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Comet C/2025 K1 Orbit Illustration

Diagram shows K1’s path. With Sun at center, nearly circular orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars appear against black background. In sharp contrast is K1’s tight parabolic curve, marked by solid, light blue curving line illustrating how K1 swooped toward the Sun from above. It curved around the Sun, coming closest inside Mercury’s orbit, and continued its outbound journey. After passing the Sun, as K1 approached Mercury’s orbit, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured the inset image of comet. Five, bright, fuzzy, blue, comet-like objects streak diagonally from upper left to lower right of a black box outlined in white. At outside top of box is label C/2025 K1 (ATLAS). Outside the right side of box is a white, horizontal line labeled November 10, 2025. To right of this line is a perpendicular, vertical line pointing to a white glow just inside Mercury’s orbit that illustrates K1. To left of this glow, the comet’s outbound path is marked by a dashed gray line that continues off the image.

This diagram shows the path the long-period comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), or K1 for short, took as it swung past the Sun and began its journey out of the solar system. On Nov. 10, 2025, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured the inset image of the fragmenting comet. Hubble took this image just a month after K1’s closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion. 

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. The comet’s perihelion was inside Mercury’s orbit, about one-third the distance of the Earth from the Sun. This is the first time Hubble has witnessed a comet so early in the process of breaking up.

  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS)
  • Release Date
    March 18, 2026
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Unexpectedly Catches Comet Breaking Up
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Illustration: NASA, ESA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

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Related Images & Videos

A time sequence of three panels side by side. From left to right, the panels are labeled November 8, 2025; November 9, 2025; and November 10, 2025. This series of images from NASAu2019s Hubble Space Telescope of the fragmenting comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), or K1 for short, was taken over the course of three consecutive days. The sequence shows the progressive disintegration of the comet over this brief period. nnEach panel features several bright, fuzzy, blue, streaking lights in a diagonal line from the upper left to the lower right of a black background. In the first panel, four comet-like objects appear. The largest is the second from the upper left. In the second panel, the largest object has broken into two pieces. In the third panel, the pieces appear to be moving away from each other along the invisible diagonal line.

Fragmentation of Comet C/2025 K1

This series of images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the 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.

Three annotated panels side by side show K1 fragmenting over three consecutive days. Arrows show the orientation of object on sky.u00a0At top left of first panel, label on first line reads Fragmentation of Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS). Second line reads HST STIS MIRVIS. From left to right, panels are labeled November 8, 2025; November 9, 2025; and November 10, 2025.nnEach panel shows several bright, fuzzy, blue objects streaking diagonally from upper left to lower right of black background. In first panel, four comet-like objects are numbered 1 thru 4. In second panel, the largest object has broken into two pieces, 2a and 2b. In third panel, pieces appear to be moving away from each other diagonally.nnu00a0nnArrows on last panel show orientation of image on sky. Arrow labeled N points to 8:30. Arrow labeled E points to 5:30. Relationship between north and east on the sky as seen from below is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground as seen from above.

Comet C/2025 K1 Compass Image

This annotated series of images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the fragmenting comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), or K1 for short, was taken over the course of three consecutive days: Nov. 8, 9, and 10, 2025. Arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky.

Image from NASAu2019s Hubble Space Telescope of the fragmenting comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), or K1 for short. Five bright, fuzzy, blue, comet-like objects streak in a diagonal line from the upper left to the lower right of a black background.

Fragmenting Comet C/2025 K1

This animation steps through the three images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the fragmenting comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), or K1 for short, taken consecutively on Nov. 8, 9, and 10, 2025. Captured by Hubble’s STIS (Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph) instrument, t...

A time sequence of three panels side by side. From left to right, the panels are labeled November 8, 2025; November 9, 2025; and November 10, 2025. This series of images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the fragmenting comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), or K1 for short, was taken over the course of three consecutive days. The sequence shows the progressive disintegration of the comet over this brief period. Each panel features several bright, fuzzy, blue, streaking lights in a diagonal line from the upper left to the lower right of a black background. In the first panel, four comet-like objects appear. The largest is the second from the upper left. In the second panel, the largest object has broken into two pieces. In the third panel, the pieces appear to be moving away from each other along the invisible diagonal line.

Video: Hubble Accidentally Catches Comet Breaking Up

In a happy twist of fate, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope just witnessed a comet in the act of breaking apart. The chance of that happening while Hubble watched is extraordinarily miniscule.

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 18, 2026
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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