
Is Comet ATLAS G3 disintegrating?
New reports suggest that bright comet ATLAS G3 – which has been wowing observers this past week – may be disintegrating.
Comets are known to undergo an “outburst,” or rapid increase in brightness, before starting to disintegrate. And observers reported on the evening of January 19 that Comet ATLAS had suddenly become much brighter. Experienced comet observer Raymond Negron in Puerto Rico said the comet was clearly visible to the unaided eye even against a bright twilight sky. That would make it much brighter than it was just a day earlier.
And telescope observations seem to indicate that the comet has already started disintegrating. Astrophotographer Lionel Majzik (@lionelm_astro on X) captured the above images from a remote telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, between January 18 and 20. The latest image seems to show a “headless” comet, with its nucleus – its icy, rocky core – all but gone.
But don’t worry! The comet’s beautiful dusty tail remains visible, and should be for days to come. See community photos of the comet here.
Comet Atlas G3, brightest of 2025?
Comet Atlas C/2024 G3 reached perihelion – its closest approach to our star – on January 13. And thanks to imagery from the SOHO spacecraft’s LASCO C3 imager, we saw it make this flyby. And it looked very promising! See for yourself below. This comet appeared even brighter in near-sun images than comet C/2023 A3 (Tsunchinshan-ATLAS), the brightest comet in 27 years, visible to many in the sky a few months ago.
Comet Atlas G3 came within 8.3 million miles (13.5 million kilometers) of the sun during perihelion. That’s just 0.09 astronomical units (AU) away. But it survived the flyby, and soon started appearing in western skies around sunset. See pictures of Comet Atlas G3 in the sunset’s glow here.
The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) discovered the comet that now bears its name on April 5, 2024. This long-period comet takes about 160,000 years to orbit the sun. Astronomers believe it probably did pass the sun once before.

How to see Comet ATLAS
If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, look for the comet immediately after sunset from now through the rest of the month. It’s low in the sky, still near the sun. And as it gets higher in the sky with each day it will dim, making it more challenging.
For the 90% of the population that lives north of the equator, the comet is sinking to the south as it exits the sun’s vicinity. It could still be visible from the Northern Hemisphere just after sunset until around January 20.
If you catch an image of Comet ATLAS G3, submit it to us here. And see great images in our Comet G3 photo gallery.

Bottom line: Comet ATLAS G3 might be the brightest comet of 2025. It’s wowed Southern Hemisphere viewers. But new reports say it might be starting to disintegrate.