the next day. \u201cWhile I was taking an initial look at the data, I saw that there were four comets in those images when we only proposed to look at one,\u201d said Noonan. \u201cSo we knew this was something really, really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Researchers had hoped for years to capture a comet fragmenting with Hubble. They submitted multiple proposals aimed at observing such an event, but the timing is notoriously difficult, and previous efforts never worked out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe irony is now we\u2019re just studying a regular comet, and it crumbles in front of our eyes,\u201d said principal investigator Dennis Bodewits, also a professor in Auburn University\u2019s Department of Physics.<\/p>\n

\u201cComets are leftovers of the era of solar system formation, so they\u2019re made of \u2018old stuff\u2019\u2014the primordial materials that made our solar system,\u201d said Bodewits. \u201cBut they are not pristine\u2014they\u2019ve been heated, they\u2019ve been irradiated by the Sun and by cosmic rays. So, when looking at a comet\u2019s composition, the question that we always have is, \u2018Is this a primitive property or is this due to evolution?\u2019 By cracking open a comet, you can see the ancient material that has not been processed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hubble Reveals Multiple Comet Fragments<\/p>\n

Hubble detected K1 splitting into at least four separate pieces. Each fragment had its own coma, the glowing cloud of gas and dust surrounding a comet\u2019s icy core. Hubble\u2019s sharp images clearly separated the fragments, while ground-based telescopes could only see faint bright spots that were difficult to distinguish from one another.<\/p>\n

The observations took place about one month after K1 reached perihelion, its closest point to the Sun. At perihelion, the comet traveled inside Mercury\u2019s orbit, roughly one-third of Earth\u2019s distance from the Sun. This stage exposes comets to extreme heating and stress, and long-period comets like K1 often begin to break apart shortly afterward.<\/p>\n

Before the breakup, K1 was likely somewhat larger than the average comet, measuring about 5 miles across. Scientists estimate the fragmentation process began around eight days before Hubble observed it. The telescope captured three 20-second exposures taken on November 8, 9, and 10, 2025. During those observations, one of the smaller fragments also split apart.<\/p>\n

\"Path<\/a>This diagram shows the path the long-period comet C\/2025 K1 (ATLAS), or K1 for short, took as it swung past the Sun and began its journey out of the Solar System. On November 10, 2025, Hubble captured the inset image of the fragmenting comet. Hubble took this image just a month after K1\u2019s closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion. During perihelion, a comet experiences its most intense heating and maximum stress. Just past perihelion is when some long-period comets like K1 tend to fall apart. K1\u2019s perihelion was inside Mercury\u2019s orbit, about one-third the distance of the Earth from the Sun. This is the first time Hubble has witnessed a comet so early in the process of breaking up. Credit: NASA, ESA, R. Crawford (STScI)A Mystery About Comet Brightness<\/p>\n

Because Hubble can resolve extremely fine details, researchers were able to trace the fragments backward and determine when they had still been a single object. This helped the team reconstruct the timeline of the breakup. In the process, they encountered an unexpected mystery. Why did the comet take time to brighten after splitting apart? Once fresh ice was exposed, scientists expected the comet to become brighter almost immediately.<\/p>\n

The researchers have several possible explanations. Most of a comet\u2019s brightness comes from sunlight reflecting off dust particles. When a comet first cracks open, however, it exposes fresh ice rather than dust. One possibility is that a dry dust layer needs to form over the ice before it can be blown away. Another theory suggests heat slowly penetrates beneath the surface, building pressure until it ejects an expanding cloud of dust.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever before has Hubble caught a fragmenting comet this close to when it actually fell apart. Most of the time, it\u2019s a few weeks to a month later. And in this case, we were able to see it just days after,\u201d said Noonan. \u201cThis is telling us something very important about the physics of what\u2019s happening at the comet\u2019s surface. We may be seeing the timescale it takes to form a substantial dust layer that can then be ejected by the gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strange Chemistry and a One-Way Journey<\/p>\n

Scientists are continuing to study gases released by the comet. Early ground-based observations already show that K1 has unusual chemistry. Compared with most comets, it appears to contain far less carbon. Additional spectroscopic observations from Hubble\u2019s STIS (Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph) and COS (Cosmic Origins Spectrograph) instruments could reveal more about the comet\u2019s makeup and provide clues about the early solar system.<\/p>\n

K1 is now a drifting collection of fragments located about 250 million miles from Earth in the constellation Pisces. It is traveling away from the solar system and is unlikely to ever return.<\/p>\n

Hubble\u2019s Long Legacy of Discovery<\/p>\n

The Hubble Space Telescope has operated for more than 30 years and continues to produce discoveries that deepen scientists\u2019 understanding of the universe. Hubble is a joint project between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the mission and telescope operations, with additional support from Lockheed Martin Space in Denver. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, oversees Hubble\u2019s science operations for NASA.<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cSequential fragmentation of C\/2025 K1 (ATLAS) after its near-sun passage\u201d by D. Bodewits, J.W. Noonan, M.S.P. Kelley, C.E. Holt, T.A. Lister, H. Usher, C. Snodgrass, B.J.R. Davidsson and S. Greenstreet, 6 February 2026, Icarus.
DOI: 10.1016\/j.icarus.2026.116996<\/a><\/p>\n

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Follow us on Google<\/a> and Google News<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hubble accidentally captured a comet in the middle of breaking apart, an event scientists have tried for years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[270],"tags":[582,7043,18,28434,3095,19,17,1024,133,451],"class_list":["post-496018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-astronomy","tag-comet","tag-eire","tag-european-space-agency","tag-hubble-space-telescope","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-space"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116613427952438872","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}