Where is Comet ATLAS going?
In the
featured time-lapse video, the comet is not itself moving very much,
but the
Earth's rotation makes it appear to be setting
over a hill.
The
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) sequence was captured
with an ordinary camera on January 22 from the
AraucanÃa Region in central
Chile.
Comet ATLAS has been an impressive site in the evening skies of
Earth's
Southern Hemisphere over the past few weeks,
so bright and awe-inspiring that it may eventually become known as the
Great Comet of 2025.
Unfortunately,
Comet G3 ATLAS is
not going anywhere anymore because its central
nucleus broke up during its close pass to the
Sun last month.
Some of the comet's
scattered remains of
rocks and ice will continue to
orbit the Sun, some in nearly the same
outward section of the orbit that the
comet's nucleus would have taken.