In 2025, a comet began disintegrating into pieces after a heated close encounter with the Sun. The Hubble space telescope was observing the comet as it broke apart, capturing its demise in a series of images. The observations were made by John Noonan, a research professor at Auburn University in Alabama and co-investigator of the event. The team initially spotted comet C/2025 K1 in May 2025 and it was heading toward its closest approach to the Sun on October 8, 2025, coming within 30 million miles (49 million kilometers) of our host star. However, the comet did not survive its perihelion and instead fell apart into oblivion. The discovery could help scientists understand why some long-period comets break apart and reveal the physics of what's happening at the comet's surface.