Distant comet cracks into two halves after being heated by the sun

A comet from the distant reaches of our solar system has been observed splitting in two as it made its way past the sun.

Comet C/2018 F4, initially discovered in 2018, was seen by amateur astronomers breaking into two pieces in September 2020, but what precisely happened was unknown. Man-To Hui at the Macau University of Science and Technology in China and his colleagues have now taken a closer look using several telescopes around …