• The fragmentation of comet C/2019 Y4 (Atlas) observed at Lulin observatory (Astronomer’s Telegram)
• Oh Crap, a Really Promising Comet Just Fell to Pieces (Gizmodo)

We can confirm that Comet Atlas has totally fallen to pieces. In an Astronomer’s Telegram, astronomers Zhong-Yi Lin and collaborators report that in observations taken with the Lulin 40cm telescope, they see a nucleus and 2 additional fragments trailing 3400 and 5000 km from the core. She’s dead, Jim. No bright comet for us. 

Now, those are our new news stories for today. In a moment, 2 special guests will be joining us to discuss results from 2 weeks ago. In a remarkable paper in the Journal Nature, they described how Mercury may have held onto the kinds of volatile gases required for life all the way up to 1.8 billion years ago. In the deep hollows of the chaotic Terrain, the broken landscape opposite the Caloris impact basin may – may – have once been capable of supporting life ever so briefly. If this is the case, relectics of prebiotic chemistry may be waiting to be discovered by future Mercurial Rovers… that no one is planning to build. Volatiles gave the potential for life, and the heat of the Sun baked that potential away.