Comet ATLAS - view from Sri Lanka

Comet ATLAS has faded away. It never reached the expected brightness and scientists believe that the comet disintegrated to smaller pieces making it fade. 

However, we got a new comet - SWAN. it has brighten to magnitude 5 already. So, lets keep fingers crossed. I will have a separate page on it. 

We are SO OVERDUE for a decent - read visible to the unaided eye - comet in the Northern Hemisphere. Maybe, just MAYBE, our wait is over. Comet ATLAS has been brightening quite nicely and is currently visible in binoculars.

The comet is in the northern sky right now near the Big Dipper. See the star chart below.

Comet Atlas is racing toward the inner solar system, and it could become the brightest comet seen in the night sky in over two decades. The comet, discovered by an observatory designed to protect Earth from asteroids, may even be visible during the day just two months from now.

Also known as C/2019 Y4, this comet was discovered by astronomers at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Hawaii in December 2019. At the time, the comet was exceedingly dim — but the comet became 4,000 times brighter in just a month. This increase is far greater than astronomers predicted, and could potentially signal the comet may soon be exceptionally bright.

Comet ATLAS proved a close match to the Great Comet of 1844 (C/1844 Y1). Both have periods around 4,000 years, approach within 0.25 astronomical unit (a.u.), or 37.4 million kilometers, of the Sun at perihelion, and are inclined 45° to the ecliptic. These and other orbital similarities were strong enough to conclude that both objects were fragments of a single, much larger comet that broke apart about 5,000 years ago. For all we know there may be additional fragments en route for future appearances.

It is expected that the comet will continue to brighten, and it is possible the comet may be visible to the naked eye sometime in April or May 2020. It will reach its nearest point to Earth on May 23 and come to perihelion (closest to the Sun) on May 31.

Watch this space and register to SkyAbove news alert (SMS - "REG SKY" to 77000 on your phone) for further details on position of the comet.

So, it is understood that comet Atlas has disintegrated and below pictures prove it.