See Comet Crumble

A comet is breaking up before our eyes.  Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 has split into dozens of pieces and is crumbling quickly, like pieces of dried meringue.  Science News tells about the breakup, and it made Astronomy Picture of the Day.  The Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes are also documenting the event.
    This is not the first crumbling comet seen, nor the first breakup of this particular one; but it illustrates that comets are transitory features of the solar system.  Based on information from the Stardust (03/14/2006) and Deep Impact (09/07/2005) missions, we know that at least some comets – perhaps most – have very low density and are easily disrupted.  On May 11, Astronomy Picture of the Day posted a stunning photo of a conjunction of a comet fragment, a spiral galaxy, and the Ring Nebula.

Like Humpty Dumpty, a comet is more easily broken than put together as it makes its great fall toward the sun.  This destructive process cannot be maintained for long.  See Mark Looy’s AiG article on why this provides evidence that the solar system cannot be nearly as old as believed.  Claims of long age must invoke ad hoc scenarios involving unobserved sources of new material to replenish what we see disappearing before our eyes.