This image of comet ATLAS was taken on 202-04-09 UT. It shows that the comet has an elongated nucleus within the blue/green coma, which is a sign of impending break up of the comet. The comet's disintegration into multiple fragments was subsequently captured by the Hubble Space Telescope on 2020-04-20. Here, the comet is traversing a starry field in the constellation Camelopardalis. In addition to the elongated nucleus within the blue/green coma, there is a faint dust tail trailing behind the comet which exhibits a slight reddish tinge.

Exposures: R:G:B =55:50:50 minutes = 2 hours 35 minutes total exposure at f/7.5.

This image was published in the September, 2020 issue of Astronomy magazine.