Back C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) Afrikaans C/2019 Y4 (مذنب أطلس) Arabic C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) Byelorussian Атлас (комета) Bulgarian Kometa ATLAS BS C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) Catalan C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) Czech C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) German C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) Spanish دنباله‌دار اتلس Persian

C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)

For other comets discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, see Comet ATLAS (disambiguation).

C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)
C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) imaged on March 14, 2020
Discovery
Discovered byATLAS-MLO
Discovery dateDecember 28, 2019
Designations
C/2019 Y4-A; C/2019 Y4-B; C/2019 Y4-C; C/2019 Y4-D; C/2019 Y4-E
Orbital characteristics[1]
EpochMarch 7, 2020
(JD 2458915.5)
Observation arc115 days
Number of
observations		1250
Aphelion660.9626±3.2491 AU
Perihelion0.2528 AU
Semi-major axis330.6077±1.6252 AU
Eccentricity0.99924
Orbital period6011.43±44.33 yr
Inclination45.3839°
120.5721°
Argument of
periapsis		177.4084°
Last perihelion31 May 2020
TJupiter0.454
Earth MOID0.631177 AU (94,422,700 km)
Jupiter MOID1.39373 AU
Physical characteristics[2][3]
Dimensions0.4–1.0 km (0.25–0.62 mi)
Mean diameter
0.6 km (0.37 mi)
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		9.9±0.9
Comet nuclear
magnitude (M2)		13.1±0.7
7.0
(2021 apparition)

C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) was a comet with a near-parabolic orbit discovered by the ATLAS survey on December 28, 2019.[4] Early predictions based on the brightening rate suggested that the comet could become as bright as magnitude 0 matching the brightness of Vega.[5] It received widespread media coverage due to its dramatic increase in brightness and orbit similar to the Great Comet of 1844, but on 22 March 2020, the comet started disintegrating.[6][7] Such fragmentation events are very common for Kreutz Sungrazers. The comet continues to fade and did not reach naked eye visibility.[5] By mid-May, comet ATLAS appeared very diffuse even in a telescope. C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) has not been seen since 21 May 2020.[8]

C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) was the brightest on March 30 when it had an apparent magnitude of about 7, but after disintegrating, it continued to fade, until it was last observed on May 21. It is located in the constellation Monoceros but is no longer visible. It reached its nearest point to Earth on May 23 and come to perihelion (closest to the Sun) on May 31.

In April 2020, astronomers reported, on The Astronomer's Telegram, the possible disintegration of Comet ATLAS.[6][7][9] The comet has fragmented into at least 4 pieces.[10][11] NASA subsequently reported that the Hubble Space Telescope has identified that there could be as many as roughly "30 fragments on April 20, and 25 pieces on April 23."[12] The fragmentation may be the result of outgassing causing an increase in the centrifugal force of the comet.

The Solar Orbiter flew through the ion tail of comet ATLAS between May 31 and June 1 and the dust tail on June 6.[13][14]

  1. ^ "Small-Body Database Lookup".
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference JPL SBDB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jewitt_2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Dickinson, David (February 25, 2020). "Comet Y4 Atlas in Outburst: First Good Comet for 2020?". Universe Today. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Yoshida was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ATEL13620 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b Steele, I.A.; Smith, R.J.; Marchantn, J. (April 6, 2020). "ATel #13622: C/2019 Y4 ATLAS – confirmation of nuclear change". The Astronomer's Telegram. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference COBS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Lin, Zhang-Yi; et al. (April 13, 2020). "ATel #13629: The fragmentation of comet C/2019 Y4 (Atlas) observed at Lulin observatory". The Astronomer's Telegram. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  10. ^ Philipp Keller (Astrooptik) RC 900mm F/10
  11. ^ Ye, Quanzhi; Hui, Man-To (April 21, 2020). "ATel #13651: Continuing Fragmentation of C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)". The Astronomer's Telegram. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  12. ^ Andreoli, Claire; Villard, Ray; Jewitt, David; Ye, Quanzhi (April 28, 2020). "Hubble Watches Comet ATLAS Disintegrate Into More Than Two Dozen Pieces". www.nasa.gov. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference ESA20200529 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference NewAtlas was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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