In space, death can be a beautiful thing. That's certainly the case for the recently deceased "other" comet ATLAS, which is slowly breaking apart after meeting its explosive end earlier this month, stunning new images reveal.
C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) is a comet originating from the Oort Cloud beyond Neptune that was discovered in May by astronomers at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). It reached its closest point to the sun, or perihelion, on Oct. 8, coming within 31 million miles (50 million kilometers) of our home star. But the comet largely went under the radar until earlier this month, when it developed a rare golden glow in its coma and tail.
