The fragmentation of comet C/2019 Y4 (Atlas) observed at Lulin observatory
ATel #13629; Zhong-Yi Lin (IANCU), Chih-Hao Hsia (MUST), Wing-Huen Ip(IANCU)
on 13 Apr 2020; 10:38 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Comets
Credential Certification: Zhong-Yi Lin (zylin@astro.ncu.edu.tw)
Images on April 9 and 10 taken by the Lulin 40cm telescope (SLT) showed the appearance of a breakup event around the central nucleus. Subsequent R-band images obtained on April 12 by the Lulin on-meter telescope (LOT) showed the presence of at least two fragments. The telescope tracked the apparent motion of the comet and the images with an angular resolution of 0.385"/pixel were stacked at the optical center of the comet. The separation distance between nucleus and 1 is about 3400 km and that of fragments 1 and 2 is about 1600 km. These LOT images of comet C/2019 Y4 (Atlas) can be found at http://www.astro.ncu.edu.tw/people/zylin/2019Y4.html
Follow-up observations of C/2019 YA (Atlas), both imaging and spectroscopy, are highly recommended to investigate the cause of this cometary breakup event. This work is based on observations made with Lulin 1m and 40cm telescopes at Lulin observatory (MPC code: D35), operated by Institute of Astronomy, NCU, Taiwan.
C/2019 Y4 (Altas) images
