New images have shown the Comet Atlas as it hurtles towards Earth, breaking up as it does.

Atlas had prompted excitement in recent weeks as comet-watchers forecast that it will become bright enough to be visible by the naked eye as it comes close to Earth in recent weeks.

But soon after that it became clear the object was breaking into pieces, and getting less bright.

A host of images have captured the object as it breaks up, including pictures taken from a crowdsourced project using telescopes made by company Unistellar.

Another image taken by astronomers in Bulgaria clearly shows what appears to be the multiple different parts of the fragmented object.

The comet prompted excitement as astronomers announced that it was set to be the brightest comet of 2020, and would be so luminous that it would be visible with the naked eye. One researcher said it had the potential to be "really, really stunning" as it reached its closest point to Earth, in May.

As well as offering a chance to see the comet as it breaks apart, the images may prove useful to the scientists studying the object. Relatievely little is known about the object, which was only discovered at the very end of 2019.