Comet C/2025 K1 Atlas breaks into three pieces after coming close to the sun, new footage shows

​Comet C/2025 K1 Atlas has broken into three pieces after it went very close to the sun. Astronomers captured clear videos and photos of the breakup on the nights of November 11 and 12, showing the comet slowly falling apart as it moved through space.

What happened before the breakup

The comet was first discovered in May 2025. Over the next few months, it became brighter because the sun’s heat warmed up the ice inside it. When the ice turned into gas, it created a glowing cloud around the comet called a coma.

The sun’s wind then pushed this gas away, forming a long tail — like most comets we see in photos.

Even though it became brighter, it never became bright enough to see with the naked eye.

On October 8, the comet went very close to the sun. This close pass weakened its structure. Many comets fall apart when they pass near the sun, and scientists believe the same happened here.

New footage shows the breakup

Astronomers using the Copernicus telescope at the Asiago Observatory in Italy captured images of the comet on November 11 and 12. The pictures showed that the comet had split into three main parts.

One astronomer explained that two of the pieces were almost the same size and were separated by about 2,000 kilometers. A smaller third piece was also seen nearby.

On the same nights, astronomer Gianluca Masi from the Virtual Telescope Project also recorded the breakup. His images showed a large piece of the comet’s main body breaking away. He said that the clear weather and the telescope’s high resolution helped capture important details of this event.

Why the comet broke apart

Comets are mostly made of ice, dust, and rock. When they get close to the sun, the heat causes the ice inside them to turn into gas. If this happens too quickly, the pressure can cause the comet to crack.

Scientists say this is likely why C/2025 K1 Atlas split into pieces. The sun’s heat was too strong, and the comet could not hold together.

Why this comet is interesting for science

This comet may have come from the Kuiper Belt, a cold region far beyond Neptune. If so, it is made of very old material that has not changed much since the early days of the Solar System.

Studying it can help scientists understand what the Solar System was made of billions of years ago.

This comet is not related to the interstellar object 3I/Atlas, even though the names sound similar. Both were discovered by the same sky survey program, ATLAS, which is why they share part of the same name.

More observations coming soon

Astronomers will continue to watch the three pieces of the comet until they become too faint to see. They will study:

• how bright each fragment is

• how the pieces move apart
• how the tail changes shape
• whether the pieces break further

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All this information helps scientists learn more about how comets behave when they get close to the sun.