Watch: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures rare proof of comet breaking apart
Hubble took three 20-second images, one on each day from Nov. 8 through Nov. 10, 2025, capturing the progression of a fragmenting comet for the first time.
Watch: Rare video captures comet breaking apart
NASA's Hubble Telescope witnessed a comet in the act of breaking apart, captured across a three-day span in November 2025. Hubble caught K1 fragmenting into at least four pieces, each with a distinct coma, the fuzzy envelope of gas and dust that surrounds a comet’s icy nucleus.
NASA's Hubble Telescope captured the rare phenomenon of a comet breaking apart, catching scientists off guard until they saw the jaw-dropping proof for themselves.
Hubble captured images C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) fragmenting into at least four pieces, a shocking revelation to investigators observing the comet.
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"Sometimes the best science happens by accident," said co-investigator John Noonan, a research professor at Auburn University. "This comet got observed because our original comet was not viewable due to some new technical constraints after we won our proposal. We had to find a new target—and right when we observed it, it happened to break apart, which is the slimmest of slim chances."
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured a fragmenting comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) was taken over the course of three consecutive days: Nov. 8, 9, and 10, 2025. This is the first time Hubble has witnessed a comet so early in the process of breaking up. (Image: NASA, ESA, Dennis Bodewits (AU); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI))
Before it fragmented, K1 was likely a bit larger than an average comet, approximately 5 miles across.
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The team estimates the comet began to disintegrate eight days before Hubble viewed it.
"Never before has Hubble caught a fragmenting comet this close to when it actually fell apart. Most of the time, it's a few weeks to a month later. And in this case, we were able to see it just days after," said Noonan.
Hubble took three 20-second images, one on each day from Nov. 8 through Nov. 10, 2025, capturing the progression of the fragmentation.
The comet’s perihelion was inside Mercury’s orbit, about one-third the distance of the Earth from the Sun. During perihelion, a comet experiences its most intense heating and maximum stress. Just past perihelion is when some long-period comets like K1 tend to fall apart. (@SpaceTelescope / X)
According to NASA, thanks to Hubble's sharp vision, the research team was able to trace the history of the fragments back to when they were a whole piece soaring through space, allowing them to reconstruct the comet's timeline.
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The images were taken just a month after K1’s closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion.
The comet’s perihelion was inside Mercury’s orbit, about one-third the distance of the Earth from the Sun.
During this period, a comet experiences its most intense heating and maximum stress. After perihelion, some long-period comets like K1 tend to fall apart.
HUBBLE OR NOTHING
This groundbreaking new observation from Hubble marks the latest triumph in the telescope’s storied legacy.
Since its launch in 1990, the Hubble Telescope has made monumental contributions to the world's understanding of the universe.
Hubble in Earth's orbit. (NASA / FOX Weather)
The Hubble Space Telescope is a school-bus-sized observatory orbiting above Earth’s atmosphere. Its 2.4-meter mirror captures high-resolution ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light, revealing galaxies, stars, and planets with exceptional clarity—and helping pin down the age of the universe.
FILE: Image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA / ESA / FOX Weather)
In its 36-year stay in space, Hubble has captured remarkable images of the cosmos that will be etched into astronomy books for decades to come.