Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) disintegrated long before the prediction. At least, this is evidenced by images obtained by a telescope located at the South African Astronomical Observatory.
Possible disintegration of C/2024 S1 (ATLAS)
Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), discovered on September 27, managed to surprise scientists. According to reports from scientists working at the South African Observatory, it could have disintegrated between October 3 and October 8.
At least, that’s how the researchers themselves interpret the results. In the image, taken by a telescope with a mirror diameter of 1 m, the comet’s image looks a bit hazy and its nucleus looks elongated compared to images taken on October 3 by a very similar telescope at Siding Spring Observatory.
During this time, the distance from the comet to the Sun has decreased from 0.921 to 0.802 a.u. and in general, not much time has passed, and these changes are really easy to explain by the disintegration of the nucleus, but the fragments are still moving together as a single stream.
Irreversible disintegration
When astronomers discovered C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) a couple weeks ago, they immediately suspected it to be a comet of the Kreutz family. These celestial bodies are believed to be fragments of one giant “space iceberg” that broke up in 1106 AD.
Moreover, the comets of the Kreutz family usually have such orbits that during the passage of perihelion, that is, the closest point to the Sun, they disintegrate and completely disappear. The same fate, according to many scientists, awaited C/2024 S1 (ATLAS).
However, with a distance of 0.802 a.u., the event thought to be a disintegration is still a very long way from where it should have occurred. It is considered safe. But it is quite possible that there are objective reasons for this, which scientists will discover soon.
According to www.astronomerstelegram.org
