Hubble snapshots real-time breakup of distant comet C/2025 K1 ATLAS
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured, in real time, the fragmentation of the long‑period comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) after its near‑Sun passage, identifying at least four fragments over three days (Nov. 8–10, 2025) with one fragment fragmenting again; breakup began about a week earlier as heating and stress from perihelion likely exposed dust layers. K1, ~8 km across and from the distant Oort Cloud, was discovered by ATLAS in May 2025. The observations, described in a 2026 Icarus paper, offer rare insight into the physics of comet surfaces and dust production during disintegration.
