Watch the “Halloween Comet” ATLAS burn as it flies toward the sun

Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) is no more.

Monday (October 28), comet evaporated as it headed toward perihelion, the closest point to the sun in its orbit. There were previously hopes that the comet, officially designated C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), could become a “Halloween present” visible to the naked eye, but these were ultimately just wishful thinking; astronomers had already begun observing the cosmic snowball that began to disintegrate earlier this month.

Now, thanks to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a spacecraft jointly operated by NASA and the European Space Agencywe know with certainty how and when comet ATLAS met its demise.

An animation showing the Atlas comet approaching the sun and then bursting into flames — An animation showing the final moments of comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) as it flew toward the sun on October 28, 2024. (Image credit: ESA/NASA SOHO)

Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) has passed its closest point of Earth on October 23, reaching a magnitude of 8.7, far too faint to be seen with the naked eye. However, telescopes were able to see the icy visitor from outside. solar system.

After this approach, the comet began flying toward the sun, making it difficult to see by anything other than specialized instruments designed for solar observation.

Here we go! Comet ATLAS (C/2024 S1) may become a -6.7 mag daytime object on the 28th, although it will be very close to the sun at that time, and all precautions should be taken. Image taken on the 20th. Courtesy of Gérald Rhemann. pic.twitter.com/qJETKOMV9LOctober 21, 2024

Comet ATLAS was first discovered last month, on September 27, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) project in Hawaii. The comet belongs to a family known as Kreutz sungrazers, comets that all follow a similar orbit that brings them very close to the sun every 500 to 800 years, depending on the individual orbit of each.

Kreutz sungrazers are believed to be fragments of a single comet that broke up at some point in the distant past. The first sungrazer may have been observed as early as 317 BC, according to the European Space Agency.

Like all comets, C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) was essentially a “dirty snowball,” a frozen body composed of gas, rocks and dust left over from the early days of our era. solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.

Some comets can take up to hundreds of thousands or even millions of years to orbit the sun, although others can orbit on much shorter time scales. Halley’s Cometone of the best-known comets, orbits approximately every 75 years. Comet Encke, for its part, orbits the sun every 3.3 years.

Another comet, known as C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), survived its closest approach to the sun on September 27 and put on quite a show for observers around the world, becoming visible to the naked eye for much of October.

Originally published on Espace.com.

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