#oort-cloud

#oort-cloud

Astronomers have long sought a cosmic explanation for the Bible's Star of Bethlehem, the shining celestial object that, so the story goes, guided the wise men, or magi, from Jerusalem to greet the baby Jesus. One long-standing hypothesis held that the Star of Bethlehem was in fact a conjunction, perhaps between Jupiter and Saturn. But this holiday season, a scientist has presented a new contender: a comet.

A comet, dubbed C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), spectacularly broke apart into three huge chunks and anybody with an eight-inch telescope or bigger can catch the resulting fireworks show for the next several weeks, according to Sky & Telescope. The comet shouldn't be confused with interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. K1/ATLAS originated from within the furthest stretches of the solar system, and not interstellar space. Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope 2.0 Project, which allows public access to remotely-controlled telescopes,