                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2025 February 5

                 Comet G3 ATLAS Setting over a Chilean Hill
                   Video Credit & Copyright: Gabriel Muñoz

   Explanation: 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 Araucanía 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.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

