From: slider@atashram.com

It's official: Comet Atlas has broken apart.

Just a month ago, it looked like the icy wanderer, officially known as
C/2019 Y4 Atlas, might put on a dazzling sky show around the time of its closest approach to the sun, or perihelion, which occurs on May 31.

But relatively lackluster behavior soon dimmed such hopes. And optimism surrounding the comet is now pretty much extinguished, for it's no longer
in one piece.

https://www.space.com/comet-atlas-falling-apart-photos.html

Comet Atlas "has shattered both its and our hearts," astrophysicist
Gianluca Masi, the founder and director of the Virtual Telescope Project
in Italy, said in an emailed statement on Sunday (April 12). "Its nucleus disintegrated, and last night I could see three, possibly four main
fragments."

From its detection date through mid-March, Comet Atlas ramped up
dramatically, increasing in brightness by a factor of 27,500, according to Space.com skywatching columnist Joe Rao. As a result, professional and
amateur astronomers alike began buzzing about its potential, some even
daring to dream that Atlas might become the next great comet to brighten Earth's night skies.

But Atlas slammed on the brightness brakes on March 17, and it's now
pretty clear why that happened.

(images)

Such breakups are common for comets, which spend most of their lives in
the frigid depths of the outer solar system and court danger whenever they
get close to the sun. Indeed, Atlas itself may be the result of a previous fragmentation event; comet expert John Bortle told Rao that Atlas may be a chunk that broke off the famous comet of 1844 (which is officially
designated C/1844 Y1).

Whatever Atlas' past may be, its future will not fulfill our skywatching dreams. But the next great comet is out there somewhere, and it will
eventually make an appearance.

### - awww shame, was looking forward to that? :)

Comet Hale–Bopp (1997) being the last one worth watching at all, this one promising to be bigger & better-er and possibly a once in a lifetime sight
to be seen, only now? pffffff! oh dear, nurse? :)))

damn! plus how disappointing? astronomy always having been a fav of mines
since the school i went to (at age 11) had it's very own planetarium; ya couldn't keep me out of it heh...

so that was comet atlas then huh?

riiiiight...

:)))

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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From: slider@anashram.com

One big dirty ice chunk is falling apart, but Comet Swan looks poised to
take its place.

At the moment a promising comet is fading, a newly discovered cosmic
snowball has been spotted in an outburst phase, giving us a bright new distraction from dark days here on planet Earth.

https://www.cnet.com/news/comet-atlas-is-crumbling-but-another-is-already-brightening-skywatchers-nights/

When it it went through a period of rapid brightening in March, Comet
Atlas (C/2019 Y4) looked as though it might put on a spectacle in the
night sky unlike anything we've seen in years. But comets are famously
erratic and unpredictable, and within weeks it became clear that Atlas was breaking up as it flew toward the overwhelming heat and radiation of the
sun.

Seemingly on cue, a new bright comet has emerged to delight skywatchers.

Comet Swan (C/2020 F8) is named after the Solar Wind Anisotropies device
aboard NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory that was used to discover
it. Astronomer Ernesto Guido in Italy was then able to confirm the
existence of the new comet, which is currently an 8th magnitude brightness object. That means it's not quite visible to the naked eye, but could be
viewed with binoculars or small telescopes.

"It's extremely likely that the comet is in 'outburst' mode," Karl Battams
of the Naval Research Lab and NASA's Sungrazing Comets Project told Spaceweather.com.

If it continues to brighten, Swan could become visible to the naked eye in
May. But Battams -- who successfully predicted the disappointment of Comet Atlas -- is skeptical once again.

"I doubt the comet will maintain its current impressive appearance, and
will quite possibly fade away soon," Battams said, "but we've only been
viewing it for a couple of days, so no one knows."

More observations are needed to have a better idea of whether comet Swan
will soon be worth staying up late for. I'll be sure to keep you posted as
to whether it shines or fizzles.

First published on April 15, 2020 at 12:35 p.m. PT.

### - am sceptical too about this new one doing much, especially compared
to what atlas was maybe gonna do? it remaining to be seen then if comet
'swan' will be a replacement for atlas, one that performs a
graceful-enough leap straight outta swan-lake, or just another
disappointing dunk into the local duck pond hehe :)))

so place yer' bets! :)

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