The Other ATLAS Comet Breaks Apart As It Nears Earth

By
Samuel Lopez
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A newly released telescope image reveals that Comet C/2025 K1 ATLAS has broken into multiple pieces after its recent close pass by the sun. This object has no connection to the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. (Image credit: Gianluca Masi/The Virtual Telescope Project)

Key Findings

  • New telescope imagery confirms the breakup of Comet C/2025 K1 ATLAS, the ordinary solar-system comet—not the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS.
  • The fragmenting nucleus collapsed after its October 8 perihelion, leaving a widening debris cloud drifting along its predicted path.
  • The breakup has no impact risk to Earth, and astronomers emphasize the distinction to halt online confusion with 3I/ATLAS.

By Samuel Lopez | USA Herald

A newly released telescope image has confirmed that Comet C/2025 K1 ATLAS—the “other” ATLAS comet discovered earlier this year—has shattered into fragments after its close encounter with the sun, ending its journey as an intact nucleus. The Virtual Telescope Project’s Gianluca Masi captured the image showing an elongated smear of light where a single, consolidated core once existed. The debris field marks the comet’s full structural collapse.

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From the outset, astronomers moved swiftly to correct a wave of online misidentification: this is not 3I/ATLAS. The object breaking apart is the conventional long-period comet C/2025 K1 ATLAS, originating from within our own solar system. It shares nothing with the interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS except an acronym attached to the survey network that discovered both comets in different months. The two bodies have separate origins, compositions, behaviors, and scientific relevance.