Hubble Space Telescope Captures Rare Comet Shattering in Space

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured a rare sequence of images showing a comet in the process of breaking apart. The event involved comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), which was observed fragmenting over a period of three consecutive days in late 2025.

The observations took place on November 8, 9, and 10, 2025. According to the NASA Hubble Mission Team, this represents the first time the Hubble Space Telescope has witnessed a comet so early in its breakup process.

The discovery was unplanned, occurring after researchers were forced to change their original observation target. Technical constraints emerged after a proposal was won, rendering the initial comet unviewable and necessitating the selection of a new target, which became C/2025 K1 (ATLAS).

John Noonan, a research professor in the Department of Physics at Auburn University in Alabama and a co-investigator on the study, noted the serendipitous nature of the event.

Sometimes the best science happens by accident, 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.

John Noonan

The fragmentation was not immediately apparent during the telescope’s operation. Noonan discovered the breakup the following day while reviewing the captured data.

While examining the images, Noonan identified four distinct comets where the team had only proposed to observe one. This realization indicated that the comet had split into multiple fragments during the observation window.

While I was taking an initial look at the data, I saw that there were four comets in those images when we only proposed to look at one, so we knew this was something really, really special.

John Noonan

The researchers clarified that C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) is distinct from the interstellar comet known as 3I/ATLAS.

The findings associated with this observation were published in the journal Icarus, as reported by NASA on March 18, 2026. The event provided the research team with the opportunity to conduct an experiment they had long desired to perform using the Hubble Space Telescope’s capabilities.