&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "The 'other Atlas' comet that should have died near the Sun turns GOLDEN")
The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) discovered a comet in May, which shouldn't have survived its trip to the Sun, but it is still around. C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) has turned into a spectacular golden ribbon following its encounter with the Sun. Dubbed the "other ATLAS", this comet has mainly been sidelined lately ever since 3I/ATLAS became the hottest commodity in space. While we were all busy wondering whether it was an "alien mothership", C/2025 K1 quietly made the trip to the Sun and only lost some of its portion. It made an extremely close encounter with our star, coming within 50 million kilometres on October 8. The gravitational pull of the Sun was expected to tear it to shreds, but that didn't happen. Meanwhile, on October 29, when 3I/ATLAS reached perihelion, astrophotographer Dan Bartlett took a photo of C/2025 K1 from June Lake in California, showing a distinct golden glow and a long tail. The solar winds seem to have boosted the tail to appear more flared.
Bartlett talked to Spaceweather.com about his observation. "This comet was not supposed to survive its October 8th perihelion, but it did," he said. It is now displaying "a red/brown/golden colour rarely seen in comets." Two other photographers in California and in Arizona also made similar observations about the comet, Live Science reported. Comets can change colour due to the presence of various chemicals. Typically, they are white since the sunlight reflected by them contains all wavelengths of visible light.
The green comets
The infamous "Devil comet" 12P/Pons-Brooks and C/2022 E3, also known as the "green comet", turned green because of either dicarbon or cyanide in their comas. 3I/ATLAS turned blue, which could be because of carbon monoxide or ammonia. But comets don't typically turn golden, which is the case with C/2025 K1 (ATLAS).
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Why did C/2025 K1 become golden?
Astronomer David Schleicher says that the comet lacks "carbon-bearing molecules, such as dicarbon, carbon monoxide and cyanide." Only two other comets are known to exhibit similar features, he says. He told Spaceweather.com that this absence has likely made it golden, although "we don't know exactly why" since it could have also been caused by the solar flyby or its relatively low ratio of gas to dust.
Also Read: Comet fragment travelling at 81,000 km/hr explodes over Portugal, a second one recorded nearby
C/2025 K1 has brightened to a magnitude of 9, but can't be seen with the naked eye. You will need a good pair of binoculars or a telescope to view the comet. Look towards the constellations Virgo and Leo in the eastern sky, and you can locate it somewhere in the middle. It will reach its closest point to Earth on November 25. Right now, it can be best viewed shortly before sunrise, according to Spaceweather.com.
