An incoming comet that could be visible to the naked eye as it passes Earth later this year may be doomed to disintegrate before we get the chance to see it up close, a new study suggests. Recent observations hint that the comet has already begun fragmenting and could fall apart completely in the next few weeks or months. However, some experts disagree.

Astronomers at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China first spotted comet C/2023 A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, on Jan. 9 2023 and it was confirmed on Feb. 22 the same year, when NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) spotted it barreling toward the sun. The comet’s trajectory hints that this could be its first-ever close approach to the sun and that it may eventually be ejected from the solar system.